The Best Books For Liveaboards 2025
If you’re thinking of moving onto a sailboat full time then it’s worth investing in some of the best books for liveaboards. These books are full of incredibly useful information, inspiring stories and realistic, attainable advice.
They’re what we devoured before and during our big move aboard our 38ft sailboat, and we’ve been living aboard for 7 years now so they must have worked!
These liveaboard books saved us a lot of time and effort before we moved aboard, and they’ll do the same for you too. They also make great gifts for anyone you know who is planning on running away to sea – trust me, they’re life savers (and marriage savers, diet savers, boredom savers etc.)!
I’ve split these best books for liveaboards into different categories to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Table of Contents
- The best guidebooks for liveaboards
- The best books for boat maintenance
- The best liveaboard books for sailing knowledge
- Sailing books for cooking onboard
- General useful books for liveaboards
- Fiction books for liveaboards!
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Our Top Three
For anyone in a real hurry, here is a quick round up of our top 3 favourite liveaboard books to get you up and running when moving onto a sailboat.
🏆 How To Run Away To Sea – The Ultimate Liveaboard Guide
🏆 Boat Owners Mechanical And Electrical Manuel
The Best Guidebooks For Liveaboards
These are (in our opinion!) the best books for liveaboards overall. They give you insight into what living aboard is really like, advice on things like budgeting, buying a boat, working from the boat and all the other little details you may or may not have already considered.
They aren’t necessarily subject-specific, but they cover a range of important topics well and are super useful for anyone planning on living aboard or just starting their liveaboard journeys.
#1 How To Run Away To Sea – The Ultimate Guide
I couldn’t really write a post on this without referring to my own liveaboard book! And I wouldn’t have put it up on this website if I didn’t think it was the best out there! So full disclosure, this one is about my pride and joy and my one little chance to boast – sorry in advance!
How To Run Away To Sea was written because there’s a huge need for an up-to-date guide on becoming a liveaboard.
After living at sea for three years now and having gone through all the processes, complications, excitement and heartache that anyone starting this journey is about to go through, I wanted to provide something truly useful.
This guidebook will take you from planning your adventure all the way through to living aboard. From leaving home, to finding and buying your dream boat, to making this lifestyle last. It’s 200+ pages of incredibly useful information that I wish we’d had, and includes lots of printouts to keep you organised!
This is the ultimate book to becoming a liveaboard!
I know I would say that, but I poured months of my life into this because I want it to be the reason you get out there – it’s the best decision we made and I know you won’t regret doing the same!
✅ Find out more and buy your copy here.
#2 Get Real Get Gone
I bought this liveaboard book as a present for Adam when we were just in the dreaming stages and he read it cover to cover in a matter of days. In fact, it might be the only book I’ve seen him properly read instead of just browse.
This book is great for anyone trying to live on a real shoestring. We didn’t agree with all the information in this book. We really don’t advise skipping out on boat insurance for example! But it’s a great book for anyone wanting a rough idea of the lifestyle and how to do it super cheaply.
The Best Liveaboard Books For Boat Maintenance
Becoming a liveaboard will mean lots of sailing, but it will also mean a lot of maintenance. Unless you’re made of money you should get used to the idea of working on your boat – a lot!
It soon becomes part of the lifestyle and most of the time the jobs are pretty enjoyable, especially when you know they’re adding to your quality of life on board. The famous saying ‘living on a boat is doing DIY in exotic locations’ is a pretty accurate one!
As you won’t always have internet access it’s a smart idea to carry a couple of books that can help you get the jobs done. These are our top picks!
#3 Boat Owners Mechanical And Electrical Manuel
We’ve got a (slightly more dated) copy of this book onboard and it’s super useful. It goes into detail about onboard electrical systems, basic diesel engine maintenance, generators, solar power and even things like autopilots, winches and rigging.
It’s not the most detailed in all areas of sailboat maintenance but it does a good job of helping you understand and troubleshoot most of the major systems onboard, so it’s a great book to carry around with you.
#4 Marine Diesel Engines
If you’re looking for something a little more in depth when it comes to engine maintenance then this book is a good choice. We’re a little terrified of our engine but this book does a good job of simplifying things.
