Becoming a Sailor

27 posts

Packing up and moving

Packing Up and Moving describes how we transitioned from life in a house to a life on a St Francis 50 catamaran. The blog posts in this sub-category covers the pure chaos of downsizing to being able to reflect back and provide some lessons learned and checklists.

  1. Downsizing Before Moving Aboard: 6 Weeks to Make It Happen

    Six weeks to empty our family home before moving aboard: selling furniture, considering renting a storage unit, tenants on the way, and rooms of boxes.

  2. Making Maple Syrup at Home: A Taste of Canada

    How our family made maple syrup at home: tapping maples, hanging about 200 buckets, collecting sap on snowshoes, and boiling it 40:1 in our sugar shack.

  3. Our Move Date: 13 Weeks to Pack Up and Move Aboard

    We rented our house and set a move date of June 30, 2015: 13 weeks to pack up, sell or give away everything and refit our St Francis 50 catamaran.

  4. Winterized Sailboats and Winter Liveaboard Marinas in Canada

    Photos of winterized sailboats frozen in at Nepean Sailing Club in Ottawa, plus the Canadian marinas in BC and Ontario that allow some winter liveaboards.

  5. Downsizing to Live on a Sailboat: 220 Boxes and a Piano

    Before we owned a boat, we began downsizing 220 boxes to sail away. What I threw out, what I couldn't decide, and the 1913 family piano we're keeping.

  6. Planning to Sail Away Before We Even Owned a Boat

    Our to-do list before sailing away as a family: a Medical Person in Charge course, RYA Day Skipper, 220+ boxes to sort, homeschooling and small engines.

  7. Renting Out Our House to Go Sailing: What Went Wrong

    Renting out our house gave us a date to start sailing. Later, a tenant damaged it and left months of rent unpaid. How renting out our home really went.