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Old 04-03-2015, 17:39   #31
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

I use the free council recycling bags,even color coded in the uk and very strong!
also a bucket with strong handle as my "go to" tote
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Old 04-03-2015, 17:46   #32
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

My individual tool kits are in various soft bags and ancient, heavy duty, plastic "tackle" boxes, for portability. Sockets on spring clip rails; combination wrenches in roll-up tool pouches. Most everything stored in bins under bunks.
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Old 04-03-2015, 17:47   #33
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

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Originally Posted by Therapy View Post

1....................... It wasn't long before it was pretty much all I needed for most things.

2...........Electric is different though so if that was the chore it's little bag was an add-on to the other. Ditto plumbing or rigging.
1. That's the key.

2. Yup.
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Old 04-03-2015, 17:52   #34
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

I've gotten into the habit of immediately treating every new tool that comes onto the boat to a coating of CorrosionX. If you just spray it on and let it sit for about 10 minutes then wipe off really well, it only leaves a very thin coating.
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Old 04-03-2015, 18:10   #35
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

I store two plastic tool boxes under my port settee seats. I have to remove the cushion and lift a flap to get to a box. I store my set of ratchet wrenches (heavy large set with multiple size ratchets and sockets) under another setee seat at the dining table along with my dewalt rechargeable drill. I have some loose tools - saws, hammer, Dremel set on plastic box in a cabinet under my forward v berth. The port setee tools are easiest to get to and I use them the most, screwdrivers, vise grips, pliers, etc. Sockets and drill kind of go together. Hacksaw, tree saw and hammer are not used much as is Dremel tool.

I keep spares in a Rubbermaid Bo in the V Berth. We use the V-Berth for storage only. It's just my wife and I and we never have overnight guests on the boat.


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Old 04-03-2015, 18:56   #36
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

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Originally Posted by Saltyhog View Post
I tried canvas tool bags. They pack down well, but it seemed that I could never find what I needed, the bags would get wet/damp, and the tools would then rust. I really try to keep my tools rust free. So far, the following is working. For storage, I use waterproof latching cases. Pelican cases are good, but I found and really like these from Nanuk This size seems to work for me, allowing me to store about the right assortment in a case. Not too heavy even when full of sockets / wrenches, etc. I find it easy to root around in the open case to find a tool. The corners are round and the plastic seems to not scratch/mar what they are sitting on. The latches are easy to open, unlike some Pelican cases. I have one with general tools, another with a full set of 3/8" and 1/2" drive sockets and various styles of open/box end wrenches, another with electrical, another with my battery drill and impact driver including charger and a full assortment drills etc. I'm still working on the combinations of which tools go where, but these cases let me store the less used tools in the laz or even up forward near the chain locker (damp areas) without worrying about rust. Also, once or twice a year I wipe down tools with TC-11. I'm sure there are other products that also work well, but I've been using TC-11 for years on all kinds of things, and it's never let me down. Not waxy, and that's important.
Good insight and a great link. I think I am converted. I like the choice of colors and the brief case style rather than ammo box lets you see the contents. Add a foam brick & customize the interior. Thanks
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Old 04-03-2015, 19:15   #37
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

Quote:
Originally Posted by atoll View Post
I use the free council recycling bags,even color coded in the uk and very strong!
also a bucket with strong handle as my "go to" tote
ha, ha... Forgot about the bucket - You can tell the "real" working men - LOL...

Also scissors. A buddy told me the first thing into any "new" toolbox is a good pair of scissors, darned if he ain't right.

On the "right" sized boat (big) I could definitely see a sole to ceiling cabinet turned into a "roll away" cabinet. modified with roll in/roll out drawers, appropriate latches etc.

Damn - gonna need a bigger boat for the machine shop...

My dad had two canvas bags - as I do now - and he could do damn near anything with the tools in those bags including manufacturing bearing races out of coke cans for a 1961 Ford Country Sedan wagon rear axle on the side of a desert road one day. I pulled over and asked him if he needed a tow or a help. The diff cover was off the axle was out and he was cutting up coke cans with his shears. "Nope - I got this..." Sure enough he gets home at 11pm.
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Old 05-03-2015, 01:37   #38
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

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Originally Posted by Kenomac View Post
The hand tools, power tools, fuel filtration system and ice maker are all located in the workshop under the work bench. Very handy.


We also have a crewman's bunk located in the shop, which we use to store additional tools and supplies in clear plastic storage bins held in place by the lee cloths.
Lucky guy!

Our boats are almost identical in layout, except for one thing --

On my boat, Dixon made the passage to the aft cabin via the workshop/crew cabin, instead of through the galley, like on your boat, in order to get a "U" shaped galley and bigger heads.

I love the "U" shaped galley, which works better at sea than the Oyster one, but the bigger heads are a pure waste of space -- the Oyster layout is superior. That space you have, which unlike mine is a separate compartment, is probably the most precious space you have apart from the engine room. A proper work bench! What I wouldn't give for that . . . . I can't really use the cabinet top in my workshop as a workbench, because it has fiddles to take the mattress for the pilot berth.
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Old 05-03-2015, 01:44   #39
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

Thanks to everyone who replied. It really helped me a lot, and I'm sure a lot of other people too.

This discussion helped me to understand exactly what I need to do.

I sunk into habits, like most of us do, about how to use the storage space we have, and I realize that I have been using it all wrong. I have plenty of space for tools in my workshop, including a meter of deep cabinets below the pilot berth, and two meters of cabinets above, and a large, deep drawer.

