Your tool storage and workbench ideas please

[desertqueen]

My boat had a typical L-shaped settee (with storage under and behind the cushions) and dining table. I am in the process of removing this major annoyance and replacing it with a proper workbