and baby makes 6!

Stowing crap, space limits…or how to cram 6 people and a dog into 100 square feet

After dropping anchor and checking out our surroundings, I went below and organized the mess that was the cabin.

Last summer we went from living in a 2100sq ft house to a 300sq ft 5th wheel. It was really interesting to see that how one felt about the confines of space was relative to the amount of crap we had. At the house, there was SO MUCH STUFF! In the 5′er, the kids were each allowed one small basket to fill with whatever toys they desired. They each had a single drawer for their clothing, and I made shelves at the end of each of the 4 bunks for them to fill with some books. And that was it. Mom and Dad toys (surf boards etc) were stored under the trailer, and decorations inside were kept to the bare minimum.

It got a bit cramped at times…especially when too much sugar was involved….but all in all it was surprising to realize how little space one needs to be fulfilled and content.

Now imagine reducing the 300sq ft to around 100sq ft. 100 sq ft filled with 6 bodies, clothing for them, bedding, and food. And a dog. A dog who is shedding. Alot.

Each child was allowed to bring a small grocery bag filled with toys. Mia had her little backpack. I had a duffel bag filled with clothes for myself and Mia, and Bill had one for himself and 2 of the boys. Cory had his own backpack. The V-berth looked something like this:

Yeah. Not too bad if no one had to actually sleep in there. Ahem.

I stashed, folded, straightened and primped inside until all was pretty neat and tidy…..

WhatEVAH!

One thing that Captain Bill is pretty anal about is stuff on the cabin floor. If shoes or toys are left there, there shall be hell to pay. There is nothing like having a sailing emergency, and while lurching across the cabin, stepping on a really cool Bionicle or Barbie. He especially cannot STAND shoes scattered about. It is just plain dangerous. Your balance and such are all funked out on a boat, so you really don’t need to factor in an obstacle course on top of your negative equilibrium. So, the person who left the pants on the floor in the above picture had to walk the plank. We loved him and miss him terribly, but oh well.

Even with 4 kids, things are pretty manageable on a boat. The thing that was the most troublesome was the dog hair. Honey sheds her coat a few times a year, and it is nothing less than spectacular the amount of hair that falls off of her small body. On a boat, hair is just intolerable. It gets in every crack and crevice and given the fact that you just can’t vacuum it up, I spend a great deal of time with wet paper towels, wiping up the offending spiky little hairs. ’nuff said.

Why can’t we have a hand held vacuum, you might ask. Chris may wonder how Bill survives without his magic machine. Well, it all boils down to power. We have 2 batteries that power the engine and the electronics on board. We do not have a generator (yet). Having running lights at night trumps cleaning up dog hairs, as I imagine the hairs would strike us as unimportant in comparison to getting t-boned by another boat because we ran out of battery power and could not start the engine to charge the batteries and run the lights that show other boats where we are….Savvy? In a nutshell? The boat is like a car. The engine charges the batteries, which run all the electronics and lights on board.  As we get to know what our actual needs are, Bill will be reconfiguring the power issues. For now, our motto is that energy is precious. Do not use it unless necessary.

Here is how we deal with kilowatt abuse……….Time Out on a boat.

(to be continued)