Sailing channels generate a common question: what boat is that? This page answers it. Each entry names the creator, their boat, and its basic specs, and links to any footage of that boat in the video index, most usefully repair videos, which show what actually breaks on these boats and how owners fix it.
Boats listed here are not part of the main PassageBoats catalog and get no bluewater verdict. A creator sailing a boat on camera is a reason to document it, not a recommendation. If a model later earns a full catalog entry on its own merits, the entry links to it.
Jakob Lang
Solo circumnavigation attempt, departed from the Netherlands. The hull window rebuild in the indexed footage happened in Tenerife, before the Atlantic crossing.
The boat
Dehler Optima 92 not in the main catalog
- Designer
- E. G. van de Stadt
- Builder
- Dehler (Germany)
- First built
- 1974
- LOA
- 9.2 m (30 ft)
- Displacement
- 3,900 kg
- Rig
- Fractional sloop
- Keel
- Fin keel, spade rudder
A 30 ft German production cruiser from the mid-1970s. The original hull windows sit on aluminum frames laminated into the hull, a known weak point on the model: leaks let water into the surrounding laminate. Jakob's footage documents the full repair, cutting out all six windows, grinding back delaminated glass, relaminating the openings, and fitting the later clamp-on window design used on newer boats.
Specs: sailboatdata.com / sailboat.guide
Indexed footage of this boat
Full hull-window rebuild in Tenerife: "I had a leakage on that hull window since Europe... the whole window is delaminated. Water was coming into the fiberglass behind the window. That window is screwed onto a stainless steel frame and that one is laminated into the hull, and that has delaminated. So I have to take the whole window out, grind the old fiberglass off, and laminate that frame into the hull again." He replaces all six original hull windows with the later clamp-on style and relaminates the openings with roughly 15 layers of fiberglass.
"The original hull windows on the Optima 92 are a known weak point and we wanted to deal with it before the ocean. But the laminated aluminum frames wouldn't budge, so we gave up and moved on. That decision is now catching up with me." He ends up shipping all six replacement windows from Austria to Tenerife mid-voyage.
James (SV Triteia)
Slow solo circumnavigation aboard SV Triteia, a 1965 Alberg 30, departed from Los Angeles. The indexed video breaks down his $46,000 mid-circumnavigation refit, including a new rudder, a Beta 20 repower, and standing rigging he replaced himself.
The boat
- Designer
- Carl Alberg
- Builder
- Whitby Boat Works
- First built
- 1962
- LOA
- 9.2 m (30 ft)
- Displacement
- 4,082 kg
- Rig
- Sloop
- Keel
- Full keel, keel-hung rudder
A 1965 hull, so early-production: these boats came with wooden rudders, and Triteia's original rudder was still aboard until it was damaged in 2021 and rebuilt in fiberglass over stainless parts. The refit video is a rare itemized look at what keeping a 60-year-old fiberglass boat ocean-ready actually costs.
Specs: PassageBoats catalog
Indexed footage of this boat
Full cost breakdown of keeping a 1965 hull ocean-ready: "We're going to first go over what I spent on my mid-circumnavigation refit, which was really extensive. I end up spending $46,000 to refit a 61-year-old 30-foot yacht."
The original 1965 wooden rudder, damaged on the way to Hawaii in 2021, finally gets replaced: "I had to build a whole new rudder. I didn't feel safe taking the old wooden rudder across the Indian Ocean." The build (fiberglass layup over stainless parts) is documented across several videos on the channel.
Repower after the old diesel lost compression: "We found a Beta Marine Beta 20 engine in Australia, which we had shipped in. Buying the engine and the different parts that needed to go with it and shipping ended up costing $16,000 alone... new fuel tank, all new hoses, all new exhaust system."
- ▶ 48:52repairs⚙ standing riggingWHY WOULD SOMEONE DO A $46,000 REFIT ON A 61 YEAR OLD 30FT BOAT???????
"In 2021 I replaced all the standing rigging on Triteia, plus all Sta-Lok fittings and the swage for the top of the roller furler. All of that cost me $1,200. But I did the work myself... which will last me 10 years."
Sailing Florence
A British couple who completed a circumnavigation aboard Florence, then began a post-circumnavigation refit to prepare her for a passage toward the Arctic. Lived aboard at anchor nearly full time.
The boat
Oyster Heritage 37 not in the main catalog
- Designer
- Holman & Pye
- Builder
- Oyster (UK)
- First built
- 1985
- LOA
- 11.28 m (37 ft)
- Displacement
- 6,985 kg
- Rig
- Masthead sloop
- Keel
- Fin keel, skeg-hung rudder (centreboard option existed on some hulls)
Florence is hull number 6 of 35 Oyster Heritage 37s built. The indexed tour covers her ground tackle and safety gear: a 20kg spade anchor oversized for the boat's size, 60 meters of 10mm chain, and jacklines run bow to stern, details relevant to her actual offshore use rather than just her spec sheet.
