Too Much Stuff Aboard! Cleaned Her Out.

[Craig Weis]

I took everything out of Comfort & Joy and put back ONLY what I used the past sailing year. The rest I gave away, threw away, or donated for the Door County Maritime Museum and Lighthouse Preservation Historical Society's Nautical Garage Sale...or NOMS. Neat old Maritime Stuff..




skip.

[Greene]

Skip,  I was reviewing some of the old threads under 19's and came back across your post.  Wow, you had a lot of stuff in C&J.  It got me to wondering what 19'ers carry aboard as standard items.  Cushions, potty, bumpers, anchor (one or two), dock lines, extra sails, ......

Anything you consider required?  Waste of space?  

We always kept our 16 pretty lightly packed.   Now that we will be sailing and camping in a 19 I want to put some additional items aboard, but I don't want to overfill her.

Mike

[Billy]

Yea, that is a lot of stuff. I remember reading somewhere Skip said "I only need half this stuff but I'm not sure which half." So true!!!! I have a 19 as well. Off the top of my head

2 anchors (with chain and line) one danforth (mounted to the pulpit) one plow in the stern lazerette (wish I had the bow sprit for a double anchor roller, any suggestions)
3 fenders
More line than I will ever ever need (old sheets, dock lines etc)
2 main sails (old and new)
4 jibs (storm, (2) 100s and a 150 genny)
1 boom vang
1 cooler
1 magna grill
bag of charcoal (If I don't depend on gas to propel my boat why would I depend on it to cook my food?)
1 horn
1 fire extingusher
4 flares
6 PFDs
2 type 4s
2 west marine anywhere seat cushions (a must)
a bunch of battery drainers (flashlights)
1 big battery (for the nav and cabin lights)
3 stupid water bottle fans my mother bought me
4 sailing books
1 chart (clearwater to captiva)
(1) 2 gallon gas tank (in the stern lazerette)
2 paddles (seriously This boat is WAY to heavy to paddle down stream)
1 boat hook for grabbing the dock
1 solar panel battery charger (only use my batt at night so if it goes dead the solar charger really doesn't help unless I'm doing 2 nights)
several misc. shackles, old cleats, blocks, etc.
1 milk crate to hold all this junk
3 sail ties
1 hand held vhf radio
1 set of binoculars
1 inflatable dingy (no pump, come to think of it, I'll probably take this out)
3 or 4 sail ties
1 small tool box (sockets, screwdrivers, wrench)
1 leather man (another must)
4 cabin seat cushions
1 portable head
10 or so bungees (to hold the mast down while trailering)
1 sail cover
1 tiller cover
As I'm typing this I bet I have as much stuff as Skip!!!
Several cup holders with suction cups (don't hold, These are coming out too)
several koozies (a must)
4 plastic wine glasses
2 shames (not sham wows but I highly recommend!!!)



When I do an over nighter I bring a big trunk with a lot of other camping gear (food, plates, cups, trash bags, hammock, hatchet, saw, toilet paper, paper towels, plastic ware etc.)
and I'm sure I'm missing a lot of stuff stuff

Wanted (in order)

ida rudder
bulk head compass
depth finder
mast head fly
speed/wind meter
gps (hand held would be fine)
EPIRB

Man these boats are awesome!!! I have all this stuff and still room for 4 adults to lie down in the cabin/ or sit in the cockpit and not feel crowded.

[Greene]

Maybe Skip's idea of throwing everything out on the lawn and then assessing the need to put it back on the boat is a good one. 

Whatever you do, don't take those wine glasses out of the boat.  Those are definitely required safety items.   

By the time you add your cooler(s), food, clothes,.....  you might need to add a periscope to the list!

Mike

[brackish]

This thread is hilarious!

I owned my last boat with my BIL as partner.  We had different philosophy's about how much stuff should stay on the boat.  During most of our partnership I lived away, once 800 miles and once 300 miles.  So my goal was to come into town, buy any food drinks and ice as I came in, step on and go.  Water and fuel tanks topped off from the last use, and any maintenance and clean up done from the last trip.  I wanted to have everything I needed for a long weekend cruise but nothing more.

Unfortunately I had to spend a half day unloading the accumulated junk that had been "stored" there since my last trip down, go over to the fuel docks and top off, fill the water tanks, do a major clean up to remove the dirt, bird droppings and the carcass of any mullet that happened to jump into the cockpit and became sun dried.  Sun dried was better than the alternative, discovering them in an earlier stage of decomposition.

Never could get that resolved through compromise.  We're not partners anymore.

Now, with a transportable, I evaluate every item that goes aboard for need, weight and appropriate quantity in consideration of that engine and transmission that has to tow it.  For instance, why carry a gallon of holding tank additive, when it takes 3 oz. for a cruise.  Small plastic bottles and ziploc bags are my friends.

[Bob Condon]

Good friends of our spent every weekend on their boat from April -> Labor day.

They travelled very light but the most important implement was the lobster pot. There were very few
boats that could store the pot and when they went to the boat shows, they would hand the dealer
the pot and have him show them where it could be stowed in a cabinet.

