This Couple Lives On A Boat And Travels The World For Free

Welcome aboard Delos, where the impossible becomes everyday reality – a 53-foot floating home that’s carried this adventurous family across 83,000 nautical miles of open ocean.

What Brian and Karen have created here isn’t just a sailboat, it’s a completely self-sufficient world that can disappear off the grid for months at a time, powered entirely by sun and wind.

Let me show you how they’ve transformed this vessel into the ultimate sustainable living space, starting right here in the cockpit – what Karen calls “the brain of the boat.” The helm is incredibly well-protected, allowing the crew to navigate safely even in the roughest weather conditions.

Step down into their galley, and you’ll immediately notice this is designed as a true one-person kitchen, narrow enough that whoever’s cooking can brace themselves against both sides during rough seas. The induction stovetop sits on a sophisticated gimbal system, swinging freely as the boat heels so dinner never ends up on the floor.

What’s absolutely remarkable is their front-loading refrigerator – a luxury most boat owners can only dream of, since typical marine fridges are top-loading and notoriously difficult to organize. Tucked right beside it sits their compact washing machine, running every other day to handle cloth diapers for baby Sierra, eliminating tons of waste.

The navigation station showcases some truly impressive technology, including a single sideband ham radio that can communicate across thousands of miles when all other systems fail. But the real showstopper is the custom server rack Brian installed, beaming high-speed internet from space to anywhere on the planet.

Their water system is beautifully simple yet sophisticated – a thousand-liter capacity with a desalination plant capable of producing 200 liters of fresh drinking water every hour. Right now they’re sitting at 500 liters, enough to sustain them for nearly a month without making more.

The main living area serves triple duty as dining room, office, and entertainment space, with generous seating that can accommodate a large crew when needed. What’s hidden beneath these comfortable cushions is even more impressive – massive food storage compartments that can provision them for months of off-grid living.

Each side of the sofa conceals deep freezer compartments, currently running a bit low since they haven’t provisioned in about a month, but essential for storing large fish catches and long-term supplies. The port side has been converted into Sierra’s play area, complete with a custom playpen that keeps her safe while remaining part of the action.

Lift up the main salon floor and you’ll discover their ingenious canned goods storage system, with every item labeled and arranged for easy identification. They’ve removed all the original labels to prevent cockroach infestations – a crucial detail when you’re months away from any pest control services.

The master cabin in the stern feels remarkably spacious for a boat, with enough headroom to stand comfortably and a proper desk for getting work done. Their bed is genuinely comfortable, with dual fans providing cooling since they rarely run air conditioning except when docked at marinas.

The en-suite head demonstrates impressive engineering, with an electric flush system that can either discharge directly overboard in open ocean or store waste in holding tanks when anchored near other boats. The deep sink doubles as Sierra’s bathtub and handles hand-washing duties with ease.

Storage throughout the boat is maximized brilliantly, with their entire wardrobe fitting efficiently into compact closets and additional seasonal items stored beneath the bed. A crucial safety feature here is the watertight bulkhead door – if the stern takes on water, they can seal this entire section and the boat will still float.

The forward cabin sleeps up to three people when needed, but currently serves as their workshop and diaper-drying station, taking advantage of excellent airflow. Having a second head up here is invaluable since marine toilets fail regularly and require constant maintenance.

What’s most remarkable about their lifestyle is how they’ve made it financially sustainable through YouTube videos supported by their “Delos tribe” on Patreon. For the first five years, they worked random jobs wherever they landed – from software consulting to flipping burgers – just to keep sailing another season.

Their monthly budget of $2,500 covers everything from food and fuel to insurance and visa fees, though that doesn’t include the boat purchase itself. Brian estimates spending $700 monthly on maintenance, handling everything from electrical work to diesel mechanics himself – skills that would cost triple if hired out.

The engine room reveals the true heart of their self-sufficiency, accessible through a watertight door in the cockpit floor. Here sits their main diesel engine, 8-kilowatt generator, hot water heater, and even a dive compressor for filling scuba tanks completely independently.

Sierra’s sleeping area showcases thoughtful adaptation to boat life, with a beach tent providing safe sleeping quarters and all medical supplies organized within easy reach. Beneath the cabin floor, eight 100-amp-hour batteries in a 24-volt system store all the power generated by their renewable sources.

Up on deck, their energy independence becomes clear with 1400 watts of solar panels and dual 400-watt wind generators keeping the batteries charged. The gimballed satellite dome provides broadband internet anywhere they roam, essential for their video production work that funds this incredible lifestyle.

The rigging towers impressively overhead, with the main mast reaching 66 feet high – taller than a six-story building. Electric motors control the roller-furling mainsail entirely from the cockpit, meaning they never need to venture forward in dangerous conditions to manage the sails.

But living on a boat means constant vigilance – just the other night they woke to Delos bouncing off the bottom in shallow water, forcing them to dress quickly and move to safety in the dark. In the forward storage locker, they maintain serious emergency equipment including a manual bilge pump, six-person life raft, and complete abandon-ship supplies.

After ten years of this extraordinary lifestyle, Karen says what she loves most is being completely connected to weather and nature, literally living outside all the time. Their next adventure heads to Greenland and the Arctic – a terrifying but thrilling prospect that puts that familiar knot in their stomachs, the same feeling that’s led to their most incredible experiences over the years.