Tony -
Yessir, there's a lot of stowage there! What I am wrasslin' with at the moment is that the drawers, if they extend back to the hull, will be between 2 and 3 feet deep/long - huge volume, but big areas make it harder to get at want you want easily, so I am pondering different solutions to this "opportunity" (positive thinking, right?) I did want them big enough to hold pans etc, and they will. In fact, I could fit *all* of my galley gear into just one of those drawers, so, more than likely it won't be just galley stowage.
One thought I've had is to subdivide the drawers, putting the stuff I use regularly at the front, and leaving an area separated by a mini-bulkhead towards the back for long-term food stowage (keeping in mind that my plan is solo cruising - hopefully long distances - I'd like to have 2-3 months worth of food aboard). That way I wouldn't need to pull a drawer all the way out to get at a butter knife. I have also thought to make the drawers not so deep/long, and to put in an icebox-style opening in the countertop to be able to get at the area in back of them, ie; tall storage between the back of the drawers and the side of the hull.
And yet another consideration: Height of the stock/current aft bulkhead shelf above the stock/current berth is 14". Raising that a bit will make it easier to work on the countertop when standing (even 20" isn't too tall, it seems), but finding the magic height that works well and feels right (visually as well as kinesthetically) is what my prototyping is for. I'm going to stick in a plywood countertop with rudimentary under-counter storage (read: plastic bins, and no cabinet doors) at about 20" height to start off with, and live with it for a couple of weeks. Then, I'll probably change it a bit, or fiddle with it in *some* manner to get it more right.I picked up a heap of scrap ply from a construction site the other day, so I have plenty of material to play with before I make any permanent type of installation.
Nope, haven't doodled with that yet. It'll be pretty simple, though. Sized length-wise so that someone can sleep easily to starboard (and have room at the forward end), the cabinet will stand about 6" under the foredeck height, the top of it being near level to where the shelf is now. One thing I want to work into that space is a Pardey-style onboard workshop, so that when I'm out there, I have an area for working on things when needed. So I know that tools will be up there, and my Grandpa's old vise, and also bulk stowage. I like what you and Ebb have done with the hatches up front, but don't know that I'll get the chance to do something like that. It would be convienent for sail handling to have a gaping hatch right there.Originally Posted by Tony G
Have to have some background for this answer! Read on...
Well, I've been living with iceboxness on Katie for about 7 months now, and I've been reading and researching a lot to determine what to do about ice/refrigeration in the long term. Stateside, I like cold beer - cold, handy, and plenty of it.Most everything I read, though, seems to indicate that I need (and in fact, have begun) to regard cold food and beverage as a "luxury", and not a "necessity". This is an interesting concept. And after 7 months of living with the icebox (which I made and which is a vast improvement on the OEM Pearson version!), I've realized how much of a pain it is to have to worry about and keep up with refrigerated food and beverages.
Don't get me wrong - if I could find a system that would 1) keep things cool and/or make ice, 2) be *very* energy efficient, 3) be very dependable, 4) not require thru-hulls or make excessive waste heat otherwise, and 5) not need any kind of 1st-world pitstops to keep running, I'd be on it, as they say, like white on rice. But there in no product like that out there that I've heard of, short perhaps of something a NASA scientist has dreamt up. So the alternative is to use plain old ice. And I've found that, even stateside, having food/bev that *needs* refrigeration is a pain in the arse, when you are doing that via the importation of ice.
I've also learned that in refrigeration, as in many other things, we 1st worlders are extravagant, to say the least.
Most of what we have in the fridge really doesn't need refrigeration, or there are alternatives. Eggs will keep for months, if they've never before been refrigerated, and get turned 1/2 turn every other day. Condiments? Says "Keep Refrigerated" on the bottle, but even *mayonaisse* will be fine for several months at room temps if you use only clean utensils to scoop more out (or a squeeze bottle!). It seems that basically, the one thing which really needs refrigeration is meat.
So, the hassle of an icebox comes down to mostly - for me - storing meat, and beer.
My icebox, and my icebox requirements, have shrunk as a result of this.
My first icebox (see post #15 in this thread, back on page 1) was basically giant. That was planned - it's easier to cut down to proper size than to build up to it, right? I wound up cutting 6" or 8" off of the bottom of the first version after about 3 months - I just couldn't eat the volume of food it would hold fast enough, and throwing food away because it got warm is an expensive practice. Additionally, keeping up with the ice is like "keeping up with the Jones's" - a process that is never ending. I used not bag ice, but water frozen in plastic bottles which, like block ice, keeps longer than when it is all broken up. Even so, the necessity of swapping out bottles every two days - or of carrying *lots* of ice to the boat in order to go for 4 or 5 days of cold - is a pain.
I'm thinking 'out loud' and at length here to explain that the volume of my icebox will probably be smaller than generally acceptable, and I am learning to make the lifestyle changes to compensate for that willingly. Before I commit to a particular size, I plan to find out how large I can expect a common block of ice to be when I get it in foreign countries. My icebox will, I hope, be large enough to fit that, yet small enough to have it last 5-7 days while keeping some perishables cool. Once it's gone, it's room temp everything until the next port.
Already, though, I envy Chichester - he had it made with that keg in the bilge.
Icebox interior design - I plan to put the ice on a shelf in the upper back of the box. The shelf will have drainage to a bottle (if feasible - to the bilge if not), and the icebox contents will sit on raised ridges above a sloped floor. The slope in the floor will lead to a small sump in one corner to make mopping-out operations as easy as possible. A drain is an area where cold can also leak, thus the bottle idea - to trap the melting ice for use as drinking water, if water quality permits.
Phew - long post!
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