For comfort and enjoyment, THINK about the stuff you do and the places on the boat. Its all about you. What you like and don't like, and how you plan to use it. Length of trips. Trailer vs. in the water.
Example: think about the galley. What do you like to cook? Get the pots and pans you need and will use, and not one extra one "just in case". Storage is at a premium on every boat. Figure out a coffee pot, if you drink it. What cooking knives and utensils. And so forth. Its all very personal.
Think about the head and shower. Plan to use a marina shower? Then plan to have a toiletries bag and some flip flops.
Suntan lotion.
As Bruce said, do what ya gotta do to make the bed comfortable.
Good binoculars, paper charts as a backup to the plotter (they have been known to fail), spare docklines, and compass. Not just fenders but fender boards depending on the kind of marinas and tiki bars you might tie up to. I am getting myself sold on night vision gear, though I don't have it.
You need tools. You need spares of a lot of stuff. Filters. Impellers. Oil. Fuses.
Whatever owners manuals you might need. Electronically on an ipad doesn't take a single square inch of extra space, but you just need to plan ahead and have it.
So that gets you through the day of sleeping, eating, and navigating. Whatever you do for fun after you drop the hook, or is done in the cockpit while underway should be considered.
All of that stuff has to be stored. Somewhere. And you can't just throw it loose into a locker, or at least a lot of it you can't. It needs to organized into bins or something similar. If you can't find the tool, fuse or filter, you may as well not have it aboard. The less you can SEE the better; keep the counters clear and areas neat, since the boats are small its way too easy to get cluttered fast. Keeping it stowed away also means it won't bounce around.
Where and how are you going to store trash?
The less trash you bring aboard, the less trash you have to deal with. Food bought in boxes should be taken out of the boxes and into zip lock bags. Clip off cooking directions if you need them. Soda and water bottles take up a lot of trash space. Beer cans can be crushed (an important tip!). Use dishrags instead of paper towels when possible.
You get the idea. Think through your day or vacation week. Then find a place to put it. If you don't have enough places then either pare back the stuff, or trade up to a bigger boat! 🙂
This became longer than intended because your question is a good one.
