12 ms·

Home is a small, engineless sailboat (2018)

187 points by hourislate 7y ago

paulcole 7y ago
This gets a lot romantic and appealing when you realize his bathroom and his shower are buckets — and hopefully not the same bucket. Source: I’ve traveled maybe 7,000 miles on a pretty small sailboat.
- oldmanpants 7y ago
  I assume you meant a lot _less_ romantic with the buckets... and yeah it mentions in the article that he removed the head and sink to plug any holes in the hull in an effort to make it less sinkable. luxuries I myself would prefer greatly over a bucket, but I am also amazed at the cleanliness and state of repair of the boat. All the clutter seems so unsafe to me on vessel of any size or type. Keeping things clean and in good working condition I think would do a great deal to make it less sinkable. I am impressed with the use of the raspberry pi and the unusual/free lifestyle the guy seems to lead.
Scoundreller 7y ago
Cool story. What’s he do for water? Pack, plan, pray? Rain-water? Self-made RO watermaker?
- rectalogic 7y ago
  50l storage, rain collection, inflatable solar still, dehumidifier and forward osmosis http://seandepagnier.users.sourceforge.net/AboutAlexandra.html http://seandepagnier.users.sourceforge.net/AboutAlexandra.ht...
enraged_camel 7y ago
My possibly controversial hot-take: While Sean's hacker spirit is truly admirable, I don't know how I feel about his lifestyle as a choice. It is, of course, none of my business how he lives his life. If he's happy, great! Personally though, I no longer covet such nomadic lifestyles like I did back in my 20s. My main issue with them is lack of social opportunities and the inevitable loneliness it brings. I'm not a social butterfly by any means, but one thing I've learned about myself is that not having other people around me for extended periods has a noticeable negative effect on my mood. As such, living on a sailboat sounds like a total nightmare. I have come to view solitude as a dessert: really nice to have after a regular meal, and maybe binge on every now and then even, but if it makes up the majority of your meals for extended periods, it'll make you sick.
- petra 7y ago
  I wonder why aren't modern nomadic tribes more popular. They're not easy to create, for sure. But they should be possible.
  - asark 7y ago
    Group cohesion's hard, and a lot of the techniques for creating and maintaining it are considered distasteful or seem really damn cult-like (because they are). That'd be my guess. Aside from logistical concerns or whatever.
  - fian 7y ago
    Conflict with other non-nomadic groups they come in contact with. The Romany might be a modern take on nomadic people. They don't tend to be welcomed when they arrive at/near a town.
- rb808 7y ago
  Its not clear if he ever works but often forever travellers dont contribute their fair share to society. Everyone else is working to pay their own bills, pay taxes and help society. Some though are retiring early and living off investments or welfare. If he was disabled or old I wouldn't mind so much, but a healthy young educated person shouldn't be able to live off others.
  - larkeith 7y ago
    He contributes code and operates a store, while using very few of the amenities taxes pay for. How does that count as "living off others"?
  - mlevental 7y ago
    >but a healthy young educated person shouldn't be able to live off others. this is so petty. to what extent is he living off of others? he lives in a mangey boat that he paid for. once in a while maybe he gets some medical care (though i doubt it's much because he's young). does every single penny that a person's life costs need to be reckoned and reconciled? do you know how much falls through the cracks for all of us because of frictions? how much you sometimes overpay for your fair share but also how much you underpay? it's insane to begrudge someone this kind of asceticism based on some kind of weird puritanical collectivism - despite what Arthur Jensen would have you believe the world is not yet a business (and neither is life).
bogwog 7y ago
> Sean explained the setup: it was an autopilot he had built using a windshield wiper motor, gyroscope, television remote, and a Raspberry Pi – a palm sized computer costing less than $40. Correction: from watching his videos, it looks like he's using a Raspberry Pi Zero, which costs $5, or $10 if you need Wifi. This is damn impressive. I've always wondered what it would be like to live on a sailboat, and this guy has actually gone and done it successfully without dying. Personally, I'd opt for a bigger boat though...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- sandworm101 7y ago
  >> I've always wondered what it would be like to live on a sailboat.. Misery. It is not fun. There are forces out on the ocean that are truly terrifying. And there are people out there who want to hurt you. If you are going to be alone in a slow boat, you better look so poor as to not be worth their time. I'm a little surprised he displays those shiny solar panels so openly.
  - kodachi 7y ago
    > there are people out there who want to hurt you You mean want to steal from you? Who would hurt you just for the sake of it?
