Wonder if you have a start up box?

No it is not a box with an emergency battery. What I am referring to might be more common for those who have to pull their boat for the winter. I think about what I want or need next year and as I find something interesting it goes into my start up box. The reason for the post is that I saw my favourite blueberry jam on sale and I bought one for home and one I dropped into the box to go this summer.

I actually have one box in the basement for mostly for food type items and one in the garage for more mechanical things. My garage has some extra line I saw on sale and a new moisture meter. My basement one has some jars and packets of interesting sauces and I will be keeping my eye out for other things.

Last year I had a new inverter and a better AM/FM CD player all bought when opportunity struck for a bargain and put in the start up box . As the box fills it gives me a nice feeling that summer is getting closer. With about a month to launch I move it to the living room out in the open and as I pass it every day it reminds of good times coming. I feel closer every time I drop something in.

How about others ? Am I the only one that has this crazy habit?

Having spent a day or two in Winnipeg during the late winter I can see the logic.

No start up box . But a sh$t pot load of work that needs completed before the season gets here and yes I pass it everyday in my basement and I work at it everyday.My crazy habit is I seem to keep adding more work to the box.

Yes, I do. It makes no sense to me to go out and begin collecting suppies and materials at the same time I'm getting ready to recommission the boat for the season.

After going through the decommissioning and recommissioning for many years, I generally know what I'm going to need before I start putting away the shrink wrapping equipment.

I start pulling together the comissioning stuff as soon as the boat is put to bed for winter. I start collecting winterization material right after the boat is launced in the spring.

One of the reasons is money. This allows me to defer cost over a larger period of time. The other reason is I don't want to waste time running around finding parts and materials when I should be doing the work. There is nothing worse than having to run around all day shopping for something, when I should be working on getting the boat redy to come out or go back in again.

Plus, if you start shopping for bottom paint when it TIME to paint, then I'm competing with every Tom, Dick and Harry doing the same. (Yep, we have that bottom paint, but only in RED).

I don't need to pull for the winter, but I have a corner of the house that has what we call "the boat table". All items heading to the boat get staged on the boat table. If it's bulky or ugly, it gets placed under the boat table behind the overhanging tablecloth.

A couple of canvas boat bags live under there to collect the items as they appear. These items range from magazines and marina guides to replacement galley items to spare parts to future improvement components to tools and misc supplies.

Shrew said:

Yes, I do. It makes no sense to me to go out and begin collecting suppies and materials at the same time I'm getting ready to recommission the boat for the season.

After going through the decommissioning and recommissioning for many years, I generally know what I'm going to need before I start putting away the shrink wrapping equipment.

I start pulling together the comissioning stuff as soon as the boat is put to bed for winter. I start collecting winterization material right after the boat is launced in the spring.

One of the reasons is money. This allows me to defer cost over a larger period of time. The other reason is I don't want to waste time running around finding parts and materials when I should be doing the work. There is nothing worse than having to run around all day shopping for something, when I should be working on getting the boat redy to come out or go back in again.

Plus, if you start shopping for bottom paint when it TIME to paint, then I'm competing with every Tom, Dick and Harry doing the same. (Yep, we have that bottom paint, but only in RED).

Click to expand...

I pretty much do this also, except I start about now for the spring commissioning. Maybe it's a Ct thing?

Its really easy to get great vibes purchasing some toys , the harder part is actually installing them.

We have a place where anything returning to the boat, e.g. washing, gets put, waiting for the next time I/we are going down. Boat is 33kms away.
I also have what I call The Boat Box, in which I keep any 'useful looking' thing I might need for some unforeseen boat job, and also any tools I might need at home, or on the boat, and which is not already duplicated in the toolbox I have on the boat. It's the varnished box I rest my feet on at the helm actually. The box travels with me every time I go to the boat. Often I didn't need it, but equally often I'm glad I have it there. You never know when you might need a hole saw for example...

We have a whole room in NC that we fill with stuff to take to the Bahama house.

You know, I almost didn't read this thread because the title sounded, well...

But now I'm laughing!

Yes, I have a "start up box" acutally I call it my "boat box"

I have a plastic tote that I keep in the garage.

In that tote is all the stuff that needs to go to the boat next trip.

While I'm on the boat I use my iphone to keep a list of things I need to obtain for the boat, and I fill the "boat box" from that list.

And, Yes over winter I fill the box with all of the project materials for the upcoming season. I pre-buy materials because its easy that way and I can shop around for deals.