Ideas and suggestions

[Red Charlotte]

Hello! I have two questions for you experienced folks out there. The last two weeks of March we are hauling our boat out to do some much needed maitenance. Before we haul her out we would like to make the boat a little more seaworthy. Right now it is very cozy, but if we took her sailing things would be flying all over the place.

I've attached a picture of our nav table. Right now we store bottles along the back. We like the use of space there, but also know the bottles would go everywhere when sailing. Does anyone have any good ideas for how to make use of that space? Ideally we'd still like to keep the bottles there, but how?

I also want to make our refrigerator/ice box more efficient. It opens from the top and is very deep. I know there are tons of organizing stores out there and I will go there to check out plastic containers, but does anyone have a system for storing food in theirs?

Many thanks!

[GordMay]

An elastic fiddle might keep the bottles in place.
An insulating blanket, that covers your declining stores increases fridge/freezer efficiency.

[stevensc]

It is hard to get an idea of the shape and sizes of the bottles in the picture, if you go to a liquor store they may give some packaging that bottles are shipped in. I have seen wine from overseas shipped in styrofoam blocks cut out to fit the bottles. Put some of that across the area where the bottles will go and then fit a nice board across the front to hide the Styrofoam to make it look finished. You could also buy some foam and make cutouts to hold the bottles in place or use fiddles etc.
If your freezer is big enough I find the plastic crates (Milk Crates)that milk is delivered to stores in makes a good container, they are open so air circulates well.
Good luck
Steve

[scallywag]

Bottles--What about plastic bottles? A cord will hold them and they will not clank and make noise.

John

[MarkJ]

Each of those bottles contains 750 mils fluid plus weight of bottle = aprox 1kg.
Fall off a wave and you have 7kgs (?) pushing hard against a fiddle or elastic holders / shock cord etc. I don't think you can do that safely. I think you need to build in a proper timber cabinet arrangement or timber slats with hole for the bottle bases and a lockable arm to lever shut and hold the bottle necks etc.
Of all the junk you dont want flying around the cabin is glass - OK the stove is worse - think of a broken bottle and the fragment getting into every nook and cranny being picked up by bare feet for the next few months.
Even if they are secured but still have glass exposed think of other flying objects hitting them.

When you go to sea bottles need to be under the saloon seats wrapped in towels or some other secure spot

Or test it by putting the bottles under the seat, then go punch into 40 knots for 6 hours and see if you made the right decision

Mark
PS You could always drink them at a going away party

[Red Charlotte]

Originally Posted by GordMay

An elastic fiddle might keep the bottles in place.
An insulating blanket, that covers your declining stores increases fridge/freezer efficiency.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Gord, what is an elastic fiddle?

[GordMay]

An elastic fiddle is a bungy cord (whatever) stretched across the front of the bottles, about ½ way up their height. This restrains them (more or less) in place.
You can also slide bottle socks (cozy) over the bottles, to reduce rattling.

[Red Charlotte]

Thanks Gord. I'll let you know what we figure out.

[hooked on water]

wow your a handy one to know gord with all your wisdom
never thought of the bottle socks or simple bungy
I always went for making proper racks for the bottles, heavy take up space, rattle and all things not good, other than holding most bottles in place
Thanks

[Ex-Calif]

I am with gord, anything that takes up space and adds weight should be considered carefully. Think minimalist first.

The bottlesock is a great idea - You can buy very thin sheet plastic "foam" (I'm talking milimeters think, take a wrap and secure with a rubber band.

I wouldn't add anything to the interior of the reeferif I could avoid it. Learn to pack as it's needed over time and try to practice first in first out. Reefers take too much energy to fill them with racks and shelves.

I do think an interesting idea would be to "stair-step" the inner walls. Then you could have horizontal dividers that are very thin. As the box empties you could move stuff up to a higher level.

[frankdeegan]

Use a fish net strung out like a hammock, use it your unused free spaces and they won't fizz up when opened.
Frank

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

<snip>

I wouldn't add anything to the interior of the reefer if I could avoid it. Learn to pack as it's needed over time and try to practice first in first out. Reefers take too much energy to fill them with racks and shelves.

<snip>

I don't think Dan meant first in, first out (FIFO), but rather last in, first out (LIFO). FIFO means you would have to remove everything you put in the reefer later, to get to the thing you put in first so you could use it first, exactly the opposite of what you actually want to do.

If you use the last thing you put in first, you're always using goods from the top of the pile first, thus the reefer is open for the least amount of time, and you don't have to remove any goods from the cool interior, set them on the counter or in the sink exposed to the warmth outside the box. By the time you locate and remove the thing you loaded first at the bottom of the pile of goods, the items waiting on the counter have warmed up a bit, so as you repack them into the box, you're introducing additional warmth that the reefer must work to cool back down. Inefficient.

Top-loading reefers are the most efficient models, and Gord's advice to use an insulating blanket over the top of the shrinking supply inside will keep it most efficient. Without it, the reefer has to work extra-hard to cool the empty space above the remaining goods inside, a waste of energy.

TaoJones

[S/V Elusive]

I am constantly amazed at how little I know. Thanks guys! (and as usual Gord is all knowing - so it seems!!!!)

[Therapy]

I would rather have no glass on my boat.

I would be afraid of breaking it after I had half emptied it.

And glass up high........not for me.

[Arch Stanton]

For wine I would use something like this:

Wine Shipping Boxes and Wine Shippers - Uline