Getting Ready for the Loop

There is a lot more to leaving on a yearlong boat trip than just throwing off the lines.  Think about the emotional aspects of leaving family and friends for a year, the challenge closing up a home for a year and the logistics of moving onto a small boat for a year.

We broke it down into 5 categories; Boat preparation, Family and friends, closing up the house, and provisioning, and long term/ongoing obligations.

I did the boat preparation. That was easy in that we were able to define specific projects with a start and end. We ended up with 47 projects, that took 5 months. There is a separate write up for that.

Annie dealt with the family and friends. As I watched this it seemed to go thru phases. You tell them about it about a year in advance. They are “oh, that sounds like fun”, but do not really believe you. As the year progresses you “really” tell them. They say “ok”, but, again they do not “really” believe you.  But, then close to the start date, you can see when they are convinced. In some cases, it happens when you tell them you cannot attend an event such as a wedding, graduation, or birthday party because you will not be here. In most cases it happens at the going away parties and you end up staying a few days longer just for a get-together.

Closing up the home was probably the hardest, Annie dealt with this. She went thru 20+ years of stuff and organizing and cleaning so that you can close up. Or, organize and clean and declutter and rearrange and consolidate so that somebody else can live there. If somebody is going to live among your junk, it needs to be set up so they can use whatever is out and everything else is put out of the way. And, don’t forget the home maintenance. All the things that broke over the years (that you put off to a later date) needs to be fixed now. Also, anything that might break, the preventive maintenance (I did this part, but Annie had to remind me).

Next is Provisioning the boat. Another hard one because it does not really end and you have to deal with the “What Ifs”. This was handled mostly by Annie with me mainly throwing in “One Liners” that greatly helped Annie. I will repeat them here just because I like them.

• If you do not use it at home, you will not use it on the boat.
• If it does not work or is broken, remove it from the boat. If something is broken and on the boat you will miss it. If it is not on the boat you will not know you miss it.
• Do not bring 2 of anything (except safety-of-life stuff, bring backup). There is no need to carry a case of soap to St Louise. They have soap between here and there. It may be more expensive, but it is still cheaper than the space it takes up and the act of caring it 3000 miles.
• Do not shop at Sam’s Club, BJ’s, or Costco when provisioning.
• Do not be tempted to fill the space. You will acquire stuff along the way; you will need a place to put it.
• Do not bring single purpose items (unless it is something you use every day). Leave the waffle iron at home. 

Lastly, the obligation stuff. bills, cars, insurance, Doctors’ appointments, medicines, prescription, …  the list goes on. Start by making a list, and then keep adding to it.