What's your favorite?

My husband and I just bought a boat recently and are planning on finally living our dream and moving aboard full time this summer.
I'm in the process of going through the household stuff and trying to figure out what things to bring and what to leave behind.
Can you share with me some of your favorite things that you've found you can't live without on your adventures? Kitchen? household? book? etc

Thanks!

I'll start
1-a way to make coffee
2-dehumidifier of some size
3-propane grill--most of our meals were cooked there

How much room do you have? For instance, Ann brought all the good linens, the silver and the fine china, all of which we enjoyed greatly on special occasions.

It's a pretty personal decision, some (that would be us) like having all the little comforts of the land home, some like living the ascetic life. The other thing comes down to the old Steven Wright line:

"You can't have everything........


Where would you put it?"

Welcome aboard and congrats on your new boat. We need photos of it.

In the PNW Have a good way to heat the boat before winter. A diesel stove or heater works best. They work on boat 12v, so power outage doesn't effect keeping warm and dry. Have a way to vent moisture from cooking, showers, and breathing if you want a dry boat. A diesel heater solves much of the dry problem. Maybe a couple fans to move warm or cold air around. Electric heaters just make warm wet air. Propane adds more moisture. Nothing worse than damp clothes or bedding.

Plan on the plumbing coming to the boat freezing during cold spells. Keep the boat water tanks full during cold weather so you can continue life normally if the dock lines freeze. Keep a bag of rock salt to spread on dock for the ice.
Some people keep a cart for moving groceries and supplies from their car to the boat. It's easy to have too much stuff on a boat, clothes you never wear, pots and pans you never use, etc. My choice is easy to launder clothes. T-shirts, shorts, socks all the same. Clothes easy to layer are a good choice on the water. Not too many shoes. Bring hiking and deck shoes you'll use.

Fagor cookware.

Well coffee

Phone and speaker to listen to my play list

Scotch

Cigars

Boat chair set up on the bow.

Pretty much does it.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Start off slowly. Live aboard for a couple of weeks and you'll soon find out what you want/need for comfortable living. Be pragmatic.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Well coffee

...

Boat chair set up on the bow.

Pretty much does it.

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Not needed. If wanting to sit down, the forward cabin's roof works well.

caltexflanc She's 50' with so many cabinets and hiding places. But I'm trying to not just fill them.

Comodave said:

Welcome aboard and congrats on your new boat. We need photos of it.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Lepke
Thanks for the tips. I am trying to arrange the wardrobe to be laying, so not as many pieces, but it's a work in progress. I'd rather have to add, then have things that never get used.
We have Espar Hydronic Heat.. so should be fine with that.
Have been pretty good at planning out kitchen stuff. I know what I use now, just trying to think if anything will change.
We are already planning on putting in fans and vent fans in areas to make sure we have good air movement.

Definitely a work in progress.. but a good one.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Well coffee

Phone and speaker to listen to my play list

Scotch

Cigars

Boat chair set up on the bow.

Pretty much does it.

Click to expand...

I get it.. Creature comforts. I can live with that.

Muirgen Afloat said:

caltexflanc She's 50' with so many cabinets and hiding places. But I'm trying to not just fill them.

Click to expand...

Did you know the Admiral has already claimed those! Welcome to TF.

When bringing cooking gear , bring only what will nest.

Big pot, small pot, fry pan. Microwave, coffee pot, phone chargers. An iPad or laptop is nice. Maybe a small TV but don't plan on using much. Paper towels, shop rags, oil zorb sheets, flashlights. Depending on local conditions a heater or air conditioner. As much 'natural" types of soaps and cleaning agents. On outdoor cooking grill. A few dishes, glasses and silverware. No plastic.

Food and snacks, undies and socks. Light weather clothes and heavy weather overgarments. Soft light fluffy lounge clothes for after the shower. Many people can't live without a few good books. Many marinas have a lending library.

A couple bikes and maybe a backpack, a dink, a couple kayaks maybe.

Then we can get into tools and spare parts. These have been discussed several times here, look it up.

Just do it.

pete

pete

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Did you know the Admiral has already claimed those! Welcome to TF.

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First time I have heard of a man being nicknamed "the Admiral" (a term Ann and I both dislike greatly). Read the OP one more time.

Anyway, judiciously picking some creature comforts from your old home makes a big difference. Also little embellishments like certain pictures or pieces of artwork.

We are avid cooks, and Ann is a very talented one. So having everything needed to cook anything and enjoy it we could dream of was important to us.

Our boat was our sole residence, and we were coming from some good sized houses. Originally we thought it would be a two year adventure/sabbatical, then back on land. One reason it turned into over six years of living aboard was that we were so comfortable. Even at the end of 6 years, it was more for professional and pragmatic reasons, absolutely not because we were no longer comfortable. We miss it every day, years later.

What's important is what are YOUR favorite things and activities, it is a very personal decision. Factored into that is what your cruising style and what maintenance and repair jobs you will be doing yourself. That informs things like tools and spare parts required.

Have fun!

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Did you know the Admiral has already claimed those! Welcome to TF.

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I'm sure he'll try. :lol:

FF said:

When bringing cooking gear , bring only what will nest.

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definitely. I'm already thinking of stuff like that. Problem is we are coming from KY and the boat is in Washington state... so have to take what we think we need with us, so hopefully I get it right. Hate to have to "buy" something I already have.