    - TylerE 7y ago
      Piracy is still very much a thing in the 21st century. I mean actual piracy.
      - kodachi 7y ago
        I'm perplexed. But I guess it makes sense. In the middle of the ocean there are no laws and nobody to protect you.
    - tsomctl 7y ago
sehugg 7y ago
If you are interested in anarchic sailors check out Moxie Marlinspike's "Hold Fast" documentary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8105879 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8105879
mobilefriendly 7y ago
Here's some additional color on this remarkable character. But to circumnavigate the globe in that boat? I can't help but fret that this isn't going to end well. http://svcrystalblues.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-quiet-achiever-sailing-alone-around.html http://svcrystalblues.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-quiet-achiever-...
js2 7y ago
If you find this interesting, you'd probably enjoy Paul Lutus' book about sailing around the world: https://arachnoid.com/lutusp/sailbook.html https://arachnoid.com/lutusp/sailbook.html
- jcurbo 7y ago
  This is a good book, I'd also recommend the story of the first man to sail around the world alone, Joshua Slocum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_Alone_Around_the_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_Alone_Around_the_World https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317
  - HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
    I've read both of those books. They're quite good. Paul's is a tiny bit more accessible because of his programming background and the familiar perspective he has in his descriptions.
    - jodrellblank 7y ago
      Have also read both; they're fascinating in different ways. Paul Lutus has a boat full of technology (diesel engine, laptop, radio, navigation tools, and more) but his book is an intensely - almost uncomfortably - personal voyage through his psyche, while he happens to be sailing around the world. A diary of reflections on life, struggles with people, views on science, observations on the stars and sky and waves, poignant writing on how being at sea affect people, while he happens to be sailing around the world. It's better for that, more relatable as a geek, sadder and more emotional; I consider it a good read, and I reflect on it a lot. Captain Slocum's voyage of 1896(?) is so different; he took an old clock, and not much else, he lashes the tiller and goes down below for hours at a time to read or sleep without worrying about crashing into other boats, he tells stories of mouldy cheese induced nightmares during rough seas or chasing natives away from robbing him, or finding remote islands with communites of slightly odd people. Much of his writing is about the people he meets - they often know in advance he's making a historic voyage, so when he arrives anywhere, there's a big fuss, he's invited to dine with local dignitaries or captains of large ships, gifted interesting foods and boat parts, there's a lot of interesting things about the world of 1896. (There's also quite a bit of tedious place names and locations and passages where nothing much happens, I'm not that interested in the geography of it).
benj111 7y ago
I was expecting the title to be a metaphor. It wasn't but I'm not disappointed. I'm intrigued to know what self sufficient means in this context. I guess he buys vegetables, does he sell fish?
lkarsten 7y ago
4ksb
einarvollset 7y ago
“Everyone is always in debt” Assume this is true & that death erases all debt (the latter is true most places I think). Is that a bad thing per se? I can see it being obviously bad if we’re saying debt as in debtors prison. As if being in debt enslaved you and traps you - this was how things used to work in some places for sure. But assuming it’s debt that cannot enslave (big assumption, sure: see US student debt..) Isn’t debt the creditor extending leverage and (in the right circumstances, see above) sharing some of that leverage with the debtor? In the OP’s case - would it be very hard to envisage a scenario where this bloke could have a more efficient boat and computer? Where’s that would give him leverage that in turn would create more value for himself and whatever he chose than the debt he owed? I think sometimes people take instruments that sometimes encourage or enable very bad things and then blame the tool. I can think of knives, guns, cash, etc. Debt is probably the same thing? Bad if wielded by powerful forces that essentially allow enslavement, but powerfully good if not? Just a thought experiment for sure.
- smallbigfish 7y ago
  My simplistic approach to credit: it allows people to buy stuff they can't afford but it drives prices up artificially. Lots of things would be cheaper if people couldn't afford to "produce" money.
  - einarvollset 7y ago
    Yes but. If you take “cash” or “money” out of it, do you still agree with your own argument? What if you said “lots of things would be less valuable if nobody could cooperate to build anything”? Again, arguing in good faith.
