Everyone know’s that’s storage is an essential part of living on a boat. It’s obvious, right? If you live in a tiny home you need to make sure everything that isn’t decorative can be stored away. With boats, you need to bear in mind that once at sea and on the waves, everything that isn’t tied down is going to be flying across the room.
Don’t think you’re safe just because you’re sheltered. Even when you are in a marina, passing vessels will always find a way to rock your boat. Fishing vessels especially love speeding out of marinas in the early hours and waking up the liveaboards. This is why storage is so important on a boat “everything in its place and a place for everything” as they say.
Creating A Foldaway Shelve
There’s nothing I love more than things that fold away neatly so I decided to create a foldaway shelve. Luckily, a neighbouring boatman who is often given hardwood from jobs gifted me some oak timbers. I chopped them down, into four pieces, mitred a rectangle and added a piece of marine plywood. The plywood was then screwed and glued to the oak frame. To add extra strength I countersunk some stainless steel screws into the mitred oak corners for extra strength.
To hang the shelve I used some stainless steel hinges that I found in a drawer when I first started the boat renovation. I screwed a chunky piece of oak into the plywood bulkhead taking care not to screw all the way through. The shelve was then connected to that oak strut. Lastly, I used a stainless steel cleat and some waxed cotton for sash windows. My heater now sits on the shelve along with the occasional glass of wine. Next winter I have planned to move the heater under my V-berth as currently heat is lost through the cabin roof and windows due to the heat rising upwards.