Stowage, Safety and Bouyancy

[Yara50]

from the old MSN site:
My 5 year old persuaded me to have us sleep on the boat last night. Yes, boat on the trailer, in the street, but with discreet cover, so not too embarrassing.

First thing I realised was that mossie screens are a definite requirement. OK, that is relatively easy to organise.

Lying in the faint light while the little one snored, I started thinking about where to stow all the things one needs for overnighting, such as spare clothes, cereal, sugar, pots, kettle etc. On my previous boat, this was under the bunks. The Investigator 563 has this under bunk space sealed for buoyancy. So the question comes up- do we really need flotation when you have a heavy keel and the boat is self -righting?

Robbie Kirk's Sherlock used the forward underbunk space for stowage, and I think many people have done something similar.

2009 note- the boy is 8 now!

My thoughts on flotation are that it is nice security, but most keelboats don't have it.

So- what storage have you got?

[Ozzie]

This is a copy of my reply from TSP the other matters are relevant so I put them in

cheers


Ian
Yep I remember that thread. It was what originally got me thinking about floatation. My 563 has the main berths sealed but front quarters are open. The area around the front of the head is sealed other than the small storage area. In some 563s I think the whole front area was sealed so clearly its a individual difference.

There is a lot of places you could put extra foam without it getting in the way. In the depression above the rear of the keel, inside the transom, under the gunnels as accessed through the cockpit lockers. I dont think you can have "too much" floatation in a boat.

Pete
Apparently closed cell foam is not all the same animal and can absorb H20. which is why I as interested in the R2R story. I will read your link ... ta.[/i][/i]

Tim
Storm boards are a worry to me too. 563 boards and their guides are a might flimsy from my view and another thing Im going to do this haulout is to replace them with Aluminium channel and thicker ply with a higher bottom board in fact the biggest I can fit in the locker.

On the subject of storm boards. As a relative newbie to yachting I have always wondered why they are not V shaped Idea If you are healed at 35 degrees and a wave fills the cockpit your effective water barrier is only as high as your lowest point (@35Deg lower than your centre point) If they were V shaped your low point would be the same as the centre even at 35 or 45 or whatever you cut the angle.

Does that make sense Shocked

Oh ###T this is turning into a whole new subject Smile

Regarding storage, I have long stuff slid up under the cockpit sole, boom and main in bag, bimini bows, bimini tarp on roll, boat hook and tiller. The depression in the middle is fairly useless but provides a nice big well to put foam. The weighty stuff of course is out from under there when sailing. I deliberately avoid anything heavy permanently stored towards the back of Spritzig II when sailing. It definitely slows it down in light to medium wind. You could feel the boat picking up speed when I walked to the foredeck. As discussed in the old forum i am no longer carrying comprehensive insurance only 3rd party, so I have become slightly more interested in recovery of the boat if the worst occurred.

Storage is at a premium but I have tried in the last year to take off things I wasn't using and that helped. I reduced the size of my tool kit a bit. Rationalised my fishing gear and snorkelling stuff even some cleaning gear got the A. I now manage to fit nearly everything into boxes or underbunk spaces. Biggest pain is the bulk of PDF1 bricks and would be the only reason I would probably go to the expense of Inflatables.

One thing I am going to do in the haulout is laminate directories onto the sides or lids of the storage areas to remind me what I have where. Saw that on a site somewhere and it makes good sense

[snoopebj]

Following your original advice of bolted buckets a variation on the theme with rudder/washboard stowage in between.
Window cleaning buckets and alum angle all sourced from Bunnings. (no I don't have shares and yes I have too much time on my hands) - rudder has a wheel on chock fitted into tiller slot for ease of manouvering and to tie on to boat when mounting on pintles lest it be accidentally conveyd to the deep.


cheers

[Yara50]

Great to see a post about boats and not naked girls. (Not that I dislike naked girls, but we cant have them on a family website like ours

Anyway, Yara has wooden slats mounted on the inside of the hull, and the buckets are joined by a slat which is screwed on underneath, and runs between the fixed slats.