    - smallbigfish 7y ago
      Well, maybe. But I've learned that you can't take money out of "it". Even in places that strive to do so. If we could we could actually reach some utopia. Communism would become highly desirable.
phasetransition 7y ago
Seems like a fine thread for a personal novella stirred by reading this: After my grandfather sold his business and retired to Big Pine Key, Florida, he befriended a fellow who lived on No Name Key. No Name Key is connected to Big Pine by the "Old Wooden Bridge" (made of concrete). No Name Key is known for a rock quarry, being the practice grounds for the Bay of Pigs invasion, and for complete lack of public utilities. Now this is the early 90s, as my grandparents left the Keys after hurricane Andrew. In those days solar power was properly challenging. And yet the fellow in question had a fully solar powered house. He was a physicist by education, rescued from deliquency by an insightful first mate on a Navy ship. Per my grandmother he worked "not one day longer than required to retire to a life of poverty." In my grandfather he found a (mostly) willing source of free labor. And labor who was trained as an electronics technician during WW2. So the two worked on his solar house in the bad old days of solar on very little budget. His backup generator was the front third of an 80s something Honda Civic with a hotrodded alternator. In addition to the solar house, he also had a 9 meter(ish) sailing catamaran of his own design and construction. The catamaran, like anything he cared about, was meticulous. I never did understand how one could be both so haphazard and so careful, depending on the task at hand. He was a lazy sailor, but had traveled all over the East Coast and Carribean looking for his "soul mate." Indeed, he left the Keys to stay with a lady friend when hurricane Andrew hit. The problem with that plan? Said companion lived in Homestead. Oops. My grandmother suggested that perhaps he would have better romantic luck with a "smaller beer belly and fewer 'banana hammock' swim suits." When he sailed on the open water, he used a small commercial autopilot that used a servo to move the tiller. It was based on a compass heading set on a dial. It only "worked" if you weren't that particular about where you saw the sun rise above the horizon. That was perfect for his adventures. Grandpa died January 1, 2017, and I doubt his friend is in any condition to sail so many years later. But, if he is somehow still out there chasing soul mates, I guarantee the boat has solar power, and it's probably navigating with pypilot.
- rootsudo 7y ago
  I could never describe the people who live in the Florida Keys properly, or the people that lived there besides Marathon. Basically, all different degrees of this.
033803throwaway 7y ago
I admire the man and his concerns about debt. But he is playing a young, healthy single man's game. Family formation without debt slavery doesn't have the same appeal to our media class, but it's far more important in the long run.
- akeck 7y ago
  I'm finding this to be true.
js2 7y ago
How do the electronics survive the harsh sea environment? The autopilot looks like it could barely control the tiller in calm seas, much less any sort of storm. How useful is it? How does he have Internet access? How does he pay for food? Supplies? Donations and odd jobs? I can't imagine how a ship with so much clutter, no head, no birth, can even be livable much less what it must be like in a storm.
- megalonic 7y ago
  It likely only works in rather light weather. Real autopilot systems use hydraulic rams. There are about 100 other issues I’d fix on this boat first. I applaud this mans effort, but taking this boat more than swimming distance from shore is something I would never do.
  - TomMckenny 7y ago
    That's what I thought. But I'd be just as nervous on the HMS Discovery. And yet both made it to the Cook Islands and back. And I have to say, someone who sinlgehands a more or less home made boat across the pacific and back pretty much knows what they're doing by definition.
    - dhimes 7y ago
      Indeed- the Pacific can be a pretty good filter for that.
    - ktaylor 7y ago
      Far from a homemade boat. The Bristol 27 is a seaworthy craft. But this sailor apparently doesn't know how to use a sponge and paint brush to maintain her. These are normally quite pretty boats.
- pxtail 7y ago
  I really hope that there is a method in all this madness. I'm not sure about it but my guess is that he is keeping dirty look on purpose to make it less appealing and lower risk of theft or robbery. If this is not the case then I'm not sure what to think about it, all this clutter and dirt...
AstroJetson 7y ago
Uggg. This gives everyone that is trying to live on a boat a bad name. The boat's a mess both inside and outside. As someone that cruises around for fun, boats like his create problems. Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are all working / have passed restrictions on people anchoring out. It's nice that he's trying to use tech and a cheap boat to stay debt free. But his boat looks like a floating safety hazard. There is an article about him from NZ where they cited him in 2013 for having an unsafe boat. How hard is it to jump over the side and scrub stains off? How hard is it to package up electronics so they don't look like something off of https://www.reddit.com/r/cablefail/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cablefail/ ? Come on Sean, a little help here buddy, the cruising world is seen through the lens of boaters like you.