Pete Meisinger said:

Big pot, small pot, fry pan. Microwave, coffee pot, phone chargers. An iPad or laptop is nice. Maybe a small TV but don't plan on using much. Paper towels, shop rags, oil zorb sheets, flashlights. Depending on local conditions a heater or air conditioner. As much 'natural" types of soaps and cleaning agents. On outdoor cooking grill. A few dishes, glasses and silverware. No plastic.

Food and snacks, undies and socks. Light weather clothes and heavy weather overgarments. Soft light fluffy lounge clothes for after the shower. Many people can't live without a few good books. Many marinas have a lending library.

A couple bikes and maybe a backpack, a dink, a couple kayaks maybe.

Then we can get into tools and spare parts. These have been discussed several times here, look it up.

Just do it.

pete

pete

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Thanks.. very helpful. The pile to take keeps growing!

For stuff like cooking gear, start with the basics that you know you'll use and can find an efficient way to store. You can always add on to it later if you find yourself wanting something you don't have. But it's also easy to start out with a bunch of stuff that stays on the boat forever even though you've never used half of it.

caltexflanc said:

First time I have heard of a man being nicknamed "the Admiral" (a term Ann and I both dislike greatly). Read the OP one more time.

Anyway, judiciously picking some creature comforts from your old home makes a big difference. Also little embellishments like certain pictures or pieces of artwork.


Have fun!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't really have any feeling about the whole Admiral thing. But I don't think Scot (slowgoesit) is crazy about it.
We've already have a few of our favorite artworks picked out to take (we are artists and luckily work with stainless steel, so taking a couple that are our favorites).
I am so excited to try and boat life. We've had boats before but never lived on them 24/7. I think there is a good chance we won't be getting off the boat until we physically have too.
I am excited about cooking on the boat... especially the fresh seafood, so I hope we can catch a lot.

rslifkin said:

For stuff like cooking gear, start with the basics that you know you'll use and can find an efficient way to store. You can always add on to it later if you find yourself wanting something you don't have. But it's also easy to start out with a bunch of stuff that stays on the boat forever even though you've never used half of it.

Click to expand...

Definitely.. do not want to have stuff I never use. I think I'll just make myself do a clear out every couple of months until I get things situated.

Welcome. BTW I like your avatar photo better than your husband's!

Bluetooth speakers if your vessel is not already outfitted with a decent stereo that allows a BT connection to your device, for music.

An Instapot or some other pressure cooker.

Lots and lots of old towels for all sorts of reasons.

Dremel tool set among your other tools.

We always kept loaner outerwear for out of town guests. No matter how much you tell them, they will show up without proper rain gear/fleece/boots. You can't do much about proper footwear unless you keep a whole cabinet of boots of all sizes, but you can give them a real raincoat with a hood, and rain pants. Also, we kept extra neoprene or fishing-style gloves for the same reason. Guests from Kentucky get cold in a Puget Sound summer, when it rains especially.

Plenty of insulated mugs with nonslip bottoms.

A splatter guard sized to your largest pan.

Things to clean and cook fish

When it comes to "home" stuff, certainly don't bring anything you don't use now with you. We were living in Dallas and our boat was in Baltimore when we bought it, so I understand a bit of what you are going through. Kentucky to PNW is a day or two longer car trip to be sure. We brought both cars with us. I may have made two trips, not sure, as we were in the process of selling the house.

We had an estate sale to sell off most of our remaining stuff and put the antiques and big artwork into climate controlled storage in Dallas. While we greatly miss a lot of what we sold, storage fees even for the envisioned two years would be quite high, and enormous for the eventual 6 1/2.

Alaskaflyer said:

Welcome. BTW I like your avatar photo better than your husband's!

Bluetooth speakers if your vessel is not already outfitted with a decent stereo that allows a BT connection to your device, for music.

An Instapot or some other pressure cooker.

Lots and lots of old towels for all sorts of reasons.

Dremel tool set among your other tools.

We always kept loaner outerwear for out of town guests. No matter how much you tell them, they will show up without proper rain gear/fleece/boots. You can't do much about proper footwear unless you keep a whole cabinet of boots of all sizes, but you can give them a real raincoat with a hood, and rain pants. Also, we kept extra neoprene or fishing-style gloves for the same reason. Guests from Kentucky get cold in a Puget Sound summer, when it rains especially.

Plenty of insulated mugs with nonslip bottoms.

A splatter guard sized to your largest pan.

Things to clean and cook fish

Click to expand...

I like my avatar better too.. but let's keep that among us, no reason to stir the pot on that one.
bluetooth- working on that
Instapot- check
towels -check
dremel - check
Guest clothes- working on
Mugs.. hadn't thought about nonslip.. thanks
splatter guard - hadn't thought of that either Thanks

So damn excited!!

caltexflanc said:

When it comes to "home" stuff, certainly don't bring anything you don't use now with you. .

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Definitely! Amazes me how much we have that I don't use. Been liberating to get rid of it.

Kindle, Bluetooth speaker, playing cards, a small printer and laptop, comfy deck chairs

Lightweight wool clothing, wool socks (think Smartwool or WoolX). In the Pacific Northwest, they’re comfy most of the year and great for layering. You really don’t need Air conditioning but ditto on diesel heat.

Definitely need a dinghy/tender. Good ground tackle (anchor, windlass and rode).

I think a small Instant Pot is great! If you have an oven, a small oven thermometer is great as many oven thermostats aren’t that accurate.

I use the Magma stacking/nesting pans. They’re nice heavy steel. Baking pans sized to your oven... I like to bake, so I use those snap lock containers for flour, sugar and the like.

Vahevala said:

Kindle, Bluetooth speaker, playing cards, a small printer and laptop, comfy deck chairs

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All on the list! Great minds think a like!