Where the Heck Do you Keep Tools?

[Sea7King]

Found this at harbor freight
Wood Tool Chest w/ 8 Wood Tool Drawers


http://www.harborfreight.com/eight-d...est-94538.html


Wood chest for $79.00

[Terra Nova]

That hardware is steel and will rust . And I would not expect it to be heavy duty enough for a load of mechanic's tools, a draftsman, perhaps.

[hpeer]

I have too many tools, but never enough!

As noted coastal cruising is one case, remote cruising is another.

I attempt to keep my stuff in "kits" but start with a small tool bag which is my "go to" kit and then a larger tool bag for heavier items.

I do like to keep socket sets in the case that came in amped am a bit fastidious about keeping them intact. Much easier to find the socket or spanner yu need that way.

I have a an extra large setee storage area to stb and a bit of behind the setee space to port that has a lot of stuff. But the gpbags are generally somewhere within hand reach.

I buy the six way screwdrivers by the six pack as I am impatient old fool and want those kinds of things at my finger tips. Scissors are also right at hand.

Some spares, big bulky items like a chart plotter or radome, go under the aft berth.

Yeah, I know, a sickness.

[Sea7King]

Terra, I suppose one could swap the tinned steel latches for SS or Brass, No?

[Terra Nova]

Certainly all the hardware could be replaced. But you would still wind up with a box made of non marine grade materials that also was not designed for heavy, slamming loads such as one will certainly encounter on a vessel. It doesn't seem to be heavy duty enough for ship's tools.

The other aspect is that ship's tools are virtually never needed right where they are stowed. It is often much more convenient to provide smallish, individual, purpose-built, portable tool kits, such as mechanical, electrical, general purpose/maintenance, woodworking, driver/drill, saber/saw, etc. To that end the soft, padded tool bags protect the boat's finish, are immediately portable, are inherently nonskid, and adapt and conform to small, available storage spaces.

[Mikado]

As we all know, every decision regarding equipment on a boat is a tradeoff, and usually one of the pros-cons is space consideration. When the PO of my boat did a re-fit, they sacrificed part of a port cabin and turned it into a workshop. I'm sure a tough decision for them but for me it is brilliant. The washer/dryer and watermaker live in there and when I renovated I had a L-shaped hardwood work bench built with a Craftsman 4 removable drawer plastic molded toolbox built into a lower cabinet. The work surface on one side lifts up and 4 nice plastic parts bins custom fit in the space including my SS hardware box. I have a small vice that is really handy and also where the hull curves below the W/D is plenty of room for canvas bags holding my 18v power tools, large tools, etc. I found some great wall mount plastic heavy duty bins at Lowes that are perfect for organizing large hardware like bronze fittings, spare bilge pump parts, etc. For better organization I purchased a nice thermal label maker for the bins (also to mark wire runs) and a business card laminator/luggage tag maker. I made color coded luggage tags for each of the canvas bags so one bag is for electrical, one is sail repair, one is plumbing, etc.

In the engine and generator rooms I have a wall mounted parts bin for specific spare parts as well as hose clamps, Teflon tape, etc along with a shadow board that a basic set of tools mounts on for quick and easy access.

I still have to dig thru my large misc tool canvas bag every now and again but for the most part my system allows me to be organized and mobile at the same time.

[Leo Ticheli]

Originally Posted by Sea7King

Found this at harbor freight
Wood Tool Chest w/ 8 Wood Tool Drawers


Wood Tool Chest w/ 8 Wood Tool Drawers


Wood chest for $79.00

This appears to be the same product, a bit cheaper. While I wouldn't think it's a good choice for my boat, might be OK for land home. 8 Drawer Machinist Wooden Tool Chest Wood Cabinet Box | eBay

Of course it's not the real deal, just a knock-off; here's the bomb: 52A Journeyman Chest

It's beautiful, but at 27 times the price!

Fair winds,
Leo

[autumnbreeze27]

Like everybody else I'm looking for a good way to store tools... I checked out that wood box at HF, and it's junk. It would only be useful if you had very small/light tools to store, but all the metal on it looks like it won't last 6 months (in a non-marine environment)

[Mikado]

The all molded plastic box I have built in because it does not have an opening top. When I am working on a project I can just grab one of the drawers and take it with me. Three drawers contain snap in locations for all the tools and the forth drawer is for misc stuff.



The other box is mounted to the work bench top and is all plastic except for the drawers. I've had it three years now and not a spec of rust so very pleased. I purchased this box only although you can buy it as a tool set as well. I keep a lot of my bigger hand tools in here as well.

[pillum]

I use a couple of big heavy duty tupperware type plastic containers, one for the socket sets and one for the general hand tools (pliers, spanners, screwdrivers etc), this keeps them dry and stops rusting. The two containers are at the bottom of the hanging locker amidships, and the meters and electronic bits and bats are in a soft toolbag under the quarter berth, both locations are easy to access.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Too bad you have to give up your fish tanks...

Keep the oft used carp handy...

I don't have room for all of my carp either. Tried stuffing them under the galley sink but my wife didn't care for the smell.