5 months before we bought our sailboat, I sold my condo in Los Angeles, packed up my life and shipped it to Rhode Island.

So when I flew to Rhode Island to see our boat for the first time, the excitement was also met with the reality of unpacking 64 boxes and deciding just what I couldn’t live without on the boat.

Yep, I needed to downsize.

But that’s not all that would have made the transition easier. Here’s my list of 7 things that I would recommend you do before moving onto your boat.

1. Take sailing lessons
Seems like a no brainer to learn to sail if you’ve never done it before. But even if you know a little about sailing, the lessons will come in handy.

I had never sailed before, so I learned a lot from our sailing lessons. Stephen grew up around the water and was on boats every weekend while growing up, and still learned a few things. It was also a great refresher for things he had forgotten.

There’s always something to learn, new ways of doing things, and new safety items that are important to learn and getting a quick refresher on the rules of the road- er- water is essential. It also helped me to understand a little more about what my role would be on the boat during a day out sailing.

2. Stay in a sailboat airbnb for a week
Shopping for a sailboat can be fun, but also taxing. There are so many makes, models, sizes and inside configurations. While looking for the perfect boat, we decided to rent one for a week.

We found a 36 foot boat that we could rent. And it was small. It was a lot smaller than the boat we were buying, so we knew we’d have more space on our boat. But it was an eye opening experience to see exactly how much space was there, or not there, on the boat, what it was like getting groceries on and off the boat, and sleeping on the boat too.

Staying on it for a week allowed us to make sure we liked it before going all in purchasing a boat.

Here’s a link to rent a room in our 47 foot sailboat.

3. Sign up for online bills and mail service.
Sign up to get everything digitally that you can. Instead of paper bills in the mail, get them emailed to you. I was resisting this for a while because I like to see the paper bills. They remind me that the bill is due. When the email comes saying it’s due, I sometimes am too busy to open the email and deal with it. But when the paper bill is on my desk, it’s constantly in my face until it’s paid. But there is no room on the boat for a file cabinet of bills, or a stack of bills and mail either.

And speaking of mail, sign up for a digital mail service.

There are lots of them that cater to transients like us; boaters, RVers, traveling nurses. They scan each envelope and each page of what’s inside, email it to you, shred it, or send it to wherever you are at the moment.

This service has been great for us. It’s made it super easy to deal with all our mail without burdening family or friends.

It did take a few weeks to get set up though. They need forms filled out, notarized and sent back to them to get it started.

4. Open an account at a national well known bank
Credit Unions are great. They usually have lower fees for everything, and are more service oriented. And you can easily talk to a real person on the phone.

But when you are in a small town in another state or country, you may have difficulty getting cash if your only bank is a credit union.

We had that problem when we were in Annapolis, MD.

We needed to do laundry and the dock office had washers and dryers in the bathrooms. Perfect, I could start a load while taking a shower. But the machines only took quarters and the dock office would only give me quarters in exchange for dollar bills - they wouldn’t put the charge on our credit card.

So I went for a short walk to the closest ATM. It didn’t accept my bank card or any of my credit cards. I walked to another one, same thing happened. An hour and 2 miles of walking later, I finally found an ATM that allowed me to withdraw money from my account. It was a major bank that I have a small account at, not my small credit union that only has 9 branches in the entire US. The major bank also didn’t charge me a $3 fee since I have an account there. And those $3 fees do add up.

Even though the world runs on credit and debit cards, it’s always handy to keep cash onboard. We use cash for laundry and tipping the dockhands and launch drivers. And most towns have major banks rather than the small credit union you may belong to.

Opening an account is easy online, but often takes a few days. Getting this set up and knowing how to use their online banking will cut down frustration later on.

5. If you still need an income, start working from home
Figure out how to make a living from home/boat. Get your income stream started and continue working on it daily. Boats come with expenses, lots of expenses. Even if you buy the boat with cash, and have money to do repairs and upgrades, things break unexpectedly. Living on a boat is like living in your car in a way…when your roof leaks at your house you may put off fixing it until next year, when you have a leak in your boat, you have to fix the leak today.

6. Start an exercise program or continue exercising
When we first moved onto our sailboat, I was constantly tired. I felt like I was working out every waking minute, even though I was just cooking, or washing dishes, or walking from the cabin to the living area. My calves and quads were screaming, and with limited hot water and no jacuzzi tub, there was little relief.

Just standing on the boat is a balancing act worthy of a circus performer. It’s like balancing on top of a blow up ball that is constantly moving— and that’s with the boat at anchor, on a mooring or in a slip. I’m not talking about when the boat is moving. That’s a whole other exercise.

Pulling in the sails, or letting them out, is another exercise as well. You know that rowing machine in the gym? It’s kinda like that.

One day we were on an easy sail out in Narragansett Bay. Stephen asked me to pull in the sail. I was pulling the line and it wasn’t budging. I had my whole body weight on the end of the line…like I was about to fall backwards if I let go. I was pulling with all my might. He kept saying pull harder, and there was no more harder to pull. And then, out of no where, I fell backwards onto the deck. The wind had changed direction and wasn’t holding the sail anymore, which was what was holding me upright.

Stephen didn’t have this problem. He’s been doing Karate and yoga consistently for about 10 years and is in great shape. If I had been in better shape at the beginning, it all would have been easier for me too. I have since started doing yoga, pilates, and ballet to stay in shape.

7. Downsize everything
If you’ve ever been on a boat before, you understand what I mean. It’s a bit shocking at first what you can’t fit on a boat, but then again, shocking at what can fit. If you really can’t live without it, you will find space for it. We have a full size punching bag onboard for Stephen to use with his workouts.

But back to downsizing.

Our broker said that our boat had lots of storage. Lots for a boat. But compared to a house, it has no storage. No garage, no attic, and no extra closets.

About half of our storage on the boat is taken up with tools and spare parts- which are essential for safety when something breaks unexpectedly, or when it’s time to install something new. The parts and tools take up all the storage under the seats and most of the storage in the second bedroom. So all that “storage” won’t be used for the same kinds of things you keep in your house.

Start downsizing today! Even if you aren’t moving onto your sailboat next month. It’s a huge undertaking with all the emotions that often are tied with the stuff we’ve been collecting all our lives. The sooner you start, the more you can get through to make your transition to boat living easier.

I hope these tips helped you with preparing yourself for living your dream life on your sailboat.

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