# Questions for experienced live aboard cruisers



## Jay2 (Feb 9, 2009)

When 2 adults are living aboard I would think the biggest nuisance would be space for supplies and belongings. What are some tips on items that save space or storage tips or things some people have on board and you don't see the need.


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## RealityCheck (Jun 2, 2007)

Jay2 the answer to your question would have a great deal to do with what boat and where and what you do with it. Simply living on a boat tied up to a dock is different from Cruising long distances.

It also has to do with what the goal are of the two people, what they want vs need.

Far too many variables to make even the basic evaluation possible for an answer with all of them unknown.


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## poopdeckpappy (Jul 25, 2006)

Minimize your belongings, you'll find you don't need half of what you own.

We use those bags that you load up with clothes then vacuum the suckers flat, they store real neat under berths

Work with what you have regardless of what you sail


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## CaptainForce (Jan 1, 2006)

I have no advice about downsizing because we've never done it, but as someone who has lived aboard since 1972, and raised two children aboard from infancy to adulthood, we are experienced. Most all adults that I know experienced a time in their early twenties when all that they owned and required could fit inside their car. As my wife & I moved aboard from a "college apartment" we never left this staus of freedom that comes with minimal possessions. There is a great freedom in "non-ownership"! I don't think most people are unable to recall the time I'm speaking of when they did not own furniture, more than an armful of clothes, or kitchen items that couldn't fit inside the proverbial breadbox. Ok, I might not be sensitive to the downsizing task as I have never lived in a house since I was a teenager, but what do you need? 'take care and joy, Aythya crew
PS- anything that you can vacuum pack and shove under a berth can probably go straight to Goodwill! If you can "long term" store it; then, you don't need it!


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Put your blankets in empty pillow cases and put on bed. Looks nice and is finctional.

We bag, varnish, or wax our cans and put in the bilge.

Some people use a hanging bag/hammock to put food like vegetables in... though we never have.

Remove everything from its containers and store with a written label. That will save a lot of room.

You can put a lot of 'flat' items under mattresses like some tools, paper, etc.

Get nesting cookware. That has been one of our best buys.

We put our cast iron (and other large pans) in the oven except when using (obviously).

Pull your boards and look below them. Even on production boats, you will find a LOT of space in there. Same with the access doors for cabinets. Production boats are the world's worst at not utilizing available space. The liner is the biggest killer. However, the liner can be cut in many places (check with your mfg first... I only know C400'd and 380's) and you can get access to gobs of space below them.

Use a hook in the galley to hang banannas from.

The microwave can be used to store some pots and pans (we put some plastic in there as we do not want to forrget).

Get some good foul weather gear that you cna double as a coat. We have become fans of Henri Lloyd stuff.

Keep one towell for 'sea water' and one for fresh water, so to speak. Never mix the two. Salt on a towell used for drying off after a shower will ruin your shower. Same goes for clothes.

Find a way to minimize your clothes.

Get a lot of flower sack towels and terry cloth towels. Learn to use these in place of paper towels and napkins. You will be amazed at how much spack paper towells take up. Also, you can assign each person (we have kids) a terry cloth towel or cloth napkin that is their for the week. They can wash in salt water and rinse in the soap/fresh water you do the dishes with.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I am sure others will come up wioth some more suggestions.

Take care,

- CD


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## poopdeckpappy (Jul 25, 2006)

CaptainForce said:


> PS- anything that you can vacuum pack and shove under a berth can probably go straight to Goodwill! If you can "long term" store it; then, you don't need it!


