Tricks and gadgets for boatwise housekeeping

[It’s another MadMariner feature from a couple weeks back. —Tim]

When you write a gear and gadgets blog, it’s easy to focus all your attention on the new, the innovative, and the amazing. There’s sure plenty of that to go around when it comes to recreational boating.

Meanwhile, though, life goes on. If you sleep aboard your boat more than a couple nights a year, you may have discovered the same thing I noticed this summer: most of the things that really enhance the time I spend cruising are quite mundane! Lots of little storage tricks and "just right" gadgets help make storage and housekeeping easier, and that allows me to relax a bit and devote more attention to enjoying the destinations I visit.

Let me put it another way: I love my Class B AIS transceiver, but if I had to choose between it and the $15 under-sink waste basket I rigged-up when nothing else quite fit, I think tidy, accessible trash management might win.

Every boat is different, of course, so many of my solutions won’t work for you. My goal is to help you think creatively about the little annoyances you experience when you stay aboard. The things your spouse or children complain about. Things you may ignore, because you’ve become accustomed to them even though they’re really not very convenient or pleasing. You might be amazed how satisfying it can be to discover or create simple, user-friendly solutions to routine housekeeping challenges.

With that as a background, here is a selection of "tiny breakthroughs" I’ve grown to appreciate aboard Two Lucky Fish, my C-Dory 22.

FLAT HOSE STORAGE

I put off buying a hose for the boat for two years. That was a mistake. You’d be amazed how frequently you need a hose at an unfamiliar destination. I hesitate to admit how often I’ve "borrowed without asking" a hose I found sitting on the dock near another boat.

So I finally bought a hose. My boat is very small, so I wanted a hose that would store compactly. I wanted a hose guaranteed safe for drinking water, and I preferred one made in North America. My friends at Fisheries Supply carry the 50-foot Apex Stow-A-Way flat hose, which met all my requirements.

Some flat hoses come with a handy storage spool; this one doesn’t, however. After you unwind a flat hose for the first time, it becomes somewhat unwieldy, to say the least. What to do, what to do?

I decided to try one of those H-shaped racks made for extension cords. These are incredibly cheap, and they work just fine. I got one for a 100-foot extension cord, and my 50-foot hose fits on it perfectly.

In the photo, you’ll notice another element I absolutely would not be without: that brass valve allows me to control the water flow from the end of the hose without running back to the spigot. Not only convenient, the valve saves water and keeps me dry.

PAPER TOWEL STORAGE

I’m a bit embarrassed sharing this, because it’s really kind of rinky-dink. I run a length of light cord through the center of a paper towel roll and tie it off to the VHF antenna cable that runs along the cabin ceiling above the galley.

Originally, this was intended as a temporary solution until I could figure out what I wanted to mount permanently. But this temporary solution has become permanent, because it offers so many advantages.

It may not look like much, but here’s what I like about it: It’s out of the way but easy to reach, it’s inexpensive, it doesn’t break, and it requires no new holes or adhesive. At this point, I can’t imagine mounting a "real" paper towel holder on this boat. Even in the looks department, I think my length of cord is superior, because it’s so minimal that it practically disappears.

STACKING CUPS

I’ve got a rack intended for dishes mounted to the inside of a cupboard door. It’s got a vertical compartment for cups, slotted to allow the handles to protrude. But it’s only tall enough for about two and a half cups. I strongly prefer ceramic cups to plastic ones, so I mentioned to my wife one day that what I really needed was a set of stacking ceramic cups.

She was skeptical that I could find such a thing, but less than a week later, bless her, she brought me five of these, which are available at Ikea. Five of them just barely fit into my cup compartment. Another tiny breakthrough!

UNDER-SINK WASTE BASKET

I needed a waste basket that was both accessible and invisible. The obvious solution would mount to the inside of a cupboard door. I had such a location, but it was too small for any of the commercially available cupboard-mounted trash containers. I was frustrated.

Out of my frustration, however, I envisioned the ideal solution: A small, rigid waste basket, made of plastic, just tall enough, plenty wide but not too deep, and mounted flush against the inside of the cupboard door, yet removable.

Sounds simple, right? Well it is, if you’re willing to build the mounts yourself. I cut "keyhole"-shaped slots in the waste basket, and mounted flanged nuts to the cupboard door with screws. The waste basket could jump off its mounts in a heavy sea, except for the fact that I mounted it so it just barely clears the cabinet when the door closed. The cabinet itself prevents it from jumping off its mounts.

I line it with a plastic grocery bag. On extended outings without access to shoreside waste disposal facilities, I store the full bags in one of my exterior lockers aft, which keeps the smell out of the cabin, and keeps critters from getting into the trash.

TOY WHISK BROOM AND DUST PAN

I have a very small boat, and I like to keep it clean. But there’s no room onboard for a vacuum, even a little hand vac.
So I wanted a very small whisk broom and dustpan for cleaning up crumbs and sand during cruises. That ought to be easy to find, right?

Wrong. The dustpans and whisk brooms available in my local department and bed/bath stores are enormous, and they don’t really nest together properly.

By chance, I found the ideal small broom/ dustpan in my kids’ room. It’s a toy we picked up years ago; maybe it was a gift from a grandparent. It was so perfect for my purposes, though, that I politely asked the children if I could please have it for the boat. They agreed. After over two years of use aboard, I highly recommend this set for small boats.

Be creative, but keep it simple

Some of my little shipboard housekeeping solutions could apply to any boat, while others are very specific to mine. Even though your boat and cruising style differ from mine, I hope I’ve encouraged you to think creatively about the tools and techniques you might use to make life aboard a bit more comfortable and convenient.