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Sailing vessel Delos, a 53-foot ketch on the open ocean

They Sold the House, Bought a 53-Foot Ketch, and Circled the Planet More Than Three Times

So you want to know what life actually looks like living on a self-sufficient sailboat for a decade? Here's the short, delicious version: they run on sun, wind, saltwater, and stubbornness.

Self-sufficient sailboat living powered by sun, wind, and saltwater

They can stock up, shove off, and be completely off-grid for months at a time—no marinas, no grocery runs, just the ocean and a weirdly efficient toaster.

Meet Brian, Karin and tiny Sierra

They're not vague Instagram vagabonds; they're a real family with a real plan and a lot of spreadsheets.

Delos has 83,000 nautical miles under her keel, which is absurd and glorious.

Sailing vessel Delos with 83,000 nautical miles traveled

That distance equals circling the Earth at the equator more than three times, in case you were wondering how dramatic their odometer is.

Karin's Swedish, Brian's from Arizona, and they somehow made this combination work in saltwater instead of politics.

Also: baby Sierra is legit sea-ready—six months old and described as a "little sea baby" because of course she is.

Brian went from software engineer to full-time sailor and YouTuber, which is peak modern career pivot energy.

He literally plotted a four-year plan to sell everything and buy a boat, and then he actually did it.

Welcome to their floating home, Delos, the place that turns "where do you live?" into a complicated answer.

They love desolate beaches and being low-impact travelers, which is easier when you can move your entire house by wind.

The setup is built to be sustainable: solar, wind and a desalinator mean less reliance on ports and more on the elements.

They even make their own water on board, which sounds like sci-fi until you realize it's a glorified reverse-osmosis box that saves your life in the middle of nowhere.

The cockpit that runs the whole show

The cockpit is the command center, and it's designed so you rarely need to leave it when sailing.

Delos is a 53-foot sloop-rig ketch, which means two masts and a whole lot of graceful complexity up top.

From here you steer, trim sails, and basically play puppet master with the ocean.

The helm is super protected so you can sit dry and safe while still having a full view—great when the weather turns savage.

All the sail controls are led back to the cockpit, so short-handed sailing doesn't feel like a death wish.

A kitchen built for rough ocean nights

The galley is tiny but seriously thought-through, because on passages you need everything within arm's reach.

It's basically a one-person kitchen so you can brace yourself and not become a projectile of utensils when Delos heels.

They run an induction stove (bye propane dramas) and the oven sits on a gimbal so dinner doesn't end up on the floor.

There's even a cheeky little toaster, because some luxuries are non-negotiable at sea.

Karin calls the storage a puzzle—everything has its place and if you mess up that place, nothing fits.

Where they run the ship's brains

There's a small room with expensive toys that keep the boat smart and connected, because yes, you can have Wi‑Fi at sea now.

This is the navigation and electronics station where charts, radios and decisions live.

They keep an SSB ham radio so they can send emails and voice messages across thousands of miles if everything else fails.

And then there's a whole server rack powering a satellite system, which beams internet down from space so they can work and vlog anywhere.

The living room is actually provisions central

Inside, the saloon is their social hub and also where food logistics get nerdy.

This is where they eat, work, and host an ever-changing crew depending on the season.

They have monstrous food storage that's purpose-built for long trips, because fresh produce isn't always an option out in the boonies.

The freezers are a luxury: two big freezers let them preserve massive fish hauls or bulk-provision for months.

They even set up a play area for Sierra in the saloon so she can be part of life without stealing the galley.

What off-grid cruising really means

It's romantic until you run out of tomatoes on a remote island and realize canned living is suddenly your reality.

Karin describes the panic the first time they ran out of fresh veg—one month of canned life was an eye-opener.

Most of their time is anchored, not sailing; about 90% at anchor and only 10% actually underway.

Every big decision is seasonal—weather and currents decide where Delos can go and when, not their mood board.

Where they sleep, shower and stash

The stern cabin is their main bedroom and it's cozy in the best kind of way.

They can stand up, work a little, and sleep in a decent-sized bed that actually makes offshore life tolerable.

The head (that's boat-speak for bathroom) is compact but has everything you need, including a pump system and holding tank for sensitive anchorages.

Storage is optimized to the Nth degree—clothes are pared down to essentials and things you rarely use live under the bed.

A watertight bulkhead door provides serious safety: close it and a flooded aft won't doom the whole boat.

A forward cabin that moonlights as a workshop

Up front they've got a cabin that doubles as workspace, sewing room, and diaper-drying station.

It fits people for overnight sails but mainly functions as practical storage and workshop space.

They also keep a second toilet up front, which is the kind of redundancy you learn to love when one head fails mid-cruise.

How they pay for it and keep it all working

Delos is financed partly by making videos, and their community (the "Delos tribe") funds a huge slice of the project via Patreon.

Their vlog income, a bit of affiliate cash, and Patreon support are the glue that lets them keep cruising.

What actually keeps the boat moving and alive

The engine room is a small, hot, fascinating place that houses the guts of the boat.

You climb down from the cockpit through a waterproof hatch and you're in the mechanical heart of Delos.

There's a main diesel engine for when the wind's asleep, an 8 kW generator for heavy demands, and a desalination unit that turns salt into drinking water.

Up top they have solar and wind to keep the batteries happy—1,400 watts of solar panels and two wind turbines make a surprising amount of juice.

Why they still do it (and the next scary plan)

Living on Delos is equal parts terrifying and magical, and that tension is why they keep going.

They love being tuned to weather and seasons, and now they're gearing up to swap tropical beaches for ice floes, adding heaters and cold-weather gear to chase the Arctic next summer.

If that doesn't sound like a bold life pivot, I don't know what does—also, who else would add a baby to the crew and still want to sail into ice?

They keep it real: maintenance is constant, budgets exist, and sometimes you wake up at midnight to re-anchor in a storm.

But the payoff is entire beaches to yourself, endless horizons, and a life that's actually full of discovery instead of same-old routines.

If you want more, the Delos videos are a delight—beautiful, honest, and proof that with the right planning, life on a boat can be sustainable, tiny-epic, and family-friendly.

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