There was one 28' boat (Cape Dory) and the 36 Tartan (which they purchased to retire with) that the
pot could be stored in a clean cabinet.

One repair kit, each person was allowed one duffle for clothes. Typical sailing impliments (anchor, lines, grill)
but that was it...

[curtisv]

Every season I haul everything out of the boat and store in a plywood cabinet I made in the garage.  The cockpit and cabin cushions go on top of the cabinet.

At the beginning of the season I get a chance to sort through what I had on board and decide what doesn't need to go back on.

A few things get stored in the house  Since it gets cold at night on the water, sometime dipping below 50 in August in the islands (Nantucket in particular), I always carry two sleeping bags and two fleece liners onboard.  Charts and plotting stuff, handheld GPS and VHF and binoculars are in the house over the winter.  The GPS and VHF use rechargeables and need a recharge before going back on board.  It is better for the batteries to be kept at room temperature over the winter.  The paper charts need to be inspected and may need to be replaced.  Single handing means sometimes having charts in the cockpit and spray over the bow can do in a paper chart in short order.  They make better paper now than the charts of just 10 years ago.

The only thing I inventory is spare parts.  I don't ever want to be short a clevis pin or cotter pin or cotter ring.  I toss cotter pins that look like they've been bent one too many times.  So far I've been pretty good about no losing clevis pins over the side.  There are certain other spares.  The list is in the tool box.

My flares are badly out of date.  I'm not sure what to do about that.  I hate buying something I'll probably never use every year.

Curtis

[Bob Condon]

Curtis
For paper charts, take them to Staples and have them laminated with plastic... Pretty cheap
and durable.

With flares, I keep an updated set on board when on the ocean... on the lake, I do not keep them... not necessary.
You should absolutely have them for going to Nantucket (you lucky dog)... but in a couple of years, you will
be bumping into windmills (no comment on the two dopes (govenor and president) that thinks it is good to
contaminate the area with windmills even when the Coast Guard thinks that is a dumb idea.

Back to flares: The CG sometimes has training sessions for mariners and let hem fire off out-of-date flares
so you know and feel what they are like... I turned in several sets into the fire department for disposal. Flares are
cheap insurance! and I hope you never need to use them.

Wellfleet is my favorite town but now have a camp in Maine because the Cape is too expensive.

[curtisv]

For paper charts, take them to Staples and have them laminated with plastic... Pretty cheap
and durable.

The not quite waterproof paper used as ... the place in Stanford CT were I buy charts mail order (catalog is around here somewhere) ... is pretty good.

They also laminate, but the charts are big and at that point unfoldable and too hard to write on.

With flares, I keep an updated set on board when on the ocean... on the lake, I do not keep them... not necessary.
You should absolutely have them for going to Nantucket (you lucky dog)... but in a couple of years, you will
be bumping into windmills (no comment on the two dopes (govenor and president) that thinks it is good to
contaminate the area with windmills even when the Coast Guard thinks that is a dumb idea.

Yes, even the test tower was a hazard to small boats because it forces them into the channel with the much larger fishing trawlers and ferries.  That is why the Coast Guard formally objected.  Of course this is the same MMS that was overseeing the BP oil rig that ignores any objections.

I'm in favor of wind power, but there are better places.  South of Nantucket or east of Cape Cod are excellent places.  The area south of Nantucket that is off limits to commercial vessels except those fishing there is a vast area, much bigger than Horseshoe Shoals where Cape Wind has asked for siting.

Back to flares: The CG sometimes has training sessions for mariners and let hem fire off out-of-date flares
so you know and feel what they are like... I turned in several sets into the fire department for disposal. Flares are
cheap insurance! and I hope you never need to use them.

Wellfleet is my favorite town but now have a camp in Maine because the Cape is too expensive.

You can legally light expired flares on July 4.  It is considered at least good form to radio first to be sure no one misinterprets what you are doing.

As for insurance, you are right.  If I wanted to be even safer I'd get a flare gun in addition to hand held flares when going well out of sight of land, or out of sight of inhabited land when going around Monomoy Island.

Curtis

btw - Cape is too expensive... to camp?  Have you tried Nickerson?  Very long waiting list, but inexpensive and very nicely located.  I don't know much about the Wellfleet campgrounds except (roughly) where they are.

[Bob Condon]

Sorry, too expensive to buy a second place on the cape. We purchased a 4 bedroom in Maine
on a 15 mile lake and it was half the price as on he cape.... "Camp" meant another house.

I have stayed at Nickerson every year when I was a leader in the Boy Scouts and we used the bike trail
for excursion which was great. The younger kids would head EAST from Nickerson, go to the end of the trail
(about 12 miles) and return for lunch. The older boys would then head WEST for 15 miles and return..

Was very fun.

I liked Wellfleet near the center to stay.. Orleans for Mini Gulf and food near the rotary.

Where do you sail out of in Orleans?

The other problem with Wellfleet was the waiting list for a mooring... The CP19 would not be bad but
the Cape Dory with a 6' draft was more challengin to moor with the tides... When I asked about a slip,
they said that I would not live that long but I could sign up for it and maybe our grad kids might have one
available in their lifetime!

enjoy!