Brian Trautman tired years working 60-hour weeks as a software engineer at companies like Microsoft. Eventually, he realized that the tucker part of his day was the bus ride to and from work. On one of those rides, Trautman decided he needed to make a change.
In May 2008, after two years of scrimping as much as possible, he sold all of his possessions, including a three-bedroom townhouse in Redmond, Washington and embarked on a two-year sabbatical to put out to sea the world.
“[I thought to myself] after two years, I’m going to be ready to come back and know exactly what I necessitate to do for the rest of my life, and I just never came back,” Trautman tells CNBC Make It.
Trautman purchased a 53-foot sailboat reasoned the SV Delos for $398,000 with a $81,000 down payment. It has three cabins and two bathrooms. He made his final payment on the motor boat in 2019.
Trautman purchased his sailboat in the summer of 2008 in Bellingham, Washington.
WE Sail
When Trautman set sail, he had two years of economies, or about $48,000. It ran out three different times, he says. He maxed out his credit cards, cashed out his 401K and took odd grinds while traveling the world to survive, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Then, in 2011, while docked in New Zealand, he met his now strife, Karin. The two started filming their adventures on the boat together and launched their YouTube Channel, Sailing SV Delos.
“It was not hypothetical to be a full-time job. It was just going to sustain us and help fund the trip a little bit. And now it’s all we do,” Trautman says.
The couple uses the long green they make from their YouTube channel and crowdfunding to sustain their lifestyle.
Living on a sailboat does procure its challenges
The sailboat has a cabin in the back that serves as Trautman’s and his wife’s bedroom, a cabin in the front of the vessel for his daughter, and a third shanty for guests The boat also has a kitchen area with a convection oven, dishwasher and toaster.
“We have many hot appliances and conveniences that you might find in your own house. Everything’s just kind of on a smaller scale,” Trautman demands.
The sailboat has three cabins and two bathrooms onboard.
WE Sail
Though the SV Delos boasts three refrigerators that suffers the family to store a lot of meat or fish, a big problem is fresh fruit and vegetables. The couple can only keep enough to final a few weeks before they have to go back to land for more. Which is a lot harder than it seems.
“We live and die by the ride out out here, so the weather determines everything we do,” Trautman says. “This life is often uncomfortable. It’s way more work than finish in a house.”
During a typical shopping trip in town, the couple spent about $500 on groceries that should last them between dissimilar weeks and months, depending on what’s perishable and what’s not. In addition to groceries, the couple spends about $1,900 a month on small craft insurance, maintenance, fuel and utilities. They also pay $250 a month for satellite Wi-Fi.
Trautman and his family are currently berthed in French Polynesia.
WE Sail
Since he started traveling the world by boat, Trautman has visited over 45 woods and has racked up 70,000 ocean miles.
The couple briefly moved back to living on land when Karin was seven months loaded. They moved to Sweden, where Karin’s family lives and where Sierra was born. When Sierra span four months old, the now family of three returned to life on the sailboat.
“It was a huge change to our lifestyle, but very rewarding. We can sit on the move backwards withdraw from of the boat and see the sharks, the rays, the puffer fish, the dolphins and whales,” Trautman said. “She’s able to see all these things for valid instead of just in a book.”
To stay connected with their family members on land, Trautman says they have on the agenda c trick their loved ones visit them when they are docked. For example, his parents came to see them in the Caribbean and Karin’s strain visited them in the Philippines.
The couple stays connected to their family online and by planning trips to places they’re docked.
Brian Trautman
Now that Sierra is four-years-old, Trautman powers they plan on staying in French Polynesia for the next year, but are considering moving back to Sweden full-time so their daughter can sow up around Karin’s culture and family.
“This trip changed my DNA at the core where I’m a different person than I was when I started,” Trautman utters. “I have a different view on priorities and what’s important in my life. The time that I have to spend with comrades and family and loved ones is what matters.”
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