Fruit Hammocks

[ReMetau]

Here is our 3-tier basket Diana weaved together using some palm frond baskets we commissioned a street local in the Keys to make for us. We also have a hammock that we use when we get so much fruit it overfills the baskets.

[SandysSundries]

I do call mine banana hammocks
I crochet them with cotton yarn.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Sandy.

[Auspicious]

I haven't had much luck storing fruit and veg in hammocks. I'm sure they are fine at dock, in anchorages, and on short, benign sails. Offshore they turn apples into sauce, oranges into juice, and bananas into pudding. In my opinion they are more appropriate for clothes and personal positions when you're out of other storage.

I store fruit and veg for the next day or so in baskets on the galley counter (with non-skid underneath) and in crates that provide good ventilation. Lots of vinegar and sunlight between uses to deal with fruit flies and other pests.

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Another great way to store fruit is the metal 3 tiered baskets.

I prefer woven or plastic baskets like those in the link to Carolyn Shearlock's The Boat Galley.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by zeehag

gear nets (aka fruit hammocks) are found ready made in many chandleries for around 6 dollars us.

they suck at fruit storage--fruit gets weird net marks in it--i use bags in which onions are bought. they work fine. no fruit mayhem and no fruit reshaping....

Ha, I remember the big fruit nets over the deckhouse dining area on the square rigger I used to work on. One morning a poor american passenger had a nicely squashed and well and truly overripe orange extruded through the net and onto his head during breakfast. Kind of funny as long as it happens to someone else... After that we were a lot more careful about picking over the fruit every day.

[zeehag]

since my last posting i have found various sizes of collanders, in plastic most colorful, along with some cheap colored home depot alleged paracord, make the best hanging fruit storage units.
garlic will not slip thru this, so i have one level for garlic and serrano chiles, another larger collander for nuts and berries, and a bottom one for larger fruits. i hang bananas by the stem end so they donot bruise and rot faster.
these hangers are easily secured and in times of passage making, i use another cord or two to prevent them from swinging. it aint hard to do . a lil ice pick with heat, poke holes in plastic just right for the cord, knots where needed, and hang from whatever hook system you use on board. easy peasy.
i made 3 units with enough collanders left for a 3 tiered one for engine bits. (12 collanders, total, at 20 pesos each..hahahaha) i will be replacing a corroded 1970s aluminum one.
3 collanders and some cheapo thread. thread breaks, change it out to different color.
fruit does not squish thru collanders as nastily as it does thru netting, and they clean up easily when a fruit rots in it. there is always one.
light bulbs and lamp fittings are placed into one of mine, the larger one below it has discs for dvd--information and charts for garmin, and lowest one holds my computer transformer cords and my surge protector and wif, etc, equipments.

[JPA Cate]

One important thing I found with the hammocks is to secure them against bashing against the hull. Bungee will work for this.

The three tiered concept also seems to work well, if secured both top and bottom. At present, I'm using a very large woven basket, that sits on non-skid, and it's really convenient, too. It depends a lot on how your boat is laid out as to when works well and is least intrusive........

Ann

[UNCIVILIZED]

Helps to hang them over kitchen counters & sinks, albeit out of the way of where you head is during food prep. So that when they do drip juices, things are easy to clean up.
The other primo spot to hang'em is over the mother-in-law's dinette seat, or where the crew who's the biggest pain in your rump, sits.

[RobPatterson]

Custom deluxe. Created by live aboard artist using fine wool yarn.