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After we settled in, we were able to truly explore all the nooks and crannies in the boat. Here’s a list of just a few of the things we found:
- A gazillion hoses of varying sizes stored here, there, and everywhere. We have no idea what they’re for, or where they go.
- Two dozen screwdrivers.
- Clamps and backup clamps and backup, backup clamps.
- Every shape and size of screw, nut and bolt. Boxes and boxes of meticulously organized hardware.
- Electrical connectors – HUNDREDS of them!
- Receipts for every single repair/upgrade. And, while that’s a good thing, we also found the registration for the previous owner’s car, and several other printed items that were not boat-related.
- Drawers full of dryer sheets. Why? A stink was eminating from the aft stateroom. We believe the previous owners were trying to hide the smell from potential buyers. More on that in a future post.
Now, it would be really cool if we actually need one of these items someday, and discover we have it on hand. But, I seriously doubt we’d be able to find a specific item in a choatic moment. If we’re not cruising when we need an item, it’s far faster to simply drive to West Marine to find exactly what we need than to dig through cabinets, drawers, and hidey-holes looking for just the right size/type of tool, nut, bolt, cord, clamp, hose, dryer sheet (ahem…), etc.
We will be having extra strainers on board, however. When you clean it out weekly, you have to hose it down because of barnicles. Yesterday, our neighbor was outside cleaning his out and we heard him shout a loud expletive. He’d dropped it in the water, where it promply sank to the muddy depths. It was nighttime and, luckily, he had an extra one onboard.
For now, Captain Brian is making an inventory of everything. He’s taking the backup, backup items to storage, and discarding a lot of things that we’ll never need, like multiple jars and bottles of very old lubricants and cleaning agents.
This reminded me of the last house we bought. When we moved in, we discovered that the previous owners had left EVERYTHING in their garage. It was packed full of decades’ old tools, cans of paint, fishing gear, old bottles of this, that, and everything in between, and even a forgotten firearm.
After we removed all the extra stuff from No Tan Lines, I swear she was sitting at least two inches higher in the water. She was a happy lady! 😉