How We Bought a Sailboat in Our 20’s

How did two people in their 20s afford to buy a sailboat and sail around the world? In this episode of Stella Overboard, we finally sit down and share the full story of how we went from living in a beat-up van in Australia to buying a 39ft sailboat and sailing across Southeast Asia full-time. A few years ago we had almost no money, no house, no savings, and honestly no idea what our future looked like. After meeting in Byron Bay, Australia, we spent months living out of our van, traveling the coast, surfing, fishing, and trying to figure out how we could create a completely different life for ourselves. That’s when we made the decision to work FIFO mining jobs in remote Western Australia. FIFO (Fly-In Fly-Out) work meant living for weeks at a time in isolated mining camps deep in the Australian outback, working exhausting 12-hour shifts in extreme heat, dirt, iron ore dust, and nonstop routines. It was physically and mentally draining, but it gave us one opportunity we never thought we’d have — the ability to save serious money quickly. For nearly two years we sacrificed comfort, freedom, time together, and pretty much everything normal people in their 20s were doing… all with one goal: Buy a sailboat and escape the traditional path. While many people around us were buying houses, financing cars, and settling into city life, we took a completely different route and invested everything into a life of adventure, freedom, travel, sailing, surfing, and living off-grid on the ocean. In this video we talk honestly about: ⚓ How we saved enough money to buy our sailboat Stella ⚓ What FIFO mining jobs in Australia are REALLY like ⚓ How much sailboats actually cost to own and maintain ⚓ The truth about living aboard full-time ⚓ How we make money while sailing around the world ⚓ YouTube income, sponsorships, and online work ⚓ The hardest parts of sailboat life nobody talks about ⚓ Why sailing can be both cheaper AND more expensive than normal life ⚓ Boat maintenance, haul-outs, diesel, repairs, insurance & hidden costs ⚓ Why we chose Indonesia and Southeast Asia for cruising ⚓ How surfing, freedom, and adventure changed our lives forever This lifestyle didn’t come from family money, trust funds, or luck. It came from years of hard work, sacrifice, risk-taking, and believing that life could be different if we were willing to work for it. Now we’re sailing through remote Indonesia, surfing empty waves, exploring untouched islands, living off solar power, fishing for food, and documenting every part of this journey here on YouTube. Some days are incredible. Some days are exhausting. But every single day feels like we’re actually living. If you’ve ever dreamed of buying a sailboat, quitting normal life, traveling the world, living off-grid, van life, sailing the Pacific, or creating freedom for yourself — we hope this video inspires you to go after it. Thanks for being here and supporting this crazy adventure ❤️ ⛵ Subscribe and follow along as we continue sailing through Indonesia and beyond with our sailboat Stella. #Sailing #SailboatLife #BoatLife #Liveaboard #VanLife #Indonesia #FIFO #SailingAroundTheWorld #AdventureCouple #TravelCouple #OffGridLiving #SailingChannel #SailingVlog #SailingAdventure #LifeAtSea #SailingIndonesia #CoupleGoals #TravelVlog #Surfing #Catamaran #YachtLife #StellaOverboard 00:00 Welcome to Stella Overboard 00:38 How We Bought a Sailboat in Our 20s 02:12 Living Van Life Before the Boat 03:40 What FIFO Mining Jobs Are Like 05:55 Life Inside the Australian Mines 08:02 The Reality of Saving for a Sailboat 10:18 How We Make Money Sailing Full-Time 12:25 The REAL Cost of Sailboat Life 14:35 Expensive Boat Repairs & Maintenance 16:10 Why Sailing Asia Is So Much Cheaper 17:45 Can You Sail on a Budget? 19:05 coming up next week 💙 A huge thank you to everyone supporting us on Patreon — you truly help make this sailboat life possible. Patreon- https://www.patreon.com/cw/Jesse_and_camille Who we are - https://youtu.be/fWhhJpkirKc?si=1xAabVPlHIZiPpYF Podcast of Jesse’s Bike Journey- https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ODqtowFPNMSDXnSjevgLs?si=d49KK69ZRcqyoRVTo7KxBg&utm_medium=share&utm_source=linktree&nd=1&dlsi=8c0c7685b43f4691 Last video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L1ouhVmW4c&t=12s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stella.overboard/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@stella.overboard?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Contact- Stella.Overboard@gmail.com Other Links- https://linktr.ee/jesse_camille?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnYWXYeaRbtG8cuME808htx0I_89npta6Uwm2QSM5oJ_jfDz2UR0u1VZTF2ds_aem_ti5GChu7Y2Kort48E57V9A