- phasetransition 7y ago
  Agree with this. Part of boating is upkeep, which is never ending. If you like working with your hands, that upkeep can be therapeutic. But otherwise it can be drudgery. The ongoing cost, and effort, of upkeep has taken many enthusiastic boaters as eventual casualties of the pursuit.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    I had a ski boat for a while. Half the upkeep problem is due to poor design of the boat.
    - phasetransition 7y ago
      Classic inboard ski boat with a fiberglass cover over the motor?
      - WalterBright 7y ago
        Sea Ray outboard, a little ski boat.
- floren 7y ago
  Yeah, that was my thought too: it looks like a floating shanty. It's a mess, and the article linked at the end of the story shows someone else who's doing a much better job of living at sea on the cheap without turning it into a hobo squat: https://towndock.net/shippingnews/prinses-mia?pg=1 https://towndock.net/shippingnews/prinses-mia?pg=1
golemiprague 7y ago
This guy looks miserable ,his boat looks ugly and I would like to see the south park episode about the whole thing.
gerikson 7y ago
Ah, the call of the sea... In my late teens I took a course in French in the city of Royan, on France's Atlantic coast. A couple of my classmates were from the US, and they invited me over to where they were living. It was a small sailboat moored in the harbor. The couple had essentially spent a decade working and saving, buying this boat, and having it shipped over to Europe. They'd spent some month sailing around, coastal seas and canals, and decided to learn French in Royan. This was the first inkling that life could be more than a 9-5 grind, saving for retirement, before "life" began. This couple showed that you could alter that balance, that there are options, and your dreams are within reach if you are flexible. I wish I had been more diligent in keeping in touch with these people.
shitgoose 7y ago
shit! he crossed pacific on the engineless boat! eternal respect!
oliveshell 7y ago
Whoa, TownDock.net is on the front page of HN! I love seeing any "Web 1.0" site still flourishing in 2019. TownDock's been around since 2002, and their design has barely changed since then [1]. It's run solely by a local couple who have updated it by hand, usually several times a day, for the past 17 years. It's an awesome resource for folks who live in Oriental. (Plus, they still sell banner ads to local businesses the old-fashioned way :) ) As far as I know, the authors don't make a ton of money from the site and run it as a public service. They're clearly technical people with good hearts. It's so cool to see this 17-year-old website still going strong! [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20020904212400/http://www.towndock.net/ https://web.archive.org/web/20020904212400/http://www.towndo...
- dhimes 7y ago
  +1000 for banner ads.
nonbirithm 7y ago
100rabbits[0] is a similar project. The same people, DeVine du Linvega/Rekka Bell, also created the Orca livecoding environment[1][2] a while ago. They also do a lot of general webdesign projects/music production (Linvega, as Aliceffekt)/worldbuilding[3]. A lot of it comes out of their living environment on a sailboat. [0] https://100r.co https://100r.co [1] https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19118951 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19118951 [3] https://wiki.xxiivv.com https://wiki.xxiivv.com
arkades 7y ago
This seems like the right thread to ask: so how does one go about learning to sail?
- reverend_gonzo 7y ago
  If you live somewhere where there are sailboats, there is likely US Sailing or American Sailing Association classes available, which are definitely worth it. If there’s a yacht club, they will usually have races where they need crew, and where they will teach you to be crew, and then go race with them on their boat. The costs there usually you bring beer/food to the boat and help clean up at the end. That’s a very affordable way to get into it if you’re not sure how you’d like it or can’t afford it. Boats are expensive and maintaining by them even more so, but in my opinion, absolutely worth it.
dangoljames 7y ago
Love this guy. I was a singlehand live-aboard sailor on a motorless boat for seven years. Most of them blended into one long endless sunset on the bay. If not for having met my wife...
ktaylor 7y ago
There's no excuse for keeping his boat in that state of disarray. I've lived aboard a sailboat with my family in the Bahamas and met a lot of full time liveaboards. The only boats I ever saw that were kept like that were the derelict vessels in Biscayne Bay, where destitute or mentally ill homeless lived in rotting anchored boats.

