Raising the boat
Rebecca and I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday going through our “garage” (port berth), item by item. Our plan was to locate things to sell, give away or throw away, our criteria being that if we haven’t used it in two years, and it does not fit into the categories of spare parts or safety gear, it goes.
A boat like ours is not only small but is also fairly weight sensitive. It performs much better when it is kept light. Unfortunately, just as it is on land, it is all too easy to accumulate “stuff” and a regular spring cleaning is necessary. I’d say we were quite successful in that we filled a large garbage bag with stuff to throw away and itemized a dozen or more other things to find new homes for. Now we just need to tackle the remaining storage areas on the boat and see what we can find in them to get rid of!
I have the six month rule……If I dont use in 6 months, it is gone….It is as liberating as wearing the ZTC thong! My new rule is, if it does not fit in my car, gone!!!
🙂
“Stuff” expands to fill the space available!
Mike
Good thing we have a small boat with little space!
Are you going to share the list of items you are getting rid of? You never know one of us may find value in the item or at the very least might learn that we might not need it either 🙂
I ask because we are in the process of cleaning out the boat we just purchased (Island Packet 380) and I have to tell you there are still things that I don’t know what they are or what they are for or if we will eventually find value in them. So, I have a pile of stuff that seems to be in limbo.
I would be curious about a blog post that tells us what “stuff” you find value in vs what “stuff” you are getting rid of. I think the answers of an experienced cruiser would be very informative.
For the post you are suggesting search our blog for “the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” There are three posts I wrote on that subject.
As for what we’re getting rid of now, several bags with seized zippers (trash), shoes that are old, moldy and never worn (trash), some coolers we don’t need (given away), a table we never use and a Djimbe which never gets played. There were some other things that we trashed but that’s all I can recall at the moment.
As for throwing stuff away on your new boat, if it looks like it has a “boat” purpose, I would hang on to them and sail the boat for a while before disposing of the stuff. Our boat’s previous owners left us a ton of great things, the usefulness of which I frequently didn’t discover until sometime later.
Not bad though for the time frame.!
I suppose.
This is one of my major concerns about going onto a cat like the Gemini. In the past I’ve always had a good collection of tools. As a boat carpenter, clamps, planes and power tools add weight and take up space quickly. They don’t do well in outside lockers either.
Some choices will have to be made, that is for sure!