Thursday, January 19, 2012

Keeping Things Organized

 So, how many of you have a storage area that looks like this?

This is what we started with.

Well, we certainly were guilty of having a (we are only going to admit to one) tangled mess in one of our lazarettes.  Every time we needed a line, fender or the lunch anchor we fought our way bravely through the mess, and sometimes even found what we needed.
I had removed the majority of the teak pieces off our Com-Pac 19 to sand and pretty them up.  While I was working in the shop the fumes got to me and I had an idea.  An idea fueled by teak oil and spar varnish fumes has to be a good one, right?

Some of the removable wood on our CP19

 I decided to tackle that lazarette mess by building a mount for the lunch anchor and also build a copy of another sailor's line organizer.  I had seen this organizer in one of those glossy sailing magazines. A couple good sniffs of the shop fumes and it was time to fire up the power tools.  Being a lifelong woodworker, I can usually sketch something up in my head and create it on the fly.  Well, the simple lunch anchor mount was quickly knocked out and I also made up the super simple line organizer. "Geez, why stop now?" said my fume happy little mind.  "Let's make that cup / binocular / VHF holder too!"  Bring out the hole saws and away we go.   Eventually I ran out of wood, so I figured I'd better stop. A little more sanding, oiling/varnishing and we have our new items ready for installation.  I clamped the line organizer to the underside of the lid so the glue could set.  Unfortunately, I later bumped the lid closed and the organizer slid out of place smearing the glue.  I cleaned it up after it dried, but the pictures show the whoops.  The anchor mount installation went much better and soon I was coiling lines and prettying things up.
Mike's glue mess.

New lunch anchor mount - neat way to hang it in a handy spot.
Line organizer and anchor mount in lazarette.
 So now we have a really organized lazarette.  When we reach in to grab the lunch anchor it is immediately available.  The Admiral loves the line organizer and she makes sure I keep it looking like this.  A happy Admiral makes for a happy boat.

Now, about that mess on the starboard berth........

Mike

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