Dan, Julisa and David, since 2019 have been restoring a 1975 Hughes North Star 35/1500 sailboat, converting her from gas to electric, and trying to go green. We are documenting this journey on our sailing YouTube Channel.

Although Dan has sailed for many years, had not really taken boat ownership seriously until 2017. In 2017 with extensive catamaran sailing in Lake Ontario as part of the Burlington Beach Catamaran Club, Dan logged over a thousand nautical miles on the Lake, and then decided to take the plunge and move onto a bigger project, Northern Comfort.

Now we are still green with video making, but we are trying to document the conversion from gas to electric as there was so little information on the topic at the time. There were many people doing it, but resources and information was rather cryptic and hard to find. In fact, it still is.

2025 Update

I am finally underway. I just completed Leg 1 and Leg 2 of the journey from Hamilton, Ontario to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. I am on the last leg now aiming to sail the eastern coast from New Jersey to Nova Scotia. I have a complete budget of all expenditures on the cruising budget menu link. I also have much explanations on the gear and technical lessons I have learned on the electric motor. It is my goal to transparently share all my info and I would appreciate your support by joining my YouTube channel and Patreon site. I could use the help.

Join the crew!

We are growing to love making videos, and with your support are trying to live on our own terms. With your support sharing information about the conversion, the projects and the journey we are able to keep free on our social media platforms.

There are different ways to contribute; Patreon, gives you access to patron only livestreams, meet-ups, Q&A’s and more. Another way is to make a donation through Paypal. 

These platforms allow us to create content on our own terms which is very important to us.

Thank you for supporting our production!

2024 Update: I was inspired to write a book of the journey, and have 3 versions available, Kindle eBook, Paperback and Hard Cover. The title is “From Gas to Electric: Transforming a 1975 Sailboat – A Sailboat Electric Motor Conversion” and you can find a little more detail here on the website and you can also order from Amazon. I am happy to have learned so much and to get this down on paper. There is a lot to the work put into Northern Comfort, and it is all down on paper now. No excuses! Grab a copy!