It will help you to diagnose and repair problems with your engine, and has some good advice on routine maintenance to help you keep your engine as healthy as possible!
#5 The Best Books For Liveaboards On Marine Electronics
We’re lucky that Adam has an electronics background, so he’s pretty good at sorting all our electrical systems. If it was left to me though, I’d need some guidance, and this book ‘Sailboat Electronics Simplified’, has been recommended to us by liveaboard friends.
It comes with clear illustrations and some great safety advice, which is key when you’re doing anything to your electrical systems! This book gets top votes for using simple, non-technical language that any sailor can understand.
#6 The Riggers Apprentice
Another great liveaboard book when it comes to simplifying things that aren’t easy to understand. Which, let’s face it, is most of the systems onboard a sailboat!
The Riggers Apprentice will help you to understand your sailboats rigging, spot potential problems and fix them. It’s a great book to have onboard to help you get the most from your boat.
The Best Liveaboard Books For Sailing Knowledge
When Adam and I bought our sailboat, Hot Chocolate, neither of us had a clue how to sail! I’m not saying this is advisable, but if this how you choose to go about chasing your dream then we say go for it!
BUT, you do need to make sure you’re safe out there. Not only for yourself, but for everyone else out on the water. We’ve put together a whole host of ways you can learn to sail for free, and the follow books will serve as great reminders and prompts to keep close at hand for the first few months of liveaboard sailing life.
#7 The Cockpit Companion
We’re three years into living aboard full time, with miles of sailing experience under our belts now, but I still keep a copy of this at the helm.
The Cockpit Companion isn’t a book as such, but more of a little guide you can use to quickly look up anything you’re not sure of. Things like who the stand on vessel is in any situation, correct day shapes and lights and navigation buoys are all included and more.
#8 One Of The Best Books For Liveaboards – Sailing For Dummies
We love all the ‘for dummies’ range and this is no exception. It’s not going to make you an expert but it will teach you all the basics in sailing theory. This is the perfect read for anyone getting to grips with sailing basics – it certainly doesn’t cover all you need to know but it’s a good start and it’s written in a way that most will understand!
You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn from just reading a book.
#9 The Complete Sailing Manuel
Written by former British national champion Steve Sleight, this is a way more advanced version of Sailing For Dummies. It has tonnes of information on different types of sailing practice, including things like the ins and outs of electric navigation and the physics of sailing a boat.
It can get a little technical at times but if you’re someone who enjoys delving into a topic then this is a really great read.
It’s illustrated well with photos and diagrams so you can actually see everything being explained for those visual learners out there. It’s also got a lot of information for any wanna be race sailors! This is a big book with a lot of information, but if you’re serious about learning to sail then it’s a great choice.
Sailing Books For Onboard Cooking
Some peoples favourite topic – cooking on a sailboat. Cooking is a passion for many people, but when you become a liveaboard you quickly realise that cooking on a boat is not quite the same as cooking on land.
Luckily there are a huge number of books out there to help you navigate the complex world of cooking on a sailboat! There are our go to recipe books when on board, and they all come with handy tips about provisioning and making food last longer.
You’ll also want to consider your galley equipment and make sure you have all the essentials to make cooking on a boat that little bit easier and more enjoyable!
These are the best books for liveaboards that like to cook up a storm (not literally!) in the galley!
#10 The Hunter And The Gatherer
We had never heard of this book before we got sent a copy to review, and honestly we can’t believe it isn’t more well known.
We’re always a little skeptical about reviewing products because it can put us in a bit of an awkward position. It’s hard to say bad things about something you’ve been sent. But we’ve also always promised we’ll be honest because the last thing we want is a website full of rave reviews on things our readers are going to be disappointed by.
That’s why we were so relieved and impressed by the quality of this book, and why this rave review is easy to write!
The Hunter and The Gatherer by Catherine Lawson and David Bristow (a couple who bought up their family on a sailboat) had us hooked from the first page. It’s really well-written, engaging, factual and super useful. It’s also quite inspiring, showing how you can be pretty self-sufficient on a boat if you’re determined enough.
We’ve always been keen to grow vegetables on board but never had much success. This book talks you through the ins and outs of making it work and we can’t wait to give it a try.
