Where do you guys put your stuff?

[Richard O'Brien]

I was out today single-handed in a pretty stiff breeze. 'Point is that I could barely leave the helm once the main was up because of the breeze, and fear of an accidental gybe. There is always a pile of stuff ready to fall off the seat: sunblock, drink, vhf, camera, and so on. I don't like going below all the time for these items. I have never found the perfect solution for this mostly necessary stuff that I like nearby? I wish there was something that hooked on to the stanchions but haven't found it. I'd like to solicit some of your best solutions?

[Divecoz]

Plastico For now and untill I figure out something better. . . .
I have an assortment of plactic containers down below to choose from, including a 5 gal.bucket . I also carry a bunch of different size and length rope and line in that bucket and a fist full of bungee's. I buy the stretch cord by the yard and bags of the ends .

[Craig LaForce]

I installed a bunch of cup holders for drinks (also holds the spray bottle of sunblock). FLip up holder on the helm, and those cheap grey ones that are supposed to hang on the car windows. I cut off the top hook part and just put a screw through them to hol them just inside the companionway.

VHF is now a RAM stealth mount on the helm.

Bungees snag on stuff if just tossed, so they are hanging on the port winch inspection plate inside. I removed the black plastic plate after breaking it.

Someone installed a little glove compartment in their helm a while back by cutting the black plastic and putting some hinges on it.

[Sloop John B]

Use one of those little square plastic tubs with a towel in the bottom. Have an extra towel to toss on top if you're getting a lot of spray. It slides all over the place but you can retrieve it with your handy boat hook, or tell the mate to kick it to you.

[Moe]

We hung a canvas tote-bag over the grab bar and forward of the pedestal. It had two compartments, one we put "stuff" in, and in the other we stowed the excess mainsheet.

[Beam's Reach]

I had a great (although not original) idea this weekend to solve just this problem.

The plan is to build a small box to sit atop the X pedestal. It will have cutouts for drink holders and "stuff". A piece of dowel to fit into the mast crutch hole will hold it in place. We have a flip up table for dining, but it takes up too much space while underway, and even at the dock or on the hook isn't great for drinks which keep sliding off.

I was out on a CS 30 on Sunday and it had something similar and even at 35 degree heel, the drinks stayed put.

[Terry]

I use those pacific blue mesh Davis Sticky Bags with the suction cups on them. I have one on each bulkhead for the headsail sheets, and another lower down below the traveller for the mainsheet. They hold more than just lines. I also have one on each side of the helm seat, those ones have multi pockets and straps for extra stuff and I liked them so much that I bought two extra ones and had the shoemaker sew them on my blue canvas gas tank covers so that I could stow even more stuff in the cockpit. Now I can have water bottles, candy bars, air horn, napkins, camera, anemometer, pee bottle, all kinds of stuff, right handy in the cockpit. They work pretty good!

[ronacarme]

1/3 the floor area of a Rubbermaid dish pan, with holes in the sidewalls, sits on the cockpit seat, with a light line looping from the aft part of one boxside wall around the X's aft cleat and back to the fwd part of the same box sidewall so it can't side off the seat. Box holds hand GPS, sunblock, hand bearing compass, notepad, pencils, 4X binocs, whatever.
Ron

[edurbin]

Interesting ideas. I was out crewing on another boat couple of weeks back. This guy had the soft foam type containers that you put your beer bottle in to keep it cool. Then, he had sewn on a little hanging strap with a plastic hook at the end. These were highly effective for hanging the beer bottle off the wire safety lines around the cockpit. Blilliant - no need to clutter up the cockpit with cup holders, and the bottle never tips over !

We also use the mesh type rope bag on our 26M. Add a couple of clips and hang it off the aft quarter safety wires around the cockpit. These are good for storing your footwear. Get on the boat, take your footwear off, sometimes covered in sand. mud, seaweed. Put it in the mesh bag and then the dirt on the shoes never goes down into the cabin - it helps. Also good for holding a beer bottle and other small stuff.

Craig

[DLT]

I went to Wal-Mart and bought all kinds of suction cup mounted holders designed for the bath/shower. I have them stuck all over the pedestal. They work great. Yeah, every once in a while, one will fall off, but they hold for a surprisingly long time (certainly weeks on end...). Some are rather large, with three suction cups, and all are a fraction of the cost of similar things made for boats...

I use them on the inside of the boat too... Here, they are typically OVERLOADED with stuff, as they are simply jammed full, and therefore they fell more frequently. I solved that by replacing one or two of the three suction cups with those little stick-on plastic hooks (the ones that are removable - with a one time use double sided tape thing). I think they are made by 3M. The third suction cup doesn't really hold wieght, so much as just keeps the holder firmly on the hooks...

[K9Kampers]

I have one of those suction-cupped 2 compartment caddies that I modified to mount on the helm station above the wheel. Handheld radio & digital camera at the ready with room to stick a pen. A clipboard holds a folded chart & notepaper, and can tuck under the seat cushion. The waterbottle and sunblock hang from the lifeline via biners. Ball-end sail bungies hang at the ready on a spring clip, and several spring clips on the lifelines to hang anything else. A custom bracket I made to mount a cockpit table forward of the helm pedestal will be the mount for a future binocular / do-dad box.

[jg9546]

I do not use a lot of gas and I had the same problem like you. I removed 12 gallon fuel tank from the port side and replaced it with a plastik box of about the same size ( I bought it at Walmart). It works very well for me. The box has a perfect fit (lenght and width) however it is not as high as the fuel tank which turned out to be a plus becouse it is a lot easier to reach for items I need without taking the port sit up. I also did not attach it permanently so it slides back and forth giving me more access.

Jacek

[baldbaby2000]

We did several things. I replaced one of the 12 gallon gas tanks with a 6 gallon. I put eye straps on either side of the side opening of the gas tank space so I can string bungees across and stuff things between the bungees and the small gas tank. We also have a pedestal gear bag on the pedestal and mesh bags hanging on the life lines. We have a snap on mesh bag on the forward wall of the cockpit. Several of the bags are used to stow extra line from the halyard, mainsheet, etc.

[Harvey]

I use a Seat Back Organizer purchased from an auto parts store to stow those pesky little things on my MacX. It has seven pockets and a strap which wraps around the pedestal to hang it on the front. It might also work on an M.

Harvey

[Dan B]

I built a pedestal and box for the top of the console of my X. It is made out of Walmart cutting board. I wanted a flat surface to mount GPS/etc. but also a small box to throw small things in, hold a few water bottles, etc.

Basically a rectangular surface with a box hanging off the right end. I mounted it atop a metal rod (plumbing supplies) that slides down into the mast crutch hole. The rod holds the surface a few inches above the pedestal top and the box hangs down the right side of the console. No other attachment necessary.

Now I have a place to throw keys, a tool, water bottle, etc. always at hand.