Workshop Aboard or Not ?

[Seahunter]

Having A: the space and/or B: the inclination who would like or has a workshop on their boats and how is it stocked? Is it filled with old jugs of oil or do you keep it stocked with every conceivable list of replacement parts?

[roverhi]

A workshop is something I'd love to have if I had a boat big enough to fit it. A space with a table saw and a good vice would be ideal. Space problems would probably mean the table saw would only be stored in the workshop and deployed top side to use in reality.

We met a couple who were on the final leg of their 10 year circumnavigation. He was a diesel mechanic and had turned the aft cabin into a workshop complete with lathe and arc welder. He could pretty much rebuild a diesel engine with the tools he had on board.

Most boats I've seen with a workshop space are center cockpit boats that use the space under the cockpit as a combination engine room/workshop. A pretty good use of space that would otherwise be wasted.

[Dockhead]

Workshop space is a really great thing on a longer-distance cruising boat. So is lots of deck storage and a big sail locker.

Our boat has got a kind of passage between the main salon and the aft cabin. It is an intensively muli-functional transformable space, and we really like it. It has cabinets up to chest level with deep drawers and lockers for storing tools, spare parts, life jackets, etc. The washer/dryer is mounted in that cabin, too. On top of the cabinet is a pilot berth. You can take up the matress, and you've got a decent workbench. The engine space opens into this passage, so when all the engine space doors are open, it transforms into an extended engine room complete with tools and spares storage. We don't keep a vice permanently mounted, but we do have one on a board which works a treat.

We are very happy with this aspect of our boat. As to sail storage and deck storage, however, the situation is not quite as rosy. The problem being that modern yacht designs emphasize accomodation at the expense of all other values. So where the hell do you keep sails?

[Laidback]

If space will not provide a dedicated area for a workshop, at least make a place to fit a vice .
The ideal vice might be a "Zyliss" made entirely of aluminium - Click Z-Vise, Zyliss vise sytem, vise, clamps,grips, bar clamps, sash clamp, zvise, zyliss lathe, mini lathe, torno lathe
I have had mine on board for over 10 years - bought on the London boat show, with all its extra fittinngs - absolutely marvelous piece of equipment = 2 extra hands.

[Extemporaneous]

Originally Posted by Laidback

If space will not provide a dedicated area for a workshop, at least make a place to fit a vice .
The ideal vice might be a "Zyliss" made entirely of aluminium - Click Z-Vise, Zyliss vise sytem, vise, clamps,grips, bar clamps, sash clamp, zvise, zyliss lathe, mini lathe, torno lathe
I have had mine on board for over 10 years - bought on the London boat show, with all its extra fittinngs - absolutely marvelous piece of equipment = 2 extra hands.

It's not on my boat yet, but it will be.
I was lucky enough to pick on of these up at a garage sale.
Very nice little vises.

Extemp.

[Roaring Girl]

The second head on RG is a workshop - and always has been as the first owner circumnavigated in her and fitted her out that way. It's not v big but it does provide a vice base plus excellent storage for spares and tools. We have a zyliss as well but we don't use it as much as the little one that's fitted to the bench, just because it's less hassle.

Really really worth having the good, accessible storage and the easy place to do slightly (very) messy jobs. Like every cabin on the boat, it could be bigger (and then the mooring fees would go up too).

We also carry folding trestle legs. Then any old bit of wood makes a good table so if we're doing serious jobs whilst tied up, it's easy to create a work surface on the pontoon.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Seahunter

who would like or has a workshop on their boats and how is it stocked?

I have a quite large workshop on boat with a vice. A few vices actually. Plus a smallish lathe and turner to run it. In the ante room to the workshop is the mechanics shop (I call it the cave) where lives the mechanic and his staff - they are all very small as this is a 39 footer.

The spares are kept in another room I call the other room. Most spares are kept on a computerised palating system with forklifts running a various speeds on different routes about the boat. Safety is everything.


Mark

[rustypirate]

On my parents vagabond 42 wh had a workbench installed in the area adjencent to the engine room. Mostly this was a place to store tools, and work on projects that woudl otherwise dmamge or dirty the countertops. What I have found is that if you do not have a dedicated work area for tool storage then the tools wind up rusting away in the bottom of the nearest storage locker under cans of food, etc.

For any long distance cruiser, adequate tools are a necessity. I cannot remember the number of times that we rebuilt fuel pumps, transmition, anchor windlass, etc.

[Hudson Force]

It might not be a justifiable use of space to have a designated workshop. Myself, and many other cruisers have a surface that becomes a workshop at times when needed. At other times my "workshop" stores two bicycles and snorkeling gear. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[jkleins]

I really would love a work bench but all I had was a top that had some padded "legs" on it that would fit between the cockpit seats and allowed me to mount a vise or bang on things when I needed to.

I need to make one for this boat instead of using the chart table.

Jim

[barnakiel]

Some form of workshop is desirable at all times. And in a bigger boat it is possible to have a work bench too. Not strictly a MUST but a very welcome NICE to have IMHO.

b.

[Boracay]

My first choice would be to buy a cream puff and to pay someone to keep it that way.

But having brought a project boat I have a "workshop", but sometime I wish I didn't...

[rebel heart]

A lot of the times you need to bring the tools to the work area. If you need to work on your boom for example, a work bench down below won't do much. And if I'm making a mess, I'd rather make it on deck where I can sweep it up easier and less garbage ends up in the cabin. I would never run a sander in the cabin unless I was actually sanding something permanently attached in the cabin itself.

I have a couple of clamp on vices that I can put in a few places in a jiffy. That's worked quite well for all of my projects to date.

[skipgundlach]

We have a workshop and wouldn't give it up. Check out the interior shots in my gallery for an idea of how ours is set up.

Most of my big tools are stored where they won't get wet, but not easily accessible; we keep all the small stuff readily available. My small-parts bins storage is a lifesaver, though, as I can pull nearly anything I need nearly immediately, and the workbench allows lots of room for projects when needed.

I've got lots of tools I've rarely used aboard - woodworking hand tools, major socket and open end/closed end wrenches, huge pipe wrenches (which get used more than I'd thought), and so on. A great deal of your decision will be about how much space you have and how well you can protect your tools...

HTH

L8R

Skip

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[Microship]

I'm converting my original salon (settee for 4 around a cramped table) into a lab and workshop, with sloping consoles for the geekery, a digital piano embedded in a folding section of the desktop, and a small wing for vise and drill (adjacent to the pass-through to allow standing work and awkwardly large parts).

The admiral was not pleased with this, preferring emphasis on comfort, so the solution was a second boat.

Across the aisle, there is a small counter space just large enough for a CNC gantry router for front panels and printed circuit boards. Dust control uses a central shopvac under one of the original settees, and there's a small oilless compressor down there as well (for hookah diving as well as air tools). It's a lot to cram into an 8-foot segment of the boat, but is one of my highest priorities. I willingly sacrifice a table and seating system that was awkward for my galumphing 6'4" frame!

Steve