Stowage

[Matthew P]

Inspired by Graham and others' discussion on Galley Boxes perhaps its a good time for more general ideas on stowage. Here are some thoughts to kick-off with, based on cruising in BR20s.

"I like minimalism its simple and its fast" says an eminent BR20 skipper, a principle that I aspire to but fall short of because successful minimalism is the outcome of a deep understanding of the circumstances, practice and self-discipline. I also advocate, but never achieve, having 25% unused store space to avoid playing solitaire and jumbling stuff whenever retrieving or putting things away. The same 25%-empty-space-for-efficiency principle applies in warehouses, computer disks and kitchen drawers.

With two crew it saves a lot of "discussion" if each person "owns" one side of the boat.  For instance the skipper might have the starboard and the crew has port.  All personal kit is stored on the crews' respective sides. Food and cooking kit, usually the crew's responsibility goes in the port locker. And remember, it never pays to mess with the cook. Boaty things like anchors, navigation kit, tools, bosun's bag, mostly etc goes in the starboard locker with the skipper's stuff.   

GRP BR20s have deep and reasonably water-tight cockpit lockers but deep lockers are more prone to jumbling than shallow ones.  I find it helpful to use large recyclable supermarket bags as vertical dividers.

Having good latches on locker lids to prevent gear loss in an inversion is an insurance policy that hopefully will never be put to the test.

The shallower but flat-bottomed Epoxy BR20 lockers lend themselves to accommodating up to five 9 ltr plastic boxes with waterproof lids that are essential for food and cooking kit. I prefer to have food organised by meal/food type in each box. i.e. one box for cereal, tea and breakfast stuff, one for biscuits and chocolate, and separate boxes for ingredients e.g. one for packets of dried foods, one for vegetables (especially onions), one for tinned fish/beef, one box for butter, cheese etc.  I don't like separate packets of food for each meal because I prefer to mix ingredients and quantity according to appetite and taste on the day.  Lunch and snack items topped up daily from the locker stores are kept in a large robust retired flare container with a waterproof lid that kicks around the cockpit floor or on top of the "Bosun's Bucket" together with drinking water bottles, to minimise locker lid opening on passage.

The space behind the 9 ltr boxes on epoxy BR20s can be used for tins of beans, bottles of whisky and other intrinsically waterproof and robust items.

With this scheme we managed to store enough carefully selected food to keep going over 2 weeks without shopping.

Using bags that can be squashed into odd shapes rather than battering boxes generally saves space although they are harder to keep organised and avoid jumbles.  Good quality roll-top waterproof bags are effective. A range of sizes and shapes are needed and varies by individual. 

Bag #1 Sleeping bag inner + wash kit. Stuff under foredeck.
Note- the waterproof sleeping bag outer (Goretex) is tightly rolled up and takes its chances un-bagged under the foredeck. 

Bag #2 Spare dry clothes. Never get wet. Stuff it under the fore-deck.

Bag #3 Ready-use clothes and personal items for access during the day – extra fibre pile jackets, woolly hat, etc. It's probably going to get damp. Keep accessible but tied on.  The aft end of the benches next to the outboard well is a handy place.   

Some sizes of B&Q window-cleaner buckets fit neatly alongside the centre board case and can be slid under the filler deck (in front of the centre board case) for use as the Bosun's Bucket with ready-use warps, , sail ties water bottles, lunch, sun cream etc.  Anchor and warps generally live in a window-cleaner bucket on the next to the centre board case to starboard.   

Plastic 5L water containers that slide under the filler deck are a good compromise between portability and handiness.

Charts and other keep-flat but waterproof items can be slid under bags stowed under the fore-deck. 

Tools should be on top of the starboard locker within a quick release box.

Binoculars, cameras, compasses and other important/expensive kit for ready-use are best hung around the owners neck or in halyard bags on the cockpit sides out of crew-crushing range.

Stowing spare fuel containers (5 ltrs and above) is good for a long conversation.  I dislike having petrol (or gas containers) in lockers, or even the cockpit floor, where explosive vapor can collect, so I strap it on the bench next to the outboard well, distant from cooking operations and I accept it is a heavy item high up at the stern.  I've not had to worry about many sunny days but I guess its a good idea to cover a petrol tank with something in strong sunshine.

After a few days the crew generally shakes down into a routine stowage scheme. It's normal to start off with too much stuff and with practice whittle it down to the minimum.  I think it was H W Tilman who advised collecting all the remaining kit at the end of an expedition and discarding out all the stuff seldom or not used before the next trip.

Any other ideas?

Matthew
BR20 GRP Gladys

[Graham W]

Matthew,

Interesting ideas on how to bring order to potential cruising chaos, especially with crew.  Since inverting, I've paid more attention to how to secure important items so that they are not lost or, worse, impede righting (eg loose ropes and accidentally deployed anchors).

One old idea - there is extra and barely accessible space under the white cockpit infill under the BR20's foredeck.  This can be brought into use with a bit of carpentry - see https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1442.msg10543.html#msg10543.

Your 25% empty space for efficiency principle contradicts these definitions that I came across the other day:
Optimist - the glass is half full
Pessimist - the glass is half empty
Engineer - the glass is twice as large as it needs to be

[Matthew P]

Your 25% empty space for efficiency principle contradicts these definitions that I came across the other day:
Optimist - the glass is half full
Pessimist - the glass is half empty
Engineer - the glass is twice as large as it needs to be

I'm a "Meddling Engineer" Graham, so I'm always trying to "improve" but often don't succeed. And I believe the best way to improve a glass is by emptying it!

Matthew
BR20 Gladys