Welcome to the forum mctdog. I'm getting in early one this one because I see it being the first big thread for 2012. Why? Because it is so hard to pin down an answer to what is needed/necessary on a multi-year
cruise.
There are several
books devoted to readying your
boat for
offshore cruising, the Pardy's book comes to mind, and there are several sites around the net that give good
advice for updates/ upgrades for
offshore cruising and long distance cruising. attainable adventures comes to mind in regard to that.
But it's a grey area as to what tasks need to be done, for each boat is unique in it's
current readiness for cruising, and there are many different ideas as to what a boat needs to do that.
For example no one here will tell you that you're crazy to go offshore without
radar... wait, some will actually, but the point is, you are not crazy if you go offshore without
radar. You have simply decided it is beyond your
budget, or is within your personal acceptable risk to go without it. Some folks have cruised the world without engines,
batteries,
GPS, etc.. You see what I am getting at?
So what is on one person's list of things which must be done to
cruise multiyear, and another equally capable person's list will be markedly different, and based on their own ideas/ experience.
I'm looking forward to some of the ideas that blossom forth here.