All Posts

Why the shift from vibe-based to evidence-based reporting is quietly reshaping the used boat market TrueNorth Yacht Advisors If you are shopping for a cruising boat in 2026, it can feel like the rules changed mid-season. You find the right boat. The layout works. The sea trial is good. The owner is credible. The boat is not new, but it is honest. Then the deal runs into the modern gate: insurance. That is the moment many buyers realize a hard truth about today’s market. You a

Lagoon 380 Pre-Purchase Inspection Checklist (2026 Insurance-Smart Survey Prep Guide) TreNorth Yacht Advisors - Lagoon 380 The Lagoon 380 is one of the easiest cruising catamarans in the world to shop for. There are always listings. Always photos. Always someone saying, “Perfect liveaboard, ready to go.” And that’s the trap. Because the Lagoon 380 isn’t one market. It’s three markets wearing the same name badge: The privately owned boat that’s been cared for, documented, and

Boat Insurance 2025–2026: Underwriting, Surveys, Refit Proof, and How Buyers Avoid Uninsurable Boats True North Yacht Advisors You find the boat. The price is fair. The photos look honest. The seller swears it is “ready to go tomorrow.” Then you call an insurer, and suddenly you are not buying a boat anymore. You are applying for permission. If you have not felt this shift yet, you will. In 2025–2026, the deal often lives or dies on insurability, not negotiation skill. It is

Fear of Offshore Cruising Preparation Guide: How to Feel Safe at Sea by Learning the Boat, Managing Weather, and Fixing Issues Early TrueNorth Yacht Advisors This guide answers the question: How do I turn fear of offshore cruising into practical confidence through preparation? When I first pitched cruising to Erin, her mind went straight to sharks. Not “sharks might be out there.” More like: the sharks will eat the boat to get to us. It wasn’t silly. Well, a little silly. . I

TrueNorth Yacht Advisors - Cooking at sea 12V Rice Cooker + Pressure Cooker + Pressure Canner: A Practical Offshore Meal System Cooking offshore isn’t hard because recipes are complicated. It’s hard because you’re tired, it’s hot, the boat won’t sit still, and nobody wants a full production involving three pans and a cutting board that’s trying to leave the counter. This is a simple meal system that works on most cruising boats—whether you’re coastal-hopping or stacking up lo

How Buyers Waste Money by Surveying the Wrong Yacht (A Pre-Survey Decision Guide) TrueNorth Yacht Advisors - Yacht buying tips This article answers a question many yacht buyers only realize too late: how do you know which boats are worth surveying at all? Buying a used yacht—especially a serious cruising boat—often feels like a rational process. You read listings, look at photos, talk to brokers, maybe even make a spreadsheet. Eventually, you do the “responsible” thing and bo

Leopard 42 Buyer’s Guide: Common Problems, Survey Checklist, and What to Inspect Before Buying The Leopard 42 has earned a solid reputation among long-term cruisers. Built by Robertson & Caine in the early 2000s, it sits in a rare sweet spot: conservative laminate work, good bridgedeck clearance for its era, and systems that remain accessible without tearing the boat apart. That reputation is deserved — but only when the individual boat has been properly maintained . At twen

TrueNorth Yacht Advisors - Living afloat Over the past few years, a quiet shift has been taking place. As housing costs rise and long-term stability feels less guaranteed, more people are downsizing their lives. Vans, tiny homes, cabins, and off-grid living have all moved from the fringe into the mainstream conversation. Alongside this, another option is slowly being rediscovered — not loudly, not dramatically — but steadily: living aboard a modest yacht. Not as a luxury life

Boat Market 2026 Analysis: Insurance-Driven Price Split, Buyer Risk, and Why Survey-Prep Guides Matter TrueNorth Yacht Advisors This article explains how the 2026 used-boat market has split due to insurance and financing constraints, how that split changes real buyer risk and pricing, and how structured pre-survey preparation helps buyers avoid costly mistakes while identifying genuinely undervalued boats. 1. Introduction – A New Reality in the Used Boat Market Over the past

TrueNorth Yacht Advisors - Survey Guide Buying a used boat is exciting, but it can also feel like stepping into a maze of hidden systems, misleading listings, and details that only show themselves after the bill of sale is signed. A proper marine survey will eventually give you the hard facts — but the first viewing is your moment to spot early warning signs, ask informed questions, and avoid wasting time on boats that will never be a good match. This is exactly where our US

