Reddit reviews Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach : A Philosophic and Practical Approach to Cruising

I highly recommend "Sensible Cruising: the Thoreau Approach" if you're wondering whether you can afford cruising. It doesn't need to be expensive and chances are you're richer than you think once you eliminate car/lodgings/starbucks expenses from your budget nd instead live on a (potentially frugal) boat. How frugal depends on you.

Great great book.

Btw "OP" or dude in pictures posted about his costs. About $15k/year

Sensible Cruising is both incredibly practical and timelessly wise. Don Casey, one of the authors, has written some of the best manuals on sailboat maintenance and repair in existence. If you want to extend your cruise, this is your book

If you want a Jeanneau - or any AWB - then I think your first guess was right, and you're overthinking it with your concerns.

I don't think buying in Croatia is necessarily totes straightforward - I think I read that VAT may be payable on export or something, and I've read of people sailing to Malta to register their boat under that flag because that's a low-tax jurisdiction.

But in general the med is a huge boat market, with literally thousands of these kind of boats for sale at any given time. You could easily spend weeks walking the docks, looking at boats every day, and throwing out lowball offers until someone bites.

The cost of water maker, solar panels and wind vane is bullshit, though.

Solar panels are a couple of hundred euros - you could probably get yourself totally sorted for €500 or €600, although in an AWB space becomes an issue.

In Greece you moor stern to, and there are loads of villages with ancient stone quays and two restaurants - mooring fees are to buy a meal at the restaurant, and you fill up with water from a hose.

People were crossing the atlantic for literally decades before watermakers became available, and these are not cheap toys. Your yacht's water tanks should easily hold enough fresh water for two people, but I do understand your concerns - there's nothing wrong with loading up with 10 or 20 of these or these.

If you want a fuckheavy boat, though, then I do understand where you're coming from - boats like the Tayana 37 are highly respected in the US, and you'll find few examples as good in Europe. There is a good chance of finding a distressed seller in the US and, if you're not fussy about which particular fucking thick GRP hulls you'll take, getting a boat in very good condition at a good price.

Primarily I think you need to read some of this and this pretty urgently. Go small, go simple, go now.

This varies largely by the size of the boat. Small boats that are still big enough to sleep in covered and dry are way cheaper than vans, larger boats -- well you can spend as much as you have.

The subject has been given considerable thought and an excellent resource about it can be found in the book Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach : A Philosophic and Practical Approach to Cruising

EDIT: a word