Long term yes, seasonal nah


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## CaptainForce (Jan 1, 2006)

Poopdeckpappy, Oh yeah, you're absolutely right. I don't think of this because we don't do much in the way of "seasons",-'staying in warmer places in the winter. I like Cruisingdad's idea of putting the blankets in the pillow cases on the bed. Anyway, you're right, I've not adapted to big seasonal changes. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew


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## wind_magic (Jun 6, 2006)

I camp a lot and one of the things that carries over to non-camping life well is having a small pack with lots of necessities in smaller quantities in it - shampoo, laundry detergent, dish washing soap, toothbrush (etc...), some food, p-38 can opener, LED light, batteries, etc. Having that allows me to just grab the pack without having to dig around looking for things, so the big bottle of laundry detergent is stored out of the way and I periodically refill the smaller containers when they get about halfway empty. Another reason I like this approach is that I can use bottles that have better lids, how many times has your shampoo container opened itself and gotten all over the place ? It used to happen to me a lot! I also like that I can just grab the pack and go at a moment's notice without even having to pack, and I know I will have enough food to eat for a few days, be able to stay clean, have a change of clothing, etc, it just makes things a lot easier I think, your life in miniature.


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## wind_magic (Jun 6, 2006)

Oh and something that you'd think was terribly obvious that I only learned from watching another sailor who was trying to find something - if something is in a hard to reach place, tie a line to it! That way you don't have to dig around looking for something in a cockpit locker, you just open the storage area, grab the line, and pull it out, simple!  This works well for small things if you put them all in one fabric container (a pack for example) and tie a line to the pack!


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

Jay2 said:


> When 2 adults are living aboard I would think the biggest nuisance would be space for supplies and belongings. What are some tips on items that save space or storage tips or things some people have on board and you don't see the need.


No NO and NOOO The biggest nuisance is THINKING you need lots of stuff. Yeah if you have it and have the room to store it then fine, but some of the happiest cruisers I have met had small boats and a minimalist lifestyle. The extreme being a tiny French girl I met all over the place on a skinny self built 21 foot cat, [Think Hobie.] She crossed Biscay, The Atlantic, gunkholed around the Caribbean for a year or two then sailed home. Some of the more miserable cruisers I met were on boats that were too big for them and to complicated. They were always waiting for spares for the Genny/watermaker/fridge/NMEA linked Autopilot/SSBPACTOREMAIL/etc.

Whoops I guess I am on a bit of a rant here.......sorry

Lots of great people to talk to, snorkle instead of TV, learn to play something musical and read.


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## wind_magic (Jun 6, 2006)

TQA said:


> No NO and NOOO The biggest nuisance is THINKING you need lots of stuff. Yeah if you have it and have the room to store it then fine, but some of the happiest cruisers I have met had small boats and a minimalist lifestyle. The extreme being a tiny French girl I met all over the place on a skinny self built 21 foot cat, [Think Hobie.] She crossed Biscay, The Atlantic, gunkholed around the Caribbean for a year or two then sailed home. Some of the more miserable cruisers I met were on boats that were too big for them and to complicated. They were always waiting for spares for the Genny/watermaker/fridge/NMEA linked Autopilot/SSBPACTOREMAIL/etc.
> 
> Whoops I guess I am on a bit of a rant here.......sorry
> 
> Lots of great people to talk to, snorkle instead of TV, learn to play something musical and read.


I agree with a lot of what you are saying TQA.

There are a lot of things I expected to gain by living a more minimalistic lifestyle, things such as having more freedom, less things to do maintenance on, etc, and all of that is true, but there is one thing I had not expected that is equally true - living a minimalistic lifestyle is *fun*! I started out thinking of all the things I would do without, and now that I have made a lot of changes I realize that I really don't do without very often at all. You think you're going to miss having the stuff you are getting rid of, but after its gone you learn to enjoy doing more with less. It turns into a kind of game where you learn to do more on your own and have a lot of fun figuring out new solutions to problems that you used to solve by going to buy something you didn't really need. It is self-reinforcing, the more you learn to do on your own the more you want to do on your own.


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

I will just say that, in my opinion, make your boat comfortable. At least for us it includes kids and it is your home... not a hotel room. Put the things on there that make you comfortable and you enjoy, and I believe you will find that you will be LA's for longer. 

Just my opinion and approach.

- CD


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