We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: we didn’t win the lottery and we aren’t trust-fund babies. We don’t have an endless pot of money funding our cruising lifestyle. We didn’t wait until we were retired with a solid nest egg either. Instead, we work, we tackle projects on our boat ourselves, and we’re always looking for ways to save money. Cruising can be expensive, but if you’re cruising on a budget, it’s absolutely doable. You just need to get creative.

When we first started preparing for full-time cruising, we had no idea what we actually needed. YouTube made it look easy—just buy a boat, slap a solar panel on it, and go. Meanwhile, every sailing forum, association, and outfitting list told us we’d need ten pages of gear and a marina-sized budget. Somewhere between “a dream and a dollar” and “you need three backup autopilots and will die without a windvane” lies the sweet spot.

A lot of people think of sailboats as wind-powered machines—and they are. Yes, there’s a handful of engine-less sailors. But for the majority, chances are, the diesel engine is the go-to for docking, tight anchoring situations, and emergencies. If that engine dies at the wrong time, it can put a boat (and the crew) in a tricky situation.