Where to put the food?
Many of you would laugh and shake your head if I told you that our greatest challenge on the Leopard is (will be) storage but it’s true. The storage challenge is especially true when it comes to the food and beverages required to feed and entertain 8 people for an entire week. Produce that needs to kept fresh, meat that needs to be refrigerated or frozen, dry goods and canned goods will all require a place. And let’s not forget the cases and cases of wine and beer! No, this is going to require some work.
I don’t think a day has gone by where we have not discussed this issue and in some cases, taken steps to improve upon the situation. If you’ve sailed on a 4600 and have any great tips to this end, we’d love to hear them.
Mike, how did you address the issue of alcohol on board and the potential for inebriated guests getting hurt? Did you get insurance coverage that covers this specifically, or is it a non-issue? We are thinking of doing a very limited version of your chartering idea here in Florida, and I’m wondering how insurers look at this.
We have commercial insurance for chartering. How would you address a non-paying friend on your boat falling and hurting himself after getting tipsy? Pretty much the same thing, I think.
Hi Mike,
how do you address garbage, I mean, 8-10 people generating garbage is a lot of it…
Tks,
Ricardo
How WILL we address garbage? We will store it where we can and deposit it where permitted, most likely for a fee.
With cases of beer and wine, plus food…for 8 people! Have you figured how you will deal with empties and trash? That always seems to be an issue with only the two of us aboard. Maybe you will be making port every day or two?
Ralph
I agree. The trash will have to be deposited on shore at least every other day, I assume.
Since you already know the location of all the stores in BVI, do you really need to provision everything for the week at the start? Surely there will be times during the charter one of you can get items without the guests missing you.
As for the drunks falling off, It’s a foreign country on a foreign registered boat. American laws may not apply. ( Many countries still believe in personal responsibility)
Shopping in little corners stores is not cost effective. The large stores are in St. Thomas and maybe Road Harbor, no where else.
Mike
One thing we’ve learned chartering, is that it’s kind of a fun adventure to plan for a provisioning trip half way through the week, it’s a.great way to get off the boat for a bit, everyone goes into town or the market with a “mission” to accomplish. That way we find we’re not trying to keep thing fresh as long. This only works if you plan to be in areas that shopping is available. Plus no matter how well you stock the boat, you will always run out of something. We had to rent skooters and ride half an hour into town for a beer , it turned into a great time! ( although a very expensive beer run!! )
I am assuming you are talking about bare boating. IMO that is a different animal altogether.
You can always call the MV Deliverance if you suddenly run out of ice or beer or need an emergency trash pickup!
True enough.
Have you taken a charter trip in the same $ range as yours? Might be able to learn a lot from that and would be a worthwhile investment in training and experience. Maybe answer many of your questions?
No doubt. Were you considering treating us? We are here to make money, not spend it!
Fortunately we have a number of friends in the business although only a couple on a 4600 which is all that my post today related to.
there is an old adage in business, that I am sure you have already experienced, “you gotta spend money to make money” on and on…
That I know. Smart business people are also frugal until they have cash flow.
Mike, I’m not sure of your refrigeration situation. On our boat, we’ve got both a refrigerator and a separate freezer. Each season I start with close to 100 lbs. of meat in the freezer. What I do before departure is pre-cook (at least partially) numerous things & then vacuum pack them. So they take up less space. I do this with chicken breasts and pork chops. I also cook up ground meat (usually veal, but down there you’d probably have to use beef) with fresh garlic & onions & vacuum pack portions of it. This way I can defrost a package to make a bolognese sauce or lasagne or chili or ftacos. I buy EggBeaters for scrambled eggs or omelets as they take up a lot less space & are healthier if you buy ones that are only egg whites.
Cabbage lasts a lot longer than lettuce; romaine lettuce lasts longer than iceberg.
Use box milk as opposed to gallons. Take up less space as you only have to keep a quart (or two) cold at a time.
My thoughts are you should work on devising a somewhat standard meal plan for a week. Tweak it to make it work for the amount of space you have in your refrigerator/freezer. Will you have an icemaker on the boat? If so, you don’t need to keep pop/mixers cold. Any chance of a small 12v beverage fridge? Would work well for beer. Have a large cooler that you load with ice blocks and some cubes & keep some drinks in there. That would get you through a couple days & then you’d have more space in the fridge as you feed the group.
Good luck, and remember to have FUN!
We presently have a separate freezer and fridge. We have our massive cooler and two other ice coolers, one which will be dedicated for ice for drinks and the other for soda and beer cans. We also have a 12V cooler which we may employ if we need additional cold space for food.
So do you have to make the guests bed every day?
It looks nice. Maybe I’ll put my name on a list as a single to fill a space, you know share a fare, as long as he’s good looking and verile, is that the proper word. Haha
Yes, Rebecca will be making the beds every day.
Virile is the correct spelling.
?