Multi-week cruise: Gotta packing technique to share?

[jen1722terry]

Fascinating thread!

Jenn and I have done two long (6 weeks+) coastal cruises in New England and Canada over the last three summers and plan another this year. Our 31 is roomy as CDs go but, not wanting to spend touring time food shopping or chasing down parts, and preferring to anchor out as much as possible, we carry a lot of stuff.

We split the storage chores between us. Jenn stores all the food, kitchen stuff, clothing, meds, cleaning supplies; while I store all my tools, spare parts, nav/emergency gear and other boat maintenance items.

All the heavy tools and spares go in the lowest lockers and crannies, always in the same place each year, so I can usually find them. Same goes for spare fuel, spare anchors, chain, motor oil, etc.

All the food, except for cans, bottles and jugs, goes high. We use a lot of freeze dried meals and other stuff you just add water to, and these very light items are shoved all over the place in crannies. We supplement these meals with meat, fish, greens and fruit we buy along the way, but are always prepared to go a week without a grocery stop to maximize anchoring out time and remote exploring. Self sufficiency is a big part of the fun of cruising.

For clothes, we sleep in the v-berth and most of our clothing is there, either rolled up in the lockers and drawers, on the shelves above the berths on each side, or hanging in the one hanging locker forward. If we've been in soupy weather for several days, we'll lay out the somewhat dirty clothes on the berth and turn one of our fans on them to deter mildew. We avoid cotton and most wool items for mildew and smell reasons. Each year we find ourselves carrying fewer cloths, as we often wear the same few shirts and shorts daily. For cooler days, we wear warm tights and close fitting fleece shirts, which are warmer than looser fitting garments, are easy to stow rolled and go easily under foulies. We only carry one set of dressy bottoms and tops. We carry 10 days of underwear and warm socks to minimize laundry trips.

We each carry two pairs of shoes (Keen boat sandals and sneakers) and stow them under the v-berth. Shoes are notorious for getting mildewed, so we keep an eye on them and air them on-deck in good weather.

For foulies, we're very fortunate that the 31 has the head aft at the foot of the companionway ladder. We installed hooks
in the head and the wet foulies go on the hooks without traipsing through the cabin. The head shower drain funnels the drip water into a sump with a outlet pump, like Jim Walsh's boat. When dry, the foulies go in the hanging locker near the head along with the PFDs and sea boots.

Galley items go in the dry well next to the sink, or in the ice box. We have a set of nested pots that fits in the galley oven. We keep square a sheet of closed cell foam on top of the ice box to keep it a bit cooler.

Of course, certain nav and emergency gear (chart books, hand VHF, flashlights and headlamps) is kept either in the lazerette for easy access by the helmsman, or in a small locker near the companionway.

And yes, we try each day to keep the boat neat. Life aboard seems more pleasant that way.

And a word about wine: We use box wine underway. Fisheye Shiraz and Pinot Grigio are surprisedly good. We buy it in cases from our local liquor store at a bit of a discount. Easy to stow, never had a leak and no glass to deal with. Shoreside, in New Hampshire, our local Walmart has a good store brand - Lucky Duck - at less than $4/bottle - les than many box wines - which is also quite good, or good enough for us.

That's about all from these cruisers. Post or PM if you have more questions.

Jenn and Terry

[Keith]

Boxed Scotch Whiskey

That what I'm talking about!

[fmueller]

there's a mariners version of an old song that summarizes my approach :

"99 bottles of beer in the hatch, 99 bottles of beer ...
you pull one out, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer in the hatch ..."