Specs: boat-specs.com / sailboatdata.com
Indexed footage of this boat
"Florence is an oyster heritage 37, she's 37 feet long, she was built in 1985 and she's number six of 35 that were built." The tour covers her ground tackle (a 20kg spade anchor and 60 meters of 10mm chain, both oversized for the boat) and jacklines run bow to stern for clipping on underway.
Morgan Cole
Solo offshore passages around the UK and Ireland and into Biscay aboard Safar, a 1985 Saltram Saga 36, often sailing in loose company with his brother Liam aboard a Fantasi 37.
The boat
Saltram Saga 36 not in the main catalog
- Designer
- Alan Pape
- Builder
- K.R. Skentelbery & Sons (Plymouth, UK)
- First built
- 1985
- LOA
- 10.9 m (36 ft)
- Displacement
- 9,500 kg
- Rig
- Cutter
- Keel
- Long keel, double-ended hull (Colin Archer-influenced lines)
A heavy-displacement long-keel double-ender built as a seaworthy cruiser, sailed hard and solo in the indexed footage: overnight gales in the 40-knot range logged off Scotland, and a solo Bay of Biscay crossing. Morgan is upfront that the footage is unedited single-take documentation of real solo passages, not staged.
Specs: sailboat.guide / sailboatdata.com
Indexed footage of this boat
A solo passage from west-coast Scotland across the Irish Sea and into the Bay of Biscay aboard the long-keel double-ender, filmed unedited: "Solo sailing is tough... What you're seeing is a true account. Nothing is staged. Every clip is one take."
Departing Scotland after overnight gales gusting near 40 knots, then routing solo around the Mull of Kintyre, "a really sort of notorious area," timed against the tide.
Holly Martin
Solo circumnavigation attempt begun in October 2018 from Pemaquid Harbor, Maine, aboard her Grinde 27 Gecko, departing at age 26 after roughly a year of refit work.
The boat
Grinde 27 not in the main catalog
- Designer
- Peter Bruun
- Builder
- Flipper Scow, later Peter Bruun (Denmark)
- First built
- 1974
- LOA
- 8.2 m (27 ft)
- Displacement
- 3,500 kg
- Rig
- Sloop
- Keel
- Double-ended hull; specific keel profile not confirmed in available sources
A Danish double-ender from the mid-1970s, about 580-600 built. The indexed boat tour covers her small-boat cruising systems in detail: a gimballed propane stove and oven, a foot-pumped saltwater/freshwater galley setup, and an un-refrigerated icebox used as a ventilated vegetable locker, the kind of minimalist systems choices that matter for a solo sailor on a 27-foot boat.
Specs: goodoldboat.com saildata
Indexed footage of this boat
A tour of Gecko's minimalist systems for solo cruising: a gimballed propane stove and oven, a foot-pumped saltwater wash before a fresh-water rinse, and an un-refrigerated icebox run as a vented vegetable locker.
Slowly Somewhere
A couple sailing Hepatica from Vancouver Island toward Mexico and onward across the Pacific, since reaching French Polynesia (Marquesas, Nuku Hiva, Tuamotus).
The boat
Roberts 29 not in the main catalog
- Designer
- Bruce Roberts
- Builder
- Amateur-built to a Bruce Roberts plan (hull material and build year not confirmed for this specific boat)
Bruce Roberts designs are sold as plans for home construction rather than built to a single factory spec, so displacement, ballast, and construction material vary hull to hull. Worth a source-checked spec pass if this creator is indexed further; not asserted here to avoid attributing another hull's numbers to Hepatica.
Specs: Channel's own "about" description; Bruce Roberts design plans are sold for amateur construction in steel, aluminum, fiberglass, or wood-epoxy, so exact specs vary by hull and are not asserted here without a confirmed source for this one
Allison and James
Documenting off-grid cruising along the British Columbia coast and into Alaska aboard their Catalina 30, Uintah, run deliberately no-frills: no refrigeration, no autopilot, anchor hauled by hand.
The boat
Catalina 30 not in the main catalog
- Designer
- Frank Butler
- Builder
- Catalina Yachts (USA)
- First built
- 1974
- LOA
- 9.14 m (30 ft)
- Displacement
- 4,627 kg
- Rig
- Masthead sloop
- Keel
- Fin keel, spade rudder (standard rig configuration)
Uintah is run as a minimalist coastal and inside-passage cruiser rather than a bluewater passagemaker: the indexed footage covers a deliberate, tide-timed transit of Cape Caution, a notoriously exposed stretch of the BC coast, using VHF weather broadcasts and slack-water timing rather than offshore routing.
Specs: goodoldboat.com saildata / Wikipedia (Uintah's own build year not independently confirmed; production ran 1974-2008)
Indexed footage of this boat
A tide-timed transit of Cape Caution, a notoriously exposed stretch of the BC coast, planned around a marine weather broadcast and slack water rather than offshore routing: "we need to get underway... so that we can traverse Cape Caution."
Boat facts are drawn from the creator's own footage and public specification databases, noted per boat. Being listed here is not an endorsement of the boat or the channel. Research notes, not professional advice.