187 points by hourislate 7y ago

This gets a lot romantic and appealing when you realize his bathroom and his shower are buckets — and hopefully not the same bucket. Source: I’ve traveled maybe 7,000 miles on a pretty small sailboat.

oldmanpants 7y ago
I assume you meant a lot _less_ romantic with the buckets... and yeah it mentions in the article that he removed the head and sink to plug any holes in the hull in an effort to make it less sinkable. luxuries I myself would prefer greatly over a bucket, but I am also amazed at the cleanliness and state of repair of the boat. All the clutter seems so unsafe to me on vessel of any size or type. Keeping things clean and in good working condition I think would do a great deal to make it less sinkable. I am impressed with the use of the raspberry pi and the unusual/free lifestyle the guy seems to lead.

Scoundreller 7y ago

Cool story. What’s he do for water? Pack, plan, pray? Rain-water? Self-made RO watermaker?

rectalogic 7y ago
50l storage, rain collection, inflatable solar still, dehumidifier and forward osmosis http://seandepagnier.users.sourceforge.net/AboutAlexandra.html http://seandepagnier.users.sourceforge.net/AboutAlexandra.ht...

enraged_camel 7y ago

My possibly controversial hot-take: While Sean's hacker spirit is truly admirable, I don't know how I feel about his lifestyle as a choice. It is, of course, none of my business how he lives his life. If he's happy, great! Personally though, I no longer covet such nomadic lifestyles like I did back in my 20s. My main issue with them is lack of social opportunities and the inevitable loneliness it brings. I'm not a social butterfly by any means, but one thing I've learned about myself is that not having other people around me for extended periods has a noticeable negative effect on my mood. As such, living on a sailboat sounds like a total nightmare. I have come to view solitude as a dessert: really nice to have after a regular meal, and maybe binge on every now and then even, but if it makes up the majority of your meals for extended periods, it'll make you sick.

petra 7y ago
I wonder why aren't modern nomadic tribes more popular. They're not easy to create, for sure. But they should be possible.
- asark 7y ago
  Group cohesion's hard, and a lot of the techniques for creating and maintaining it are considered distasteful or seem really damn cult-like (because they are). That'd be my guess. Aside from logistical concerns or whatever.
- fian 7y ago
  Conflict with other non-nomadic groups they come in contact with. The Romany might be a modern take on nomadic people. They don't tend to be welcomed when they arrive at/near a town.
rb808 7y ago
Its not clear if he ever works but often forever travellers dont contribute their fair share to society. Everyone else is working to pay their own bills, pay taxes and help society. Some though are retiring early and living off investments or welfare. If he was disabled or old I wouldn't mind so much, but a healthy young educated person shouldn't be able to live off others.
- larkeith 7y ago
  He contributes code and operates a store, while using very few of the amenities taxes pay for. How does that count as "living off others"?
- mlevental 7y ago
  >but a healthy young educated person shouldn't be able to live off others. this is so petty. to what extent is he living off of others? he lives in a mangey boat that he paid for. once in a while maybe he gets some medical care (though i doubt it's much because he's young). does every single penny that a person's life costs need to be reckoned and reconciled? do you know how much falls through the cracks for all of us because of frictions? how much you sometimes overpay for your fair share but also how much you underpay? it's insane to begrudge someone this kind of asceticism based on some kind of weird puritanical collectivism - despite what Arthur Jensen would have you believe the world is not yet a business (and neither is life).

bogwog 7y ago

> Sean explained the setup: it was an autopilot he had built using a windshield wiper motor, gyroscope, television remote, and a Raspberry Pi – a palm sized computer costing less than $40. Correction: from watching his videos, it looks like he's using a Raspberry Pi Zero, which costs $5, or $10 if you need Wifi. This is damn impressive. I've always wondered what it would be like to live on a sailboat, and this guy has actually gone and done it successfully without dying. Personally, I'd opt for a bigger boat though...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
sandworm101 7y ago
>> I've always wondered what it would be like to live on a sailboat.. Misery. It is not fun. There are forces out on the ocean that are truly terrifying. And there are people out there who want to hurt you. If you are going to be alone in a slow boat, you better look so poor as to not be worth their time. I'm a little surprised he displays those shiny solar panels so openly.
- kodachi 7y ago
  > there are people out there who want to hurt you You mean want to steal from you? Who would hurt you just for the sake of it?
  - TylerE 7y ago
    Piracy is still very much a thing in the 21st century. I mean actual piracy.
    - kodachi 7y ago
      I'm perplexed. But I guess it makes sense. In the middle of the ocean there are no laws and nobody to protect you.
  - tsomctl 7y ago

