And We Thought We Were Minimalists…

Once we had our new to us Tayana 37 in the same bay as our catamaran, it was time to get to work. We had only a few days to move our belongings from Snowflake (our catamaran) onto Soltara (our monohull) and to prepare Snowflake for what sounded like a very keen buyer. We weren’t too concerned, after all, we didn’t have very many things to move over. Right? 

We loaded up our little dinghy with our belongings from Snowflake and shuttled back and forth between the two boats. I’m not sure how many trips it took, but there were a LOT. Because we were moving belongings onto a much smaller boat, one of us would stay on Soltara to organize and store things, while the other person stocked up the dinghy with more belongings on Snowflake. 

Boy were we surprised when we realized just how much we had accumulated in our 6 years sailing our catamaran. How had we managed to fit it all on Snowflake? And where on earth were we going to store it on Soltara? We always considered ourselves minimalists, but suddenly that no longer seemed to describe us accurately at all. I’m not going to lie, it was quite stressful at times. 

Those few days were spent weeding through all our belongings and decided what we needed and what we didn’t need. Many items we decided to leave on Snowflake and include in the sale, while others we donated to locals we knew. Then, we had to find places on Soltara for everything we kept – it was like putting a puzzle together! 

We had to decide which items we used occasionally and store them in the far-reaching nooks and crannies in the boat, saving the more accessible storage areas for items we used more frequently. Often, we had to fill and empty the same storage spaces several times before we found a system that would work. (And we are still doing this today, 6 months later!) During those several days, we would look at Soltara on our way to shore and debate if she was leaning more heavily to Port (left) or Starboard (right). Sometimes, there was no debate – it was clear which side was listing.

Finally, an hour before our potential buyer was scheduled to show up, we were spiffing Snowflake up and staging her just as you would when selling a house. We couldn’t believe it that we already had such a keen buyer, as we had not even listed the boat for sale yet! It is incredible how powerful word of mouth is amongst the cruising community. 

After showing the boat off to the keen party, the buyer seemed really interested in Snowflake. Alas, it was not meant to be. Due to financial reasons and personal reasons, our keen buyer turned out not to be so keen anymore. 

Such is life.

We immediately listed our catamaran on multiple websites and groups online, keeping the price attractive for someone on the market for a catamaran. Our email inbox blew up with inquiries and interested people. One of the drawbacks seemed to be the location, but for a few people that wasn’t a problem. 

Before long, we had accepted a verbal offer, pending survey. This buyer was on the ball, booking a flight, survey and haul out, and a place to stay while he was here. We were relieved to be back on track to becoming one-boat owners. Especially since we had just recently hauled Soltara out due to a newly discovered problem with the prop shaft and cutlass bearing. 

Little did we know that the week the buyer was scheduled to travel, the world would be turned upside down as a result of a global pandemic…