Meet the Boat

If you're not a boater, knowing that we live on a 41-foot boat doesn't provide much context. And if you've been kayaking, fishing, or jet skiing, 41 feet might even sound like a big boat. It is a big boat in many ways, but it's also a small living space for a family of four.

Square footage provides a good frame of reference. We used to live in a typical suburban house: ~2,500 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, corner lot. We had two refrigerators, a double sink, and a five-burner stove with an oven large enough to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. We had two cars, and within 15 minutes, we could be to pretty much any store in town.

Hygge anchored at Little Pipe Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

By comparison, Hygge is 41 feet long, and at her broadest point, 13 feet wide. She requires 4.75 feet of water to float and 63 feet of vertical clearance under bridges and power lines. Fully loaded, she weighs about 22,000 pounds.

This translates to less than 500 square feet of living space. (If you've lived in NYC, you can probably relate.) We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms (heads), and a small but cozy living/dining space with a u-shaped sofa and dining table. The kitchen (galley) has a small refrigerator, a tiny freezer, and a two-burner propane stove with an oven that's barely large enough to roast a whole chicken.

The "patio" is a spacious cockpit that can comfortably seat 4-6 adults. We usually enjoy our morning coffee and at least one meal here. A large canvas bimini provides shade, and we can open the "windshield" if we want a breeze. This is also where the steering wheel (helm), sail controls, and navigation equipment is located, and thus where we spend most of our time when on the move.

For propulsion, we have two sails, a main and a jib. Actually, we have a third sail, but we haven't used it yet -- it's a large spinnaker for downwind sailing. We also have a 42-horsepower diesel engine. Whether under sail, power, or a combination of both, we usually cruise between 5 and 7 knots (nautical miles per hour, or approx. 6-8 land miles per hour).

Our built-in tanks carry 145 gallons of fresh water and 39 gallons of diesel. On deck, we have jugs with another 25 gallons of water, 10 gallons of diesel, and 5 gallons of gasoline. For cooking, we have three, 10-pound propane tanks. Our electronics run on a 12-volt system with batteries that can be charged by solar panels, engine alternator, gas generator, or shore power (when we're docked at a marina).

The "family car" is a 10-foot dinghy with a 2.5-horsepower motor. As far as dinghies go, ours is relatively small and underpowered, but it gets the job done. With four people plus groceries, laundry, trash, and water or fuel jugs, we putter along at about 2 knots. We rarely take the big boat to a dock these days, so we use the dinghy for all our excursions.

There's a video tour on Instagram -- send us a message if you need the details!