There’s also a whole load of great recipes that take into account the fact you can’t source a lot of exotic ingredients in far-flung places. It’s very obvious this book has been written by world cruisers for world cruisers. If you’re just looking for one onboard cookbook then this should be it.
✅ Get The Hunter and the Gatherer here
#11 The Boat Galley
Carolyn Shearlock has a little series of galley books, all of which are excellent. This is the best one to start with though, with over 800 recipes designed by a liveaboard sailor for liveaboards!
This liveaboard cookbook covers it all, and is the best choice for anyone sailing offshore or heading off on long passages, and it takes into account the fact you might well be cooking with limited food resources in a moving space! If you only get one cookbook this should be it!
✅ Get your copy from Amazon now.
#12 The Boat Cookbook
To be honest, this isn’t the most practical boat cookbook for serious sailors, but we have a copy and we love it! It’s got really delicious recipes that spice things up a bit when you get stuck in a meal routine you want to break!
The problem with this cookbook is that it does want you to use ingredients that aren’t always the easiest or cheapest to find. It’s a better buy for those who don’t plan on being too far from civilisation and we tend to use it when we’ve just got back from a trip to the supermarket!
It’s beautifully presented so it makes a great gift for that sailor in your life!
✅ Buy your copy now from Amazon.
#13 Best Books For Liveaboards On Preserving Food
This is always a hot topic among sailors who have a seemingly never ending battle to keep fresh food fresh! This book delves into all the different ways you can preserve different types of food.
Some of the methods aren’t really suitable for a sailboat, but a lot of them are, and they should mean you can keep going for longer without needing a shoreline and a supermarket!
More Useful Liveaboard Books
A few extra liveaboard books that we’ve found super useful on our adventures! And some that haven’t been ‘useful’ as such, but inspirational.
#14 Leaving The Safe Harbour
For anyone thinking of raising a family onboard a sailboat, grab yourself a copy of this book. This is the real life story of how a couple move onto a sailboat with their five kids, and how they make it work. Yep, you read that right – five kids on a sailboat! Hats off to them!
#15 Fifty Places To Sail Before You Die
If you plan on sailing around the world then this is a really dreamy book. It looks at some of the best cruising grounds out there and will have you quitting your job and buying that sailboat a little (lot) faster than you’d planned! But that’s not such a bad thing, right?
If you’re looking for great places to sail then we can thoroughly recommend Greece as the perfect cruising destination. Sailing in Greece is a dream!
#16 Outdoor Knots
This is another little prompt book like the Cockpit Companion we mentioned above. It’s good to keep with you up on deck and then you can use it in an emergency, or just to pass the time on long, lazy passages.
The Best Fiction Books For Liveaboards
If you’re searching for something sailing related that’s a little less information and a little more relaxation then check out some of these great ‘fiction’ liveaboard books. Ok, so maybe not quite fiction, but autobiographies written in a fictional style that make for a fun read and give away a little knowledge for living aboard too!
#17 For Better, For Worse
This book tells the story of a family who have a bit of a midlife crisis, leave their jobs and home and move onto a sailboat on the French canals. It’s told from both the husbands and wife’s perspectives, and is hilarious.
It’s also a really good read to prepare you for what relationships can be like on a sailboat! If you want something light hearted and fun then this is a great read!
✅ Get your copy from The Book Depository
A Voyage For Madmen
The true story of the famous 1968 Golden Globe sailing race: the first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world. A wonderfully told story that covers all sorts of the emotions felt from being at sea, and what it can ultimately drive men to do.
I guess for me one of the biggest challenges of sailing and living a life at sea has been the emotional side, and this really delves into that. Sailing is only part physical – the rest is how you cope under pressure, how you handle relationships, and how much you’re willing to change and grow.
✅ Get your copy from Amazon now.
Conclusion: The Best Liveaboard Books
So there you have it – our top picks for the best books for liveaboards! If you have a book that you think deserves a top spot on this list then we’d love to hear from you.
Leave us a message in the comments section below. And if you’re about to start your liveaboard journey and have any questions then please ask away – you can contact us on social media for the quickest response!
This is a great list! Thank you! I also appreciate that you gave options to purchase besides Amazon! All your posts are so inspiring. Keep it up.