Captain Randy, Storage in a
cruising sailboat is always at a premium. I understand your predicament since we had a similar one on our 43ft boat; (tanks under the settees and quarterberth). Our solution was to remove the quarterberth and use it for organized storage. We built 9 large bins, and carefully stowed items there. We used the area behind the settees for
food (one side) and other goods (the other side). One thing we were insistent upon: nothing stored on any berth or on the
cabin sole. We also focused on organizing the lazerette. In the end we more than doubled our usable storage (more about this below)
However you do it, you need to look carefully at your storage needs and make hard decisions.
As for your asymmetrical kite, you can dramatically reduce the amount of volume that sail takes, probably by 50-60%.
First, carefully fold or roll it. Take it out of the sock and lay it flat on a grassy area or clean floor. Fold it into a narrow stack then roll or further fold it into a very tight bundle. Your sail should be no larger than tightly rolled sleeping bag. Tie it tight with a sail tie. If you do it carefully you can untie it and hoist it out of the bag without repacking it. In our case we decided that the sock was unnecessary, so we
lost that. Two people can hoist, set, jibe, and takedown an asymmetrical easily without the sock.
Of course you cannot do this at sea, so after a
passage or sail you'll have to keep it on deck or in a storage area until you can repack it.
About our storage solution. Our boat is 43 ft. We had two quarterberths and we could expand the port one to be more than 75% of the boat's width. This made it suitable for sleeping, and in fact is quite roomy. The remaining space holds our 9 large bins, as noted above. With this modification we could convert the whole bow into sail storage and workshop. Out boat is exceptionally roomy for a 43 footer, but most boats could benefit from this sort of change. In our case we are able to stow on board (all carefully packed) 6 spinnakers, 6 jibs, and three mainsails (we have a
racing inventory and a cruising inventory). We also have a full workshop, separate shower, and literally a ton of spares. Since we live full time on board we also have ALL of our personal belongings including all our personal papers,
books, and twenty plus years of
photo albums, plus an aircondtioner, heavy duty
sewing machine, and sail
repair fabrics and materials for basically all sail and
canvas repairs that we might wish to do. We sailed around the world this way. Oh, we store the 12' rolled up dingy and 15hp
outboard motor below as well. The dingy is an exception to the
rule that nothing is on the
cabin sole; it sits in the front of the forward hanging locker when we are sailing.
Other than the dingy there is nothing on any berth or
cabin sole. Without quarterberth, the two settees, and two pilot berths we can still sleep 6.
There is also nothing on deck except the dingy gas can. No jerry cans, no
water jugs, no kayaks, SUPO, Surf boards, or anything.
I doubt if many other cruisers have this capability, but with careful planning and a little creativity we can all do better.
For sure, keep the assym.