Why the Tropics Turn Your Boat Into a Sauna—and What You Can Do About It. Cruising yachts can cross oceans, shrug off gales, and keep you alive when the weather turns vindictive. What they cannot do—on their own—is stay cool, dry, and civilized in tropical humidity. Anyone who has spent a wet season in Southeast Asia knows the truth: the climate always gets the final vote. Captn Tommy at the helm In Norway, ventilation is comfort. In the tropics, ventilation is boat preservat

Homesteaders Make Better Offshore Sailors Offshore provisioning is not about gourmet meals, it’s about reliable, shelf-stable food that works when marinas are expensive, grocery access is limited, and the boat is moving. This guide explains a practical bluewater pantry system using pressure canning and simple galley workflows, with an emphasis on safety, storage, and real-world seamanship. Most sailors can talk for hours about solar arrays, battery banks, windvanes, foul-weat

Most people ease into sailing gradually. We did not. Aphrodite 36 - TrueNorth Yacht Advisors first boat Our first sailboat — an Aphrodite 36 we bought with more enthusiasm than experience — was supposed to carry us from Stavanger to Alta. A thousand nautical miles, two kids, a tiny puppy, and two adults who absolutely did not know how to handle a sailboat at sea or in a marina. Tommy had sailed oil tankers for years, but those giants don’t exactly stop — they just begin the p

Buying a used cruising yacht isn’t complicated—until it is. One moment you’re scrolling through listings, dreaming about trade winds and sundowners. The next, you’re trying to interpret bilge photos sent from an owner who last used a camera sometime around the Nokia era. TrueNorth Boat Buyers Guide Most buyers quickly discover the same truth: A yacht may look perfect in the listing, but the real story is always in the details. And that’s exactly why the TrueNorth Survey-Prep

Why not choose a sailboat instead? Every few months, someone in a digital nomad forum posts a photo of a beach in Thailand and writes something like, “Imagine working from here.” The comments roll in: Which café? Is the Wi-Fi stable? What’s the best SIM card? Does the coffee come with oat milk? For a community built on the idea of freedom, most nomads still stay surprisingly close to shore. And yet, just beyond that same beach, there’s usually a handful of sailboats swing

The Seawind 1160 has earned its reputation as a capable, practical cruising catamaran — light on its feet, cleverly designed, and built for sailors who value simplicity over excess.But like every production catamaran in the 38–40 ft range, the 1160 has patterns.Not flaws — patterns. And understanding those patterns early can save a buyer dozens of emails, a few flights, and potentially thousands of dollars in surveys and haul-outs that didn’t need to happen. That’s why we cre

TrueNorth Yacht Advisors Before you spend thousands on travel and a formal survey, you need independent, model-specific knowledge to veto the wrong boat early. This two-step system is built for committed bluewater buyers who reward diligent sellers and walk away from costly problems. Step 1: The Model-Specific Survey Guide (USD 29) The Essential Foundation These aren’t generic checklists. Each guide is built on dozens of surveys, owner reports, and known failure patterns for

TreNorth Yacht Advisors - FP Helia 44 The Fountaine Pajot Helia 44 is one of the most popular cruising catamarans on the market — spacious, efficient under sail, and capable of serious bluewater passages. But like every production multihull, it has a set of recurring structural, mechanical, and moisture-related issues that buyers should approach with clear eyes. Across hundreds of buyer reports, owner logs, and survey findings, a pattern emerges: the difference between a grea

Choosing a production bluewater cruising catamaran is one of the biggest decisions a sailor makes. A boat isn’t just a means of travel; it becomes the framework around every hour of life at sea. Its structure shapes how it behaves in swell. Its systems determine how often you explore instead of repair. Its shading, ventilation, and weight distribution influence how livable it becomes during long tradewind passages or months in tropical heat. Pick the wrong platform and the fr

Step aboard enough boats and you start noticing something long before you see the woodwork, the rig, or the state of the sails. It’s the smell. Every cabin has its own version of it. Some are friendly and familiar — a mix of varnish, canvas, and the memory of yesterday’s coffee. Others remind you of wet lockers, old hose, and a leak that’s been there longer than the current owner. Whatever form it takes, smell is often the first hint of how a boat has been living. Boat smell