When we left Port Aransas I had a frantic little voice inside that said "Take it ALL! You never know what you might NEED!". And so... I talked Bruce into filling up TWO deck storage bags and one large converted ice chest, as well as stuffing every available built-in locker on the boat with STUFF!
We are only a month into our Cruise, and I've already had a shift in priorities. While we are here at the dock in Clear Lake Shores, TX., one of our projects was to take advantage of unlimited fresh water, and give the deck a good cleaning. It all started with scrubbing the mildew off of our sunshades. I got to work scrubbing both sides thoroughly.
My muscles were already aching with this abnormal activity by the time I finished with that project.
But, we figured "While we're at it...", so we dove into it! Everything on the deck had to come off. I passed off stuff to Bruce until everything was gone! Nothing was held back. The deck was totally cleared. We even hoisted the kayak up using a halyard to expose the dirt that had collected beneath it...
We stopped to survey the vast piles of STUFF!
I can't beLIEVE we have this much stuff on the boat... and that isn't even considering the things stored inside!
OK, this is ludicrous! Bruce WINS! We're getting rid of some of this stuff...
The lines that I thought we could not live without were inspected, the best ones kept, the others... tossed!
The little carrying cart that we've never used and couldn't even find, tossed!
The icky looking solar shower that I refused to use, tossed!
The dip net we found floating in the marina one day and rescued, tossed! The shin ray guards that we haven't used, tossed! And so many more things that, sure... if we had unlimited space, would be nice to have SOME DAY!
But get real! We just can't continue carting all of that stuff around. Our waterline was raised INCHES! We even found anchor rode in good shape that we never knew was there! (I know what you're saying... I wasn't in charge) Anyway... the moral of this story is that the things you think you must have when you set off, somehow change and morph into an entirely new set of priorities.
We ended up revamping our use of available storage space, and cutting out one whole deck bag. Now we only have the one stored on deck, which makes the boat look much less like the "Beverly Boatbillies" and more like just regular Cruisers! We feel all fresh and tidy now and ready to proceed.
Oh, and what did we DO with all that unwanted stuff? The marina has a spot for give-aways and we loaded it down! Within two days, all of our goodies had vanished! Gone to new homes where they can be loved and used, so we feel good about that too!
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