Gone with the Wynns: From RV Life to 724K Subscribers

Channel: Gone with the Wynns   Who: Jason and Nikki Wynn, American travelling couple   Subscribers: 724K (as of 8 November 2026)   Niche: RV and van life, sailing, expedition yachting, alternative living

Jason and Nikki Wynn were a photographer and a makeup artist in Dallas, Texas, when they decided the mortgage-and-two-weeks-of-vacation life was not their dream. They sold almost everything, put their two cats in an RV and started filming. Fifteen years later they have lived on wheels, two sailing catamarans and now an explorer yacht, and as of 8 November 2026 their channel, Gone with the Wynns, has 724K subscribers, 679 videos and more than 182 million views.

A photographer, a makeup artist and 4,000 square feet of stuff

On their own About page the Wynns say that at 28, around 2010, they made a decision to change their lives. They enjoyed their careers — Jason as a photographer, Nikki as a makeup artist — and urban life in Dallas, but something was missing. They wanted more nature, and the "boy meets girl, couple gets mortgage payment, 2 ½ kids, two weeks of vacation a year and retire at 65" script was not for them.

Their plan was a cross-country trip to find a new place to call home. So they sold "4000 sq ft of accumulated stuff we didn't need", packed up their two cats and hit the road in an RV. In an early interview on their site, Jason said they had bought a 1985 VW camper van in 2006 to drive to their wedding and "caught the 'RV' bug"; in February 2011 they bought the 32-foot motorhome they set out in.

The search for home turned into the channel

The YouTube channel dates from September 2010, and the road trip started in 2011. In their early video "How the Wynns Became Gone With the Wynns", they explain that they first expected two years of searching for the perfect place to settle down. "After one short year, we knew we couldn't go back to that normal life," Nikki says. They did not hide the downsides either: RV parks that felt like parking lots, a small space where you are always on top of each other, and rigs where "something's always broken, rattling, needs to be fixed, and we're not exactly mechanics."

That honesty — the good, the bad and everything in between — became the format. As their About page puts it: "We soon discovered, we didn't have to live anywhere. We could live anywhere we could park it."

Wheels to keels, with zero sailing experience

In 2016 they wanted to explore further. "Without a lick of experience," they bought their first sailboat, a 43-foot catamaran they named Curiosity (Katamarans.com lists it as a 2005 Leopard 43). They have since sailed halfway around the world.

The move to the water came with a business change too. In the "Gone With The Wynns 2.0" adventure reel marking the switch from land to sea, they launched a Patreon page, writing that it was something they had "been on the fence about for a very long time" and that they saw it as "a platform to interact more closely with YOU". Their Patreon still explains why: "Producing videos from all over the globe takes a really good support crew...and money."

A boat that did not work out, and an explorer yacht

They sold the first Curiosity and documented the build of a second, CURIOSITY², a 2023 HH44 sailing catamaran. It did not go to plan. In their own words the boat had "more than her fair share" of teething problems, and because it was both their home and their business, "the disruption to both was just too much." In March 2025 they posted "We're Selling Our Boat Back to HH."

They kept going. According to a case study from coatings maker Subsea Industries, in October 2025 they bought the YETI-Explorer, a demo GlobeMaster 50 LRX, at auction and renamed her UNDRA — Swedish for "to wonder, to be in awe, to be curious about". Their site describes UNDRA as a 2023 Dutch-built, aluminium 50-foot long-range explorer yacht, their third bluewater vessel, chosen for colder, higher-latitude voyages after a decade in the tropics.

What other creators can take from it

The Wynns were not sailors, mechanics or professional YouTubers when they started. They filmed the leap itself, showed the mistakes alongside the sunsets, and let the channel grow with each change of vehicle. When the production costs grew, they asked the people who watched to help directly — and framed it as a way to get closer to their audience, not just a tip jar.

You do not need 724K subscribers for that kind of relationship with fans. If you travel, sail, van or live off-grid, the people who follow your journey often want the boat-project updates, photo dumps and honest behind-the-scenes too. On Yaff you can post updates, photo dumps and extra videos behind monthly membership tiers, sell guides, take tips, and talk to supporters in group chats and DMs. Starter is free with a 5% platform fee; optional Creator ($19/mo) and Pro ($99/mo) plans drop the platform fee to 0%; payouts go to your bank daily via Stripe. Start your free Yaff page and publish your first post, see pricing, or read how to fund your expedition with memberships and add Yaff to your YouTube channel.

More origin stories: From Oil Rigs to 2M Subscribers: Sailing La Vagabonde, From Printing Shop to 4.5M Subscribers: Kara and Nate and From $1 Wreck to 597K Subscribers: The Sampson Boat Co Story.

Watch Gone with the Wynns on YouTube