How to pack the right gear for a 7-month mountaineering expedition on a boat

Our sailboat serves as both our mode of transportation and base camp from which to explore the mountains. The Maewan VI is relatively small for an expedition boat, and deciding what gear to bring and what to leave behind becomes a real headache; packing five people and all of our winter, spring, and summer gear into the 11-meter long boat is no easy task. Since it was physically impossible to bring everything from the get-go, hard choices needed to be made. Here is what we decided to bring during the first chapter of the expedition, from Iceland to Greenland…

Since someone always needs to remain with the boat, we only need enough mountain gear for 4 people. A kit with the essentials always stays on board. 

Basic kit:

• one set of 7.7mm double ropes, 2x60 meters,
• two RAD SYSTEMs,
• one harness each, which will also be useful when sailing: the SITTA strikes the right balance between comfort and bulk,
• a full set of stoppers and cams, from small blue Aliens to a number 4 Camalot,
• a dozen pitons of various sizes,
• two REVERSOs, ten quickdraws, slings, four ice screws, two MICROTRAXIONs,
• a helmet, the SIROCCO is the lightest,
• two pairs of versatile crampons and two pairs of lightweight crampons,
• two pairs of technical ice tools, one pair of all-around ice axes, and one glacier axe,
• two snow shovels,
• one 40L backpack, versatile for any activity,
• two pairs of adjustable poles to use for walking as well as skiing,
• three dry suits for those times spent outside in cold and stormy weather.

For skiing, we added:

• a touring ski/binding set up,
• touring boots,
• a shovel (additional), probe, and transceiver,
• climbing skins, ski crampons.

Sea-worthy and mountain-worthy clothing:

• wool bottom and top base layers that truly become a second skin since we only take them off to shower (so never!),
• a thin fleece sweater,
• fleece overalls,
• a fleece jacket,
• a synthetic parka with a hood,
• a lightweight down jacket,
• a heavyweight down parka.

It's good to have several layers and not to relay only on down jackets, since once wet down is difficult to dry out…

• a synthetic shell pant,
• a Gore-Tex® jacket (a Haglöfs Herakles jacket, great in any situation),
• a Gore-Tex® pant (not too lightweight to be used in winter and summer),
• a thick canvas pant (solid, I only have one pair…).

Sailing clothing: 

• an offshore jacket and pants, essential for staying dry,
• no shorts, I took one pair that I never used…
• a swimsuit for hot springs,
• a pair of ski goggles for sunny weather and another pair for the fog (which also works well when sailing at night),
• gloves… I have ten pair just for me. It is a genuine pain to deal with gloves; keeping them dry is nearly impossible, so I took several pair for sailing and three pair for excursions in the mountains - one thin, one thicker to put over the thin pair, and one pair of very thick warm gloves. No mittens since I like being able to use all of my fingers,
• thick wool socks.

Footwear:

• a pair of Crocs for below deck (and when it's sunny!),
• a pair of flat-soled neoprene-lined rubber boots when I'm at the helm (the best I could find, but not perfect, not warm enough),
• a pair of high-top waterproof shoes,
• a pair of winter mountain boots with a rigid crampon-compatible sole,
• a pair of climbing shoe.