I am going to evict all the carp that lives there now and buy cases which fit in the spaces there -- plastic ammo boxes etc. -- and divide up my tools into rational categories, and keep them in those cabinets. I'll find space enough for the other carp elsewhere. The key is finding just the right cases and boxes -- will take some looking.

I have a lot of space under my salon settees, but I hate to use it for ready access to things, because it means manhandling the cushions every time, which wears them out and gets them dirty. But for spares and less often used carp, it's ok.

I'll try to find a box which fits in the small free space in the engine room, for engine spares, which will free up still more space.

I guess everyone has been through this; I'm a bit of a late bloomer, I guess, after six years of owning this boat
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Old 05-03-2015, 01:59   #40
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

Dockhead the first and most important step is to sort out all your tools. Let's face it, how often do you need a spanner fora 3 inch bolt?

I have a small carry bag that holds all the most used of my tools, full screwdriver set, several pliers, boxcutter, diverse bits for my electric drill, hammer and a set of spanners.

This allows me to reapir almost anything that might need immediatel attention. I also have another small carry bag that holds my electrical stuff, multimeter, electrical pliers/screwdrivers etc, tape you name in there.

Everything else is in plastic tubs stored away. 1 tube for spanner, ratchets, big pliers, big wrenches. another tub for my power tools, drill bits, blades grinder wheels etc. Another tub has several smaller tubs inside - glues, grease, more tape, tie-downs etc.

Finally I have 5 plastic trays with assorted sized compartments for screws, bolts, nuts, and a large assortment of shackles for the boat.

And finally , my guilty conscience - a (smallish) tub filled with "that stuff" that can't seem to find a home in any of the rest of the tubs.

Generally, I fix almost everything with my small carry bag. If I need bigger equipment, then I know where to find it.

Oh-it helps to get in the habit of putting eveything back in its place - potherwise the best system is no use
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Old 05-03-2015, 02:18   #41
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

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I am going to evict all the carp that lives there now and buy cases which fit in the spaces there --

<snip>

But for spares and less often used carp, it's ok.
Too bad you have to give up your fish tanks...

Keep the oft used carp handy...
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Old 05-03-2015, 03:33   #42
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

Don't forget the FluxGate compass.
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Old 05-03-2015, 04:03   #43
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

I have tools........

Last year, I decided to reorganise my tools for the boat. I took a look, a close look at the engine and all the bolts and attachments that required 'tools', and then went and looked at all the fittings the bolts, the turnbuckles, the winches, all the stuff in the cabin, in fact everywhere that needed a tool or something to screw, turn, bang, tighten, ub tighten et cetera et cetera.

Then I went to the stores and bought the plastic cases full of sockets, wrenches and screwdrivers, one portable vice, various sizes of adjustable grip wrenches and a few other specialist tools. I find now if I stack the boxes one on top of the other, they are only 2 foot high and that the maximum 3 foot wide. I can keep them neatly stacked and secured under one of the seats in the main cabin. The individual tools that I find I need like hammers and the saw, are placed in the locker next to them. I have a battery-operated screwdriver set that has attachments which again, are just stored with the other tools.

I have not found the need thus far for any other tools. Should one be required for a larger job, then I guess the only other tool I'll need is MasterCard.

The one caveat in having a setup like I have is that it is essential to replace all the tools in their correct box immediately after use. One other thing I do is when I use a tool I spray WD-40 into a rag and wipe the tool before replacing.
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Old 05-03-2015, 04:26   #44
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

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I have different bags and cases of different kinds of tools -- an electrical bag, a plumbing bag, etc. But what I am most concerned about are the general tool bag, and the wrenches. I am sick of digging for the wrenches box, which doesn't fit anywhere easy to get at, and which is already missing a catch, and I'm sick of my tool bag where the tools just form an incoherent mass of metal to cut your fingers while you awkwardly grope for the tool you need. Bah! Time for change.

In despair, I hit on the idea of buying a metal tool chest, and keeping in -- in the heads. My after heads compartment is a large room, bigger than needed. I could put in a strap to restrain the chest against the engine room wall.

I have four different tool boxes. One small one for electricity stuff. One slightly larger one for daily use likely above decks, with the various most-often used tools. These live in a locker in the saloon, but I could find several optional locations if I worked at it. The idea is easily available.

The largest is in the engine room, with serious tools (SAE and metric wrenches, sockets, etc.), bungied to an engine stringer. This one is metal, but would be better in plastic... should I find a plastic one right-sized for that. The sockets and fixed wrenches, for example, are all organized on holders, stored in their respective drawers, etc. All the "drivers" get a drawer, all the "pliers" and adjustables get their drawer, and so forth.


The fourth is a Rubbermaid step stool that incorporates a storage space; this one is for hose clamps, zincs and other related stuff. This too lives in the engine room, bungied to an engine stringer.

I treat spare parts as part of the same problem, and usually keep those in a milk crate or two, often in zip-lock bags with spray preservative where appropriate. Electrical spare parts (including fuses and so forth) stow in a complicated tackle box with boatloads of little drawers and sections. These aren't necessarily instantly ready to hand; not difficult to retrieve, just more out of the way because demand is lower.

I think I'm also going to get another plastic box to store spray can or liquid stuff like WD-40, Boeshield T-9, and so forth...

FWIW, I also almost always wear a complicated Swiss Army knife and a Leatherman tool... and those probably deal with 90% of pop-up problems.

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Old 05-03-2015, 04:55   #45
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Re: Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

In my plans I have about 180*100*45-60cm (l*h*d) for a tool cabinet and working table. It's between of the foreward and midship bulkheads on the starboard side. From the portside in the same space lies the dining settee and table and then one or two chairs btw the table and the tool cabinet. Chairs can be used either way, facing stb cabinet or facing table to port.
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