Man Living on a Homemade Solar-Powered Sailboat - 100 Percent Fossil-Free

Building a Dream: Simon Stiles's Solar-Powered Sailboat

You'll want to watch this short video on how one man built his solar-powered home in the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia. Simon Stiles had the vision to build his solar-powered sailboat in the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia to have the freedom to live wherever he wanted. In this video, Simon arrives on Gabriola Island to begin restoring and outfitting a broken old boat to fulfill his dream of living on the waters and off-grid. With no prior experience, he makes mistakes and learns life-changing skills and lessons along the way. Stiles says that life off the grid has a romantic appeal, and while he gets the romantic notion of this lifestyle as there are great days and fantastic Instagram photos to get you inspired.

The Reality of Off-Grid Living

But what an off-grid lifestyle requires is someone who can live in balance, deal with what they have, and prepare for what is coming. Now if you throw the ocean into that equation, this lifestyle takes a little bit more. Stiles says that the little bit more is stubbornness. This is the part of the video that gets interesting with snow, stormy waters and weather conditions, and things that go wrong. The video shows Stiles saying that he is on the tenth day in a row of wind storms, all the while he is living in a boat. In the same clip, he says that the boat hasn't broken loose, which is, of course, a good thing, and he says there is a boat in the background that is being smashed to pieces on the rocks which he can't do anything about, a stressful situation to say the least. He then states that maybe he will just wear a lifejacket to bed.

A Journey from Camper Van to Sailboat

Stiles's story started 5 years ago when he was living in a camper van, at that time he didn't know anything about living off the grid, nor did he know anything about living on the water. At that time he was completely enamored with the idea of living off-grid, on a fossil fuel-free sailboat. He quotes a saying about boats saying the best day about being a boatowner is the day you buy your boat and the day you sell her.

Lessons Learned and Skills Acquired

The video follows him from the day he bought the boat and the journey that he took. The video is a good eye opener to see the amount of money, time, and work that it takes to maintain and care for a boat, and a lot of the things you will have to consider if a boat is something you've been thinking about. After 4 years Stiles has built himself a home, the boat is not done, but along the way, he has picked up a lot of skills, immersed himself in the community, had a fantastic learning experience, and got to know different places. The project is not done yet, he still has a way to go, but he is looking forward to lifting anchor and setting sail.