Bilge goodies (a.k.a. provisions)

As the remnants of tropical storm Nestor move through the area, I decided it would be a great day to lay in stores in the bilge!  I wanted to start this now while we have a car to get the heavy stuff to the boat.  And I want to get a better idea of what kind of space I’m working with.  And did I mention the rain and wind?  Yuck!  Perfect day to be inside with the company of the NFL on TV!

Provisioning for us is a combo of dried, canned, and fresh goods.  My plan is to put cans and heavy items in the bilge, dried goods in the settee backs, and fresh in the fridge/hammocks.  With four consumers aboard (including a boy that can eat more than either adult sometimes!), I expect to have to pull food from the bilge every 4-7 days depending on how our fresh is doing.  Anyway, here is what the haul looked like!

This is POUNDS of rice and beans (1/2 of us are vegetarian), cans of soups, tomatoes, and ravioli (the boys love it!), beer, baking supplies, shelf-stable milk, sausages, nuts, pasta, ramen noodles, boxes of wine, and even a box of vodka we decided to try!  Once it was in the boat, I got to work removing all the can labels and marking them with a Sharpie.  Why?  IF there is an influx of water, you don’t want a mess of paper clogging the bilge pump and blank can roulette is only fun for a few rounds.  I also eliminated as much cardboard as possible—pasta boxes are the bugger there and I’m still debating how I want to handle that in the long run.  Most of this ended up in plastic bins that slide in the bilge between the stringers.  Some stuff like bottles of olive oil and jars of peanut butter (all plastic!) are just laid in the bilge. Everything else was bagged in Ziplocs or FoodSaver vacuum bags and laid on top of the bins. With every move I had to make sure that drainage holes to the bilge pump weren’t blocked.

Each container includes a list of its contents and I keep a copy outside of the bilge, too.  As I pull stuff, I’ll update the lists so I have a decent idea of what we have onboard!

The reward for hauling, labeling, and storing all of this?  Brunch!  We made time for one more brunch at Ketch 22–love their crab eggs Benedict and mimosas!