The bare necessities.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Spot

It lacks the warmth of a nicely aged polyester resin bilge
PS I would have preferred dark cushions, medium sole and walls, light ceiling.

I feel you should offer your interior decoration skills to Swan. They need your help.

[Bill O]

Never liked a cave-like dark interior, but others do like it. I prefer a warmer lighter look w/more earth tones w/some natural light.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by siamese

...The only place I could make deletions is in the overall fit and finish of the interior. Instead of clear finish over teak veneer, I suppose gray paint would be fine. And the exterior could be rougher, I suppose. And, I suppose you can live without headliner if you don't mind looking a bare glass and wiring...

We have lived without any headliner looking at bare (painted)glass, bolts, and wiring, for 36 years. It has never bothered us.

More important to us for comfort and ambience is comfy seating and upholstery, excellent lighting, including mood lighting, and ventilation including quiet fans.

Oh, and lack of clutter.

[Bill O]

Bare fiberglass as a "headliner" is ok, except the large amount of heat penetration (or heat loss depending on your location) through the deck. Better to have some insulation to keep the heat out of the boat if you are in a warmer location.

[Stewie12]

I would add the list compass and a depth sounder.

[Nicholson58]

As long as it’s stripped down, consider white painting the interior hull. I used Sherwin Williams ‘Tile Clad’ but two part white epoxy pool paint is nearly identical. This brightens the interior of every locker and cabinet and makes inspections and maintenance easier.

Depth instrument is my most important electronics. We have two.
Radio
Chart plotter with autopilot especially if short handed
Nav lights
Windlass and good modern anchor
AIS and EPIRB

I think the OZ authorities and insurers may have their own list of necessaries.

[dan104]

My list adds in a good set of electronics, if you are capable a RaspberryPi with OpenPlotter will give you a lot of the features of a higher in chartplotter, add in a GPS USB Puck and you are petty much in good position. Then throw in a USB SDR and you have AIS receiver. Most of the charts can be found online for next to nothing if not free.


A 12v wifi router will allow the PI to create a distributed screen interface to use with old IPAD's or Android tablets (the old ones are throw-aways), so if they get wasted so be it.


A solar panel and even a small house bank of Lithium will keep the nav and lights working along with radio.

[WillToms]

I find that when things get challenging, when single handing, having an auto pilot can be essential.

[clakiep]

I have not seen mentioned : bilge pump, compensated compass, basic tools.

Capt. Claus - ocean tramp of the eighties

[Pillroller]

How about a VHF aerial?
Could be very useful in emergency.
Good luck.
Robin.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Bare fiberglass as a "headliner" is ok, except the large amount of heat penetration (or heat loss depending on your location) through the deck. Better to have some insulation to keep the heat out of the boat if you are in a warmer location.

Pretty sure the Kelly Petersen will have balsa cored deck which is excellent insulation as long as it is not teak decked on the outside. White deck paint and a balsa core and the deck does not get hot even in tropics. But any color at all, even light grey, tan or blue, adds a lot of heat absorption.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Depends on your intentions at the destination.

If you plan to live off the boat, you only need enough basics as for a delivery run - somewhere protected to sleep, very basic food preparation area, basic essential nav equipment, stores and bottled (casked) water can be secured with cargo nets and mandated safety items.

If you plan to live on the boat, you should do as much now as possible, fits tanks, run plumbing, rough in the galley and storage lockers, fit batteries, run wiring etc. Go hammer and tongs will still in home port.

This ^^^^

If it's a weeks trip, you can make due without a lot of creature comforts. Make sure she's secure, reliable and seaworthy and you can make do without a lot of comforts.

If it's 6 months, rustic living can get old.

I would make a list of all the projects and then rank them as
- Mandatory
- Highly Desirable
- Nice to have

Then start working from the top down.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Stewie12

I would add the list compass and a depth sounder.

I agree, both are essential.

[GILow]

Hmmm… while I was sleeping it all got sensible again. Great additions and plenty of common sense there folks, thank you all.

[JPA Cate]

The days are getting longer now. If it was cold that was keeping you from making progress, I'd consider making efforts to heat the boat to help the chemicals along, and never mind a little dust. Paint on warmer days.

I totally agree with Nicholson 58 about painting the insides of stowage bright white, when we did it with our previous boat (I-1, to those of you who know us), it made a huge good difference, everything just easier to see clearly.

Also agree with Wotname, above, get as much of the basics done as possible, now, because it will make the sprucing up easier when you are back to working full time. But I've always been a "get the yucky parts over with as quickly as possible sort of person."

Ann