Books & Guides

One book, coming soon, and two SSL Systems Library guides

Books

Stop Buying Stupid Shit book cover

Stop Buying Stupid Shit

How to Build Real Freedom, Wherever You Live

By Captain Rick Moore

About the book

What if the biggest threat to your freedom isn't what you don't have — but what you keep buying?

Captain Rick Moore was heading for an early grave. Buried in stress, debt, and a life that no longer fit, his doctor gave him a brutal diagnosis: change completely, or you won't be around much longer.

So he did something that looked completely insane to everyone who knew him.

He sold almost everything he owned, put his last $10 down on a 51-foot sailboat, signed a quarter-million-dollar mortgage he could barely qualify for, and quit the job he'd used to get the loan — all in the same day. That one decision didn't just save his life. It launched more than twenty years of living fully self-sufficient, off-grid, and more in control of his own life.

This book isn't about sailing.

It's about what happens when you stop trading your life for stuff you don't need, and start building the skills and systems that actually give you options — whether you dream of sailing the world, living in a van or a tiny home, or simply taking back control of the life you already have.

Inside, you'll find:

  • The wedding-ring-turned-spare-part that saved his autopilot, a hundred miles from the nearest help.
  • The rat chewing through a propane line that nearly ended in disaster — and what it taught him about comfort versus survival.
  • The hurricane, the hydrolocked engine, and the one skill that got him through it: staying calm when there's no manual for what's happening to you.
  • Raising three sons across two very different decades of this life — and the one thing he's determined to make sure all three of them inherit.

Raw, honest, and unflinching, Stop Buying Stupid Shit is part memoir, part manifesto, and part field guide for anyone tired of paying for someone else's version of success.

You don't need a sailboat. You just need to stop buying stupid shit — and start living free.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

PART ONE: WHERE I CAME FROM

  1. Chapter 1: Welcome Aboard
  2. Chapter 2: Before I Knew What I Was Doing
  3. Chapter 3: What Was Left

PART TWO: THE MINDSET SHIFT

  1. Chapter 4: Your Home Base
  2. Chapter 5: Safety First
  3. Chapter 6: Start Where You Are
  4. Chapter 7: Small Decisions, Clear Direction
  5. Chapter 8: Decisions Under Pressure, Lessons From Mistakes
  6. Chapter 9: Habits, Systems, and Staying the Course

PART THREE: CORE SKILLS

  1. Chapter 10: Generating Your Own Power
  2. Chapter 11: Water Systems
  3. Chapter 12: Keeping Food Fresh and Living Comfortably
  4. Chapter 13: Electrical and Mechanical Troubleshooting
  5. Chapter 14: Maintenance, Tools, and Long-Term Reliability

PART FOUR: MASTERY AND LEGACY

  1. Chapter 15: Building Redundancy and True Independence
  2. Chapter 16: Tools of the Trade
  3. Chapter 17: Emergency Preparedness for Real Life
  4. Chapter 18: Community, Relationships, and Why No One Builds Freedom Alone
  5. Chapter 19: Your Next Chapter
Captain Rick Moore

About the author

Captain Rick Moore, skipper of Sophisticated Lady.

Read it first on Patreon

Advance chapter readings are available only to our Patrons. Each chapter goes up as a working draft, so you can tell us what to add, change, or cut before anything is set in stone.

Patrons can still get their name printed in the final copy, if they act fast.

Join on Patreon

Guides · SSL Systems Library

Field guides from 21 years aboard

Solar Power on a Boat guide cover

Guide 1

Solar Power on a Boat

Real Systems That Actually Work

By Captain Rick Moore

In 2012 Captain Rick's batteries were dying, so he bought twice as many. Two years and $2,400 later, they were dead too, because he hadn't measured a thing. Years later he took a fifth of the solar off Sophisticated Lady, going from 4,000 watts to 3,200, and the power went up: from 12 to 13 kWh on his best old days to 14.5 on a regular clear day now. "Solar Power on a Boat" draws on 21 years of living on solar aboard. It starts with three days and a $20 meter, and shows why a shadow no wider than a rope cost his old panels more than 60 percent. It also covers the anchor-bridle trick that moves morning shadows off the array, and finishes with the checklists he uses himself. It's written boat first, with "On land" boxes for vans, RVs and cabins. Read it before you spend a dollar.

Coming soon on Amazon Navigator patrons: download free
Lithium Battery Banks guide cover

Guide 2

Lithium Battery Banks

What Nobody Tells You Before You Spend $10,000

By Captain Rick Moore

Five battery banks on one boat, and four of them are dead. Captain Rick's six lithium batteries cost about $4,800, but by the time they could run the boat, the system around them came to about $17,000. Lithium is worth it; the batteries just turn out to be the cheap part of the bill. Today the bank under the floor on Sophisticated Lady has had three years of daily use, air conditioning included, and in testing it still held 50.1 volts at 8 percent charge. This guide shows how he got there. It covers sizing a bank from your real loads and buying it in thirds, choosing between 12, 24 and 48 volts (the boat runs all three), and charging lithium without killing it. It explains why the BMS won't protect you from everything, and names the one number worth checking every morning. It includes a sizing worksheet, checklists, and "On land" boxes for vans, RVs and cabins. If you're about to spend real money on batteries, read this first.

Coming soon on Amazon Navigator patrons: download free

Coming soon

  • The Portable Power Station Buyer's Guide: Size It, Test It, and Don't Trust the 'Was' Price
  • Your First Power Station: Set It Up, Test It and Keep It Ready for the Next Outage
  • The Three Kinds of Emergency: A Family Preparedness Workbook
  • Maintenance and Long-Term Reliability: A Liveaboard's Schedule and Checklists
  • Size It From Real Loads: A Solar and Battery Sizing Workbook for Boats, Vans, RVs and Cabins
  • The Purchase Filter: Think Before You Buy (21 Years of Buying for a Boat)
  • The Power Outage Playbook: The First 72 Hours and the Next 13 Days
  • Liveaboard Maintenance Log (with real schedules and checklists)
  • The Storm You Can See Coming: A Hurricane Countdown Plan for Homes and Boats
  • Your First Year Living Aboard: The Practical Checklist
  • The Refit Survival Guide: Haul-Out to Launch Without Losing Your Budget
  • Power Station, Generator or Home Battery? Choosing Backup Power for Your Home
  • No-Spend Month, Boat Rules: Live on What's Aboard for 30 Days

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