sehugg 7y ago

If you are interested in anarchic sailors check out Moxie Marlinspike's "Hold Fast" documentary: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8105879 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8105879

mobilefriendly 7y ago

Here's some additional color on this remarkable character. But to circumnavigate the globe in that boat? I can't help but fret that this isn't going to end well. http://svcrystalblues.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-quiet-achiever-sailing-alone-around.html http://svcrystalblues.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-quiet-achiever-...

js2 7y ago

If you find this interesting, you'd probably enjoy Paul Lutus' book about sailing around the world: https://arachnoid.com/lutusp/sailbook.html https://arachnoid.com/lutusp/sailbook.html

jcurbo 7y ago
This is a good book, I'd also recommend the story of the first man to sail around the world alone, Joshua Slocum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_Alone_Around_the_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_Alone_Around_the_World https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317
- HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
  I've read both of those books. They're quite good. Paul's is a tiny bit more accessible because of his programming background and the familiar perspective he has in his descriptions.
  - jodrellblank 7y ago
    Have also read both; they're fascinating in different ways. Paul Lutus has a boat full of technology (diesel engine, laptop, radio, navigation tools, and more) but his book is an intensely - almost uncomfortably - personal voyage through his psyche, while he happens to be sailing around the world. A diary of reflections on life, struggles with people, views on science, observations on the stars and sky and waves, poignant writing on how being at sea affect people, while he happens to be sailing around the world. It's better for that, more relatable as a geek, sadder and more emotional; I consider it a good read, and I reflect on it a lot. Captain Slocum's voyage of 1896(?) is so different; he took an old clock, and not much else, he lashes the tiller and goes down below for hours at a time to read or sleep without worrying about crashing into other boats, he tells stories of mouldy cheese induced nightmares during rough seas or chasing natives away from robbing him, or finding remote islands with communites of slightly odd people. Much of his writing is about the people he meets - they often know in advance he's making a historic voyage, so when he arrives anywhere, there's a big fuss, he's invited to dine with local dignitaries or captains of large ships, gifted interesting foods and boat parts, there's a lot of interesting things about the world of 1896. (There's also quite a bit of tedious place names and locations and passages where nothing much happens, I'm not that interested in the geography of it).

benj111 7y ago

I was expecting the title to be a metaphor. It wasn't but I'm not disappointed. I'm intrigued to know what self sufficient means in this context. I guess he buys vegetables, does he sell fish?

lkarsten 7y ago

4ksb

einarvollset 7y ago

“Everyone is always in debt” Assume this is true & that death erases all debt (the latter is true most places I think). Is that a bad thing per se? I can see it being obviously bad if we’re saying debt as in debtors prison. As if being in debt enslaved you and traps you - this was how things used to work in some places for sure. But assuming it’s debt that cannot enslave (big assumption, sure: see US student debt..) Isn’t debt the creditor extending leverage and (in the right circumstances, see above) sharing some of that leverage with the debtor? In the OP’s case - would it be very hard to envisage a scenario where this bloke could have a more efficient boat and computer? Where’s that would give him leverage that in turn would create more value for himself and whatever he chose than the debt he owed? I think sometimes people take instruments that sometimes encourage or enable very bad things and then blame the tool. I can think of knives, guns, cash, etc. Debt is probably the same thing? Bad if wielded by powerful forces that essentially allow enslavement, but powerfully good if not? Just a thought experiment for sure.

smallbigfish 7y ago
My simplistic approach to credit: it allows people to buy stuff they can't afford but it drives prices up artificially. Lots of things would be cheaper if people couldn't afford to "produce" money.
- einarvollset 7y ago
  Yes but. If you take “cash” or “money” out of it, do you still agree with your own argument? What if you said “lots of things would be less valuable if nobody could cooperate to build anything”? Again, arguing in good faith.
  - smallbigfish 7y ago
    Well, maybe. But I've learned that you can't take money out of "it". Even in places that strive to do so. If we could we could actually reach some utopia. Communism would become highly desirable.

