When we left Seattle on Oct 1st, we had spent many weeks paring down our possessions and sorting them into three categories: Store, Bring Along, and Donate
The Bring Along pile had to meet two key criteria:
With the help of many people, especially Karrie's sister Heidi, we finished packing up the back of the truck with NO room to spare and headed out of town late evening Sept 30th. That was the stage 1 of downsizing for the adventure. It is kind of a good feeling knowing when we return to Seattle we will be moving back in to the house with just our "essentials" waiting for us... it felt freeing to pare down 17 years of stuff.
As we moved aboard the Night Music back in January, we immersed ourselves in downsizing, stage 2. We each have one small drawer for socks, underwear, etc and one small shelf for our daytime clothes. Also we have hanging locker storage for each of us to have a set of raingear, 3 prs of shoes (flip flops, tennis shoes, and one other) a set of cold weather gear (hat, gloves, scarf). The kids have hanging mesh hammocks in their berths for stuffies, sketch books, electronics, etc. (see pictures below). Reed has a double berth so he shares that with the violin and guitar! hat's about it. Any clothes/other personal items that were left behind were donated.
A good part of storage on Night Music is reserved for safety gear and boat spares/repair materials. We carry a life raft, special harnesses/life jackets, strobes, etc in VERY unlikely event of having to ditch the boat. But spare water pumps, electronics, hoses, clamps, etc are crucial to have aboard because a) the chance of finding the exact right type of spare/repair kit once we leave the US is remote and b) if we can find it/ship it, the costs can be 3x-4x what we would pay in the US. So Eric has designated storage compartments for tools, etc, that are packed full!
The galley on Night Music is quite large and well laid out so all of our kitchen gear and supplies we brought/purchased fit without any problems. And there are three large storage areas for food and drinks. Boxed wine is quite tasty!
Homeschool supplies, art projects, electronics, and books - each have their own space that's easy to reach since they will be used daily. Then there are misc items - holiday decorations, camping gear, etc that go into the storage areas that are least accessible since we will need them least frequently. We made a chart layout of the boat so we don't forget what we put where!
All in all, Night Music is now set up as our home - surely we will make adjustments to where some things go as we get used to living aboard but it feels great to have it all on board and to have set sail!
We left our truck that we drove across the country in the care of the folks at Northwest Creek Marina. They were gracious enough to let us park it in the long-term lot and will drive it periodically to keep it ready-to- run.
The Bring Along pile had to meet two key criteria:
- Be useful and appropriate for the sailboat and destinations we had in mind (including clothes, shoes, supplies, etc)
- Fit into the bins in the back of our pick-up truck that we were driving across the country.
With the help of many people, especially Karrie's sister Heidi, we finished packing up the back of the truck with NO room to spare and headed out of town late evening Sept 30th. That was the stage 1 of downsizing for the adventure. It is kind of a good feeling knowing when we return to Seattle we will be moving back in to the house with just our "essentials" waiting for us... it felt freeing to pare down 17 years of stuff.
As we moved aboard the Night Music back in January, we immersed ourselves in downsizing, stage 2. We each have one small drawer for socks, underwear, etc and one small shelf for our daytime clothes. Also we have hanging locker storage for each of us to have a set of raingear, 3 prs of shoes (flip flops, tennis shoes, and one other) a set of cold weather gear (hat, gloves, scarf). The kids have hanging mesh hammocks in their berths for stuffies, sketch books, electronics, etc. (see pictures below). Reed has a double berth so he shares that with the violin and guitar! hat's about it. Any clothes/other personal items that were left behind were donated.
A good part of storage on Night Music is reserved for safety gear and boat spares/repair materials. We carry a life raft, special harnesses/life jackets, strobes, etc in VERY unlikely event of having to ditch the boat. But spare water pumps, electronics, hoses, clamps, etc are crucial to have aboard because a) the chance of finding the exact right type of spare/repair kit once we leave the US is remote and b) if we can find it/ship it, the costs can be 3x-4x what we would pay in the US. So Eric has designated storage compartments for tools, etc, that are packed full!
The galley on Night Music is quite large and well laid out so all of our kitchen gear and supplies we brought/purchased fit without any problems. And there are three large storage areas for food and drinks. Boxed wine is quite tasty!
Homeschool supplies, art projects, electronics, and books - each have their own space that's easy to reach since they will be used daily. Then there are misc items - holiday decorations, camping gear, etc that go into the storage areas that are least accessible since we will need them least frequently. We made a chart layout of the boat so we don't forget what we put where!
All in all, Night Music is now set up as our home - surely we will make adjustments to where some things go as we get used to living aboard but it feels great to have it all on board and to have set sail!
We left our truck that we drove across the country in the care of the folks at Northwest Creek Marina. They were gracious enough to let us park it in the long-term lot and will drive it periodically to keep it ready-to- run.