I can manage a dozen bottles in my bilges, usually wrapped in my dirty laundry. This includes my on board wine rack hidden behind my cooker. Of course this excludes the deepest part of my bilge. I stopped using the bilges when the labels washed off the bottles. Waitrose used to do padded, plastic bags that held half a dozen and I've used these in the past to keep wine in lockers on the return trip.
Our wine store is the lower part of the "larder" (used to be the hanging locker). I stop all the bottles (rum, wine, beer and cider) from rolling about by jamming so many in that they can't move, then drinking them all at once. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Or interleaving them with cartons of juice (the little ones, not the resealable ones). We've also got one of those cloth wine cooler bags the relatives buy you for christmas, so the most expensive bottle goes in there.
I have found a solution for this! I guess your problem is the same as mine - ie bilges swimming in wine and broken glass after a wintward passage!
I bought a number of plastic containers from Homebase - dimensions approx 50cm x 35cm x 25cm. I wrap each bottle in bubble wrap and just place them into the container. Big gaps are filled with bubble wrap. I then simply stick the lids on the containers and have never suffered a breakage again! Another system is to fill the container with that white foam packing material and just wedge the bottles in. This is easier but the white bits of foam can easily block the bilge pump.
The roll of bubble wrap has many other uses. We wrap cooking oil and other kitchen bottles in it as part of the preparation for a blow. I like proper plates and glasses in harbour and these can also be wrapped at sea. So is the laptop! This does not take long and saves a big mess later.
I am a bit of a wine nut , and this is a problem for me too. Usually just end up wedging bottles with tea towels and bags of pasta. I am sure someone, somewhere must make 6 bottle plastic crates ( like you see milkmen using for milk bottles) but I can't find them in the UK. I am on the hunt on this years holiday to france.
On a related issue, I like to use a decent glass too, and I found KWARX glasses from Arc very tough. We have managed to break one, but my wife dropped that from a hieght of 6ft into the cockpit where it bounced twice bfore finally giving up the ghost. Its a pyrex type toughened glass and doesn't seem to break into sharp peices. Google kwarx and you will find the site, you have to order from france - but I found no problems. No connection , just a satisfied customer.
I guess teh bubble wrap provides more buoyancy if it becomes necessary.
I wasn't thinking so much about slamming but healing, but that's probably not a problem for your boat - especially as it doesn't go across the channel anyway ! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I know it,s not easy to find good wine in boxes, but it is possible to find reasonable stuff here in France and Spain, thats my solution for bulk stores. Spent last winter in Ireland and took 50 litres From France on the way from Spain, that lasted me til xmas, should have taken more though! Happily back in France on the way South again, so back on the bottles, don,t need to keep more than 6 or so at a time, stored in the galley cool box, beer in the fridge. Life is just full of problems aint it!
Ah! The old chataeu cardboard!! Yes I have noticed you can get some half decent wine in boxes these days.
I just stand them all up in a locker, packed in so they dont move, then when you use one, put the empty bottle back in until you replace it with a full one, then dump the empty! Works for me. Otherwise bubble wrap is brill stuff.
In our last boat I used a number of small plastic boxes from DIY stores, just about as long as a wine bottle. They will normally take 5 or 6 bottles, and fitted easily in the bilge. The odd bit of bubble wrap helped protect them.
In the new boat we have a dedicated bilge compartment for wine, so all we need to do is protect the bottles a bit.
I have now bought, (unfortunately in a commercial rather than domestic quantity!), some of the mesh type plastic bottle protection sleeves you sometimes see in shops on bottles of spirits. Every glass bottle aboard now has one on, and it provides protection from contact/impact on the side of the bottle very effectively.
I can confirm that Lidl or Aldi do a folding 6 bottle plastic container that works a treat and will hold 1 litre bottles too. About 2.99 a pop.
You can remove the handle with a saw to get more in.
We've got a huge roll of that non-slip mat stuff (came from the local pound shop I believe). Wrap it around all the bottles and cans under the floor boards it stops them banging together and sliding about, and we do a fair bit of heeling.
On the subject of wine glasses aboard, try getting some Strahl (made in NZ) perspex/polycarbonate ones.
They are virtually indestructible (I have seen a 15stone man bounce on the wine glass up and down and it bent but did not shatter, as soon as he got off it, it was as good as new) and you can wash them in a dishwasher (top rack) without them eventually crazing like normal acrylic ones.
They are a heavier feel too, so are more like glass, and they don't react with wine to give it a taint, unlike some cheap plastic ones.
Perfect aboard, esp if you have kids or clumsy folk about - no more picking up shards of glass!
We have a set that are about 4 yrs old and still going strong.
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We have one gathering dust in the depths of the scullery. Often been tempted to bin it, but maybe now I won't. Probably came from local hypermarket, so should be easy to find in France.
Would you like to explain how your wife dropped the glass from 6 ft above the cockpit?
We just use cheap Tesco glasses.... only about 50p each... they're hung on a wine glass rack, and we're yet to break one..... a few spares stuffed in the bottom of a locker somewhere or other wrapped in cardboard...
We acquired from a wine store a number of what look like papier-mache sleeves - I'm sure there is a technical term for them in the packaging industry - and these were perfect for protecting our wine collection as we rolled through the Caribee.