phasetransition 7y ago

Seems like a fine thread for a personal novella stirred by reading this: After my grandfather sold his business and retired to Big Pine Key, Florida, he befriended a fellow who lived on No Name Key. No Name Key is connected to Big Pine by the "Old Wooden Bridge" (made of concrete). No Name Key is known for a rock quarry, being the practice grounds for the Bay of Pigs invasion, and for complete lack of public utilities. Now this is the early 90s, as my grandparents left the Keys after hurricane Andrew. In those days solar power was properly challenging. And yet the fellow in question had a fully solar powered house. He was a physicist by education, rescued from deliquency by an insightful first mate on a Navy ship. Per my grandmother he worked "not one day longer than required to retire to a life of poverty." In my grandfather he found a (mostly) willing source of free labor. And labor who was trained as an electronics technician during WW2. So the two worked on his solar house in the bad old days of solar on very little budget. His backup generator was the front third of an 80s something Honda Civic with a hotrodded alternator. In addition to the solar house, he also had a 9 meter(ish) sailing catamaran of his own design and construction. The catamaran, like anything he cared about, was meticulous. I never did understand how one could be both so haphazard and so careful, depending on the task at hand. He was a lazy sailor, but had traveled all over the East Coast and Carribean looking for his "soul mate." Indeed, he left the Keys to stay with a lady friend when hurricane Andrew hit. The problem with that plan? Said companion lived in Homestead. Oops. My grandmother suggested that perhaps he would have better romantic luck with a "smaller beer belly and fewer 'banana hammock' swim suits." When he sailed on the open water, he used a small commercial autopilot that used a servo to move the tiller. It was based on a compass heading set on a dial. It only "worked" if you weren't that particular about where you saw the sun rise above the horizon. That was perfect for his adventures. Grandpa died January 1, 2017, and I doubt his friend is in any condition to sail so many years later. But, if he is somehow still out there chasing soul mates, I guarantee the boat has solar power, and it's probably navigating with pypilot.

rootsudo 7y ago
I could never describe the people who live in the Florida Keys properly, or the people that lived there besides Marathon. Basically, all different degrees of this.

033803throwaway 7y ago

I admire the man and his concerns about debt. But he is playing a young, healthy single man's game. Family formation without debt slavery doesn't have the same appeal to our media class, but it's far more important in the long run.

akeck 7y ago
I'm finding this to be true.

js2 7y ago

How do the electronics survive the harsh sea environment? The autopilot looks like it could barely control the tiller in calm seas, much less any sort of storm. How useful is it? How does he have Internet access? How does he pay for food? Supplies? Donations and odd jobs? I can't imagine how a ship with so much clutter, no head, no birth, can even be livable much less what it must be like in a storm.

megalonic 7y ago
It likely only works in rather light weather. Real autopilot systems use hydraulic rams. There are about 100 other issues I’d fix on this boat first. I applaud this mans effort, but taking this boat more than swimming distance from shore is something I would never do.
- TomMckenny 7y ago
  That's what I thought. But I'd be just as nervous on the HMS Discovery. And yet both made it to the Cook Islands and back. And I have to say, someone who sinlgehands a more or less home made boat across the pacific and back pretty much knows what they're doing by definition.
  - dhimes 7y ago
    Indeed- the Pacific can be a pretty good filter for that.
  - ktaylor 7y ago
    Far from a homemade boat. The Bristol 27 is a seaworthy craft. But this sailor apparently doesn't know how to use a sponge and paint brush to maintain her. These are normally quite pretty boats.
pxtail 7y ago
I really hope that there is a method in all this madness. I'm not sure about it but my guess is that he is keeping dirty look on purpose to make it less appealing and lower risk of theft or robbery. If this is not the case then I'm not sure what to think about it, all this clutter and dirt...

