Do you keep an inventory ?

[wind_magic]

I'm curious ...

Do any of you keep an inventory of the stuff you own and the things you have on your boat, where to find them, that kind of thing ? If yes, I am interested in your thoughts on how best to do it, what purpose it serves for you, whether you bother keeping it up to date, what kind of information you keep about the various items, etc. Is it worth the trouble for you to do it ?

I have so much junk, and I want to "downsize" and get rid of a lot of it, but I honestly don't even know what I own anymore because there is so much junk packed away in different places, I have been accumulating it for years of course. I'm considering actually doing an inventory, just like folks do at stores where they go through and pull every single thing out and write down what it is. I thought I'd inventory everything and sort out some of the obvious stuff that I want to get rid of, then go back and keep sorting through the list from time to time getting rid of even more.

I have heard people say that to visit some foreign countries you almost have to keep an inventory of what is on the boat to give to customs so that you can prove you own it, and that you should keep receipts when you buy things along the way. Anyone have thoughts on any of this ?

One thing I was thinking is that keeping an inventory might be such a PITA that it might help to keep me from buying stuff in the first place.

[sailhog]

Windy,
The only inventory you need to keep is of your sleeping pills! It's 4:30 in the morning! Your wife is in bed. She's naked. Now go in there and wake her up in that oh-so-special way...

[dongreerps]

We also have too much "stuff". George Carlin used to say "Stuff expands to fill all the available space." Our approach is to regularly pull a couple of items out, and list them on Craig's list, often at giveaway prices. If they sell, great. If nobody wants them, we trash can them. Makes the decision easier. We inherited lots of the stuff, including a drawer full labeled "pieces of string too short to be used". Trying not to do the same thing to our kids

[St Anna]

I keep an inventory for 2 reasons. Customs often want to see what you have ( and if you are super organised, it looks good --> easier time with them)- and for us to find things like CAV unit O rings or inflatable life jacket gas cylinder spares & charts. etc etc etc.

Once done, it is easy to modify ( I dont do that _ I leave it for the cook/admiral/accountant.

[bljones]

I am not horribly diligent or accurate about many things, but I do maintain a boat inventory. In excel, no less. I drew a floor plan/ deck plan of Whiskeyjack, and lettered each bin, drawer, shelf, cubby and locker. I laminated the stowage plan and it is kept in the binder of manuals. All stowed items are indexed by item and location, and locations are indexed by item. The inventory is also in the binder of manuals.

Why?

I once spent three hours trying to track down a keeper ring for a clevis pin. I knew I had some, I knew the nearest chandlery was 15 minutes of walking each way, and i knew it was late in the day, I wanted to go sailing, and it wouldn't take that long to find what i needed onboard. And then I couldn't. And then I got sidetracked with all of the stuff I DID find. And then the stores were closed. So, I lost sailing time for lack of being able to find a nickel's worth of wire.

Once you get the inventory done the first time, it is easy to keep it updated.

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by bljones

Once you get the inventory done the first time, it is easy to keep it updated.

Thank you for the feedback everyone. Two of you said essentially the same thing, that once you actually complete the inventory it is easy to keep up to date, so I think I am going to do one too. I really think it might help.

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by sailhog

Windy,
The only inventory you need to keep is of your sleeping pills! It's 4:30 in the morning! Your wife is in bed. She's naked. Now go in there and wake her up in that oh-so-special way...

Well see hog that is what happens when you stay single for too long, you are up at 4:30am in the morning considering whether to inventory the house or not.

[Keldee]

bljones, your boat Whiskeykack,is it any chance a Douglas 31 that used to belong to a John Wellman?

[AdamLein]

We do indeed keep an inventory. Spreadsheet with a few pages; right now, just victuals and tools. If you keep a victuals inventory, I recommend you have a column for "purchase date", "last fresh date", and "expiry date", and every time you check it and decide it can be kept a little longer, update the "last fresh" date.

[Valiente]

I have kept modified drawings of the boat's layout from above with several variations: "safety", "maintenance", "stores" and so on. Go to the "safety" page and you'll see the location of the crash box, the flares, extinguishers (not all of them are out in the open), spare PFDs, etc. "Stores" indicates where stuff will go under floorboards and in lockers. "Maintenance" shows the location of tools, particularly specialist tools like bolt cutters, giant wrenches, etc, that are likely to be buried deeply due to size and weight.

"Ground tackle" and "medical" might be other pages.

I also have fairly detailed instructions in the log on how to operate the boat if you are a complete novice.

The idea is that if the skipper's unconscious, some one can read a graphic quickly to find the area where stuff is stored. A full manifest of all gear would be just a two column list, like "oil filters (6)==port side locker aft in green bin".

It seems bureaucratic, but if we are going offshore, I want to tear apart the boat as rarely as possible at sea, where dozens of little objects loose are dangerous. Ideally, I don't want any gear that isn't bedding or a paperback visible when underway if not actively in use.