The organisation of lockers

[dylan winter]

I have now cleared out my old boat and have started considering populating the new (to me)boat

discipline is hard

does anyone have any useful guidelines about deciding which bits to transfer

rules of thumb about spare gear

and how to organise lockers

how do you group stuff?

do you pay any attention to weight distribution?

any snaps or urls for neat storage solutions gratefully considered

in the meantime

this is a rather dull film of the empty pocker space on the new boat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVlGldB46Cg

most of my films are slightly better than this one

Dylan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1KsFzIL2Yk

[Phil Y]

Transfer everything because it might be useful one day, then have a bit of a wander around a chandler or two because a new boat needs new things. And maybe visit a couple of hardware and camping stores, just in case.

[Lew Barrett]

You are far too modest about the video. I enjoyed it.

Whatever you put in the holes and at the back will stay there until you sell the boat, at which point you will need to fetch it/them out and dispose of it properly, which will be made harder because items stowed on a coastal small boat in such a way that you cannot see or access them relatively easily are simply excess gear.

Resist the pack rat approach with all your might! Individual containers sized to work in your spaces and set up to organize like items are useful.
Bring more shoes! But that's the easy part as you already know where they go.

[Breakaway]

What Lew said. Until very recently, I had "stuff" from 4 boats ago. Each time saved cuz "it might come in handy" or " Hey!, A backup to the backup." As a result, I could've starred on the TV show " Hoarders" if anyone were to photograph my shed. Be cold. Divest yourself of what isn't essential.

TIP: In those less-than-easily accessible areas every boat seems to have, I stow energy bars, bottled water and a suit of old warm clothes. Comes in handy if you ever get stuck somewhere.

Kevin

Kevin

[Capt Zatarra]

If you have not used an item in the last two years, and it is not an epirb, through hull bung, emergency food and water, or replacement parts for the stove, head, engine, or autopilot, it should not be on your boat. Ditch it. Your boat should not be a storage unit. In the space over the batteries that goes back so very far, get several plastic milk crates, it looks like you could easily fit four or five crates in there. Next organize the crates in to different types of stuff for each crate (example; engine tools in one crate, sail repair kit and marlinspike tools in another, and write on a piece of paper what is in each crate put the paper in a large ziplock bag that you can read the list through, and put the list in each crate, on top where you can reach it, six months from now you will not remember which crate has what in it. Now you can reach back in and just grab the paper to find out where you put that small plastic lefthand threaded wigit you stached so long ago. And you will not spend hours digging through the boxes at night with a fadeing flashlight at two in the morning. Which is the only time you will ever need to get in those supplies. Mount a way to secure the crates with bungy cords. In the spaces under the seats where you will put cans of food, cut out dividers from 16th inch plywood, duct tape the edges. Use these to separate the types of cans from each other and the cans will stack up sideways very nicely without getting mixed up, or banging about in a seaway, the high stacks will not fall over on the low stacks. One sailor I know has made a list of EVERYTHING on his boat, and where it is at, this list is in his computer, he printed out several copies, one copy is every thing in alphabetical order, another copy is by location (second drawer left of galley sink, etc, etc,) this is in a three ring binder at the nav station. As much as I admire this idea I just don't have the patience or deication to the task to keep it up. But I still think it is a great way to keep track of where your stuff is. So that is just some of what I got to say about that. Capt. Z.

[dylan winter]

the ply dividers is a great idea

I shall do that - no need to fit them - just shape them

The idea about crates and sliding them in is also a very good plan

- as for the lists..... I know that I should.... but also know that I am unlikely to do such a thing

and I fear that Phil actually maps out the future

no.... no...no....

I intend being very disciplined

for starters - do I really need that big bag of rotten bits of rope?

D

[St.J]

I have a much smaller boat than Capt. Z. and much less stuff on board so I can almost remember what goes where.
Everything is stored in relation to where I usually sit (starboard bunk) when below.
Colour coded stuff sacks containing clothes shoved down the starboard quarter berth.
Lines, sail bags, motorsailing cone, anchor ball, sail covers, wash boards etc shoved down the port quarter berth with the least-used items finding their way to the back.
Port under-berth locker contains the battery.
Starboard under-berth locker contains nothing I want to use in season because I'm sitting on it. There's sandpaper and wire brushes in there. In the off-season the cushions are at home so they're more accessible.
Food and most-used utensils are in the port lockers above the bunk so I can reach them from where I sit.
I have a lot more cubbies than your boat and don't mind them getting full. They get full of stuff that gets used a lot.
At the end of the season I take everything off the boat and only bring back what was used.

In my wardrobe at home I turn all my hangers round every summer so that they're hooked on back to front. Then the following summer the clothes on the hangers that are still the wrong way round haven't been used for a year so I take them to the charity shop. No mercy.
I apply the same principle on the boat. Anything at the back of a locker, at the end of a cubby or covered in mildew didn't earn it's place in the season so doesn't go back on the boat.
I don't apply this rule to working fire extinguishers, in-date flares, lavatory paper, tools or crew.
St.John

[dylan winter]

that is brilliant

the gritty determination

can I have some of that

your should run courses

services background?

Dylan

[St.J]

your should run courses

services background?

Dylan

Boarding school.
When all of your possessions must fit into one trunk you think very carefully about what you really need.

Some of the kids I teach (comprehensive school) do give me military monikers.
Not all of them polite.

I get my colour coded stuff sacks from Alpkit.com. Each colour is a different size. For my day bag I use an Alpkit dry bag rucksack with a clear front so that I can see to the bottom.

A couple of other ideas you might like to consider:

I put a piece of closed cell foam on top of the cushions in the quarter berths. All of the stuff that collects at the back can then be dragged out by simply pulling out the foam. The spare safety harness usually finds it's way to the back but when it is needed it's needed urgently. Dragging everything out as one makes finding it a 10 second job rather than 10 minute. You could do this with your "massive space". The closed cell foam doubles as insulation from the hull when the quarter berth is used for sleeping.

Take shelves out of the lockers and take them to John Lewis. Buy Tupperware (actually lock'n'lock) to fit. Get two tall containers for cutlery. One has the clean cutlery. The other is three quarters full of a very dilute bleach solution. The dirty cutlery goes in the bleach solution, business end down, the lid goes on and it gets a shake. If you run out of clean cutlery last night's spoon is now a light rinse away. Your culinary habits are very similar to my father's so I doubt you need my tips on plates and bowls though Capt. Z. has one I must try some day on another thread.

In your "massive space" you have two lockers. You might consider one of these to be a bin. Take apart a wire coat hanger (or two) and reshape it into a circle supported by a frame that will sit on the bottom of the locker. You can tie a small bin liner to the frame and put it into the locker so that the locker lid becomes the bin lid.

Whilst not exactly storage related this is my favourite small boat care tip: I keep a small, cordless vacuum cleaner on the boat. It uses the same batteries as my drill and circular saw. One battery charge lasts a season. I realise some will think I'm now into OCD territory but opening the hatch and finding a really clean cabin makes arriving at the boat even better.

St.John

[dylan winter]

Boarding school - pretty much the same as the military then

saw the old place from the Orwell when I sailed up there

now a girl's school

but I learned to sail on the Orwell


Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urHH2VFaelE