AstroJetson 7y ago

Uggg. This gives everyone that is trying to live on a boat a bad name. The boat's a mess both inside and outside. As someone that cruises around for fun, boats like his create problems. Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are all working / have passed restrictions on people anchoring out. It's nice that he's trying to use tech and a cheap boat to stay debt free. But his boat looks like a floating safety hazard. There is an article about him from NZ where they cited him in 2013 for having an unsafe boat. How hard is it to jump over the side and scrub stains off? How hard is it to package up electronics so they don't look like something off of https://www.reddit.com/r/cablefail/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cablefail/ ? Come on Sean, a little help here buddy, the cruising world is seen through the lens of boaters like you.

phasetransition 7y ago
Agree with this. Part of boating is upkeep, which is never ending. If you like working with your hands, that upkeep can be therapeutic. But otherwise it can be drudgery. The ongoing cost, and effort, of upkeep has taken many enthusiastic boaters as eventual casualties of the pursuit.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  I had a ski boat for a while. Half the upkeep problem is due to poor design of the boat.
  - phasetransition 7y ago
    Classic inboard ski boat with a fiberglass cover over the motor?
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      Sea Ray outboard, a little ski boat.
floren 7y ago
Yeah, that was my thought too: it looks like a floating shanty. It's a mess, and the article linked at the end of the story shows someone else who's doing a much better job of living at sea on the cheap without turning it into a hobo squat: https://towndock.net/shippingnews/prinses-mia?pg=1 https://towndock.net/shippingnews/prinses-mia?pg=1

golemiprague 7y ago

This guy looks miserable ,his boat looks ugly and I would like to see the south park episode about the whole thing.

gerikson 7y ago

Ah, the call of the sea... In my late teens I took a course in French in the city of Royan, on France's Atlantic coast. A couple of my classmates were from the US, and they invited me over to where they were living. It was a small sailboat moored in the harbor. The couple had essentially spent a decade working and saving, buying this boat, and having it shipped over to Europe. They'd spent some month sailing around, coastal seas and canals, and decided to learn French in Royan. This was the first inkling that life could be more than a 9-5 grind, saving for retirement, before "life" began. This couple showed that you could alter that balance, that there are options, and your dreams are within reach if you are flexible. I wish I had been more diligent in keeping in touch with these people.

shitgoose 7y ago

shit! he crossed pacific on the engineless boat! eternal respect!

oliveshell 7y ago

Whoa, TownDock.net is on the front page of HN! I love seeing any "Web 1.0" site still flourishing in 2019. TownDock's been around since 2002, and their design has barely changed since then [1]. It's run solely by a local couple who have updated it by hand, usually several times a day, for the past 17 years. It's an awesome resource for folks who live in Oriental. (Plus, they still sell banner ads to local businesses the old-fashioned way :) ) As far as I know, the authors don't make a ton of money from the site and run it as a public service. They're clearly technical people with good hearts. It's so cool to see this 17-year-old website still going strong! [1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20020904212400/http://www.towndock.net/ https://web.archive.org/web/20020904212400/http://www.towndo...

dhimes 7y ago
+1000 for banner ads.

nonbirithm 7y ago

100rabbits[0] is a similar project. The same people, DeVine du Linvega/Rekka Bell, also created the Orca livecoding environment[1][2] a while ago. They also do a lot of general webdesign projects/music production (Linvega, as Aliceffekt)/worldbuilding[3]. A lot of it comes out of their living environment on a sailboat. [0] https://100r.co https://100r.co [1] https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19118951 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19118951 [3] https://wiki.xxiivv.com https://wiki.xxiivv.com

arkades 7y ago

This seems like the right thread to ask: so how does one go about learning to sail?

reverend_gonzo 7y ago
If you live somewhere where there are sailboats, there is likely US Sailing or American Sailing Association classes available, which are definitely worth it. If there’s a yacht club, they will usually have races where they need crew, and where they will teach you to be crew, and then go race with them on their boat. The costs there usually you bring beer/food to the boat and help clean up at the end. That’s a very affordable way to get into it if you’re not sure how you’d like it or can’t afford it. Boats are expensive and maintaining by them even more so, but in my opinion, absolutely worth it.

dangoljames 7y ago

Love this guy. I was a singlehand live-aboard sailor on a motorless boat for seven years. Most of them blended into one long endless sunset on the bay. If not for having met my wife...

ktaylor 7y ago

There's no excuse for keeping his boat in that state of disarray. I've lived aboard a sailboat with my family in the Bahamas and met a lot of full time liveaboards. The only boats I ever saw that were kept like that were the derelict vessels in Biscayne Bay, where destitute or mentally ill homeless lived in rotting anchored boats.