So we treat them even better than guests because we know they are working hard and need to feel comfortable. A lot has gone into making sure our crew is comfortable and that our HR 36 will feel roomy enough for five of us on a multi-day voyage down the coast.

First, the only clutter we are tolerating is in the storage space in the aft cabin on top of the extra port side berth. It’s a bit of a necessity to have extra stuff here but also a bit of a luxury to let us as the boat owners have a messier space to dump our clothes as we may be coming and going from below deck to above deck to check on things more frequently. Here we have the rolled up dinghy and some cockpit cushions we aren’t using on the voyage with a bunch of my wide-brimmed hats squished on top. We also havea place for Noj and I to be a bit messy with stacks of clothing layers and dirty clothes bags so that we don’t have to dig the right item out of overpacked cabinets. I made space in what is normally my shirt cabinet for us to store small things like medications and some hats and things we normally have in other places on the boat but want to keep accessible and not tuck in deep storage while making space for crew. A bunch of stuff we knew we wouldn’t use on passage got stuffed into dry bags and then in the space under the berth: our video game system, our laminator, my art supplies, and some card games are all buried down there. And, yes, we decide the 24″ TV was worth keeping and it is cleverly wedged in to the same aft hanging locker that we have dedicated to food storage (it has the 17 L dometic freezer unit on a shelf with all the pasta and grain and beans stored below).

Across on our starboard side sleeping berth, things are mostly unchanged from our regular living arrangement, but we’ve moved all stuffed animals back here so our crew won’t need to relocate them when readying their berths each night.

In the kitchen I changed what’s stored where and put items I don’t plan to use for passage (such and drinking cups and alcohol) deep in hard to reach areas. I also made sure the plates and cups are stored so they don’t rattle in the cabinet. Shoving stuff in there actually helps reduce rattle so it’s a good thing. We’ve got snack boxes on the counter just under the companionway stairs and a place where everyone can store their water bottles as well as an insulated mug for each person (stored above the sink with tea bags and instant coffee) and a hot water pot I’ll try to keep refilling. Since the rest of the galley is so “cleverly” packed I’m really the only one that can go in there and find stuff so it’s good to keep all the drinks and snacks in easy to access areas.

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In the head we have a hook for each person’s towel as well as our 3D-printed toothbrush holder with five slots for toothbrushes. We also have little color-coded five ounce plastic rinse cups (in a bamboo caddy held in place by nanotape) and have made space for storing everyone’s toiletries in the cabinet. We rotate through daily head cleaning responsibilities.

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To make the berths comfy for much needed sleep, we freed up cabinet space for each person to unpack their bags and not have to sleep next to their luggage. Everyone’s bag then fits under the v-berth storage. If you’ve ever been on our boat you know that we use the v-berth sleeping area for storage. On this trip we realized we could actually fit the bag with the inflatable SUP board under the sleeping area with the stored sails and sewing stuff. Plus there is still some extra space down there since we (1) have our storm trysail already on the track and lashed to the base of the mast ready for heavy weather and (2) have the storm jib bag out and ready – the person in v-berth can choose to either have it up on the bed or store it in the notch of the v so it doesn’t slide around while they sleep at night. And we cleared everything out of both starboard cabinets to give space to the v-berth crew person.

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The boys using the salon settees for sleep are able to put their bedding behind the settee during the day and then lift up the back of the settee for more spacious sleeping at night. They each get use of the forward cabinet and the center open shelves on their side for storage of stuff. If you walked through our boat right now you’d find it hard to believe all five of us slept on it last night. I’m pretty sure the nav station has never looked this tidy, even when we’re planning to cross heavy winds in Puget Sound!

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A lot was also done to stop rattling and I think more will be done. One way I stopped the bottles in the liquor storage of the salon table from ratting was to pack in loads of our favorite fruit leathers and some packs of ready to heat and eat daal curry from costco. These are extra foods we don’t think we need for the trip or plan to add to the snack boxes as they get depleted over the next 4-7 days. The ready to eat Tasty Bite daal curries make quick meals if we really don’t want to cook and they squeeze nicely into (and provide cushion in) narrow spaces.

And the food situation is really pleasing – I’ve got two baskets of fresh fruit and veg on the counter as well as a bunch in rubbermaid produce storage bins in the fridge (blueberries, grapes, lettuce, parsley, kale, carrots…). Most of the meat is in the freezer but we’ve also got some chicken and sausage defrosting in the fridge alongside cheese, lunch meat, milk, individually wrapped hardboiled eggs from Costco and so much more! There is so much food on board we’ll surely not go hungry. Potatoes, onions, bags of chips and crackers, canned foods and more are stored under half the the starboard settee. Tools create a wall in the middle of that settee and the other half is for us to store shoes. We’re sharing one hanging locker in the back for our foulies and rain gear, the three crew share the larger one near the front head.

Everybody’s PFD and tethers are stored in a big bag in the cockpit lazarette. That lazarette is huge and one of our crew pointed out that beyond the two spare 5-gallon diesel jerry jugs, if we wanted to we could easily add two more. After we pull up anchor in Neah Bay tomorrow, we will also optimize the deck for passage – all docklines and fenders will be stored away which will include deflating the fenders to stack them in the top of the anchor locker in the bow. Wow. Wow. So much planning and organizing.

I think the hard work of the last week re-arranging it all really paid off and I’m so pleased by all the hidden spaces and usefully-shaped storage the boat has! The aha moments of figuring out the right place to store things for a passage with five people above was really gratifying. However I do look forward to having it back to ourselves and spreading stuff out so it’s not jam-packed away and is more available for everyday casual use.