So…much….stuff

One reason we choose to buy the boat we did, is because she came fully equipped. The previous owners had taken a multi-year trip through the Caribbean and South America before putting her up for sale, so she is outfitted for long-distance off-shore cruising. Many of the other boats we looked at would have needed quite a bit of upgrades to make her ready for what we plan to do. This boat came with (almost) everything. I don’t believe there is such a thing as a ‘perfect’ boat that comes exactly the way you need it to be, but Jelanea was pretty close.

Some things of note that she came with:
Tools – ALL of the tools – basically every tool you could ever dream to need on a boat
Spare Parts – so many spare parts. We have spare parts for our spare parts for our spare parts…
Dodger, Bimini and FULL enclosure for the cockpit, plus a mosquito net that engulfs the whole cockpit
Jerry cans for Diesel, Gas and Water
Additional propane cans (2 20lb and 2 10lb for a total of 60lbs of propane we can carry)
Brand New Mizzen and Staysails (used for the 1st time on our trip from MA to ME)
SCUBA gear – 2 tanks, 2 regulators and 1 BC (we plan to replace the BC because its way too big for us)
A 1 gal/hour water maker, and a spare 4 gal/hour water maker
A whole boat water filtration system, plus an additional filter to use when filling the tanks
Hatch Covers, Handrail Covers and spare material for additional covers or repairs
Magma propane grill

There was a LOT of stuff on board when we took over ownership, and we took a whole week of ‘vacation’ from work to sort through it all, decide what to keep (and where to keep it) and what to get rid of. A lot of the things we wanted to keep had previously been stored on the kids new bunks, so we needed to find other homes for them. We also had to make sure to leave room for our own things, clothes, toys, books, etc. Our boat is now organized in a way that works for us, all of our things are cataloged for ease of finding them, and we have moved our personal belongings on board as well, at least some of them.

We have realized that despite our efforts to downsize when selling our house and only keeping the essentials, we still have too much stuff, and we have a pile of things in storage we need to downsize again someday soon.

The kids were so excited to have the boat, that once she was in Maine we only stayed one more night at the apartment we were renting before moving on board for good. The first week was fairly chaotic, as we learned how to operate as a family in a smaller space. We also all had to learn how certain systems on the boat worked, and we already have a list going of repairs/upgrades that we plan to make.

We were all happy to finally be in our forever home though, and with so much for us all still to learn, we are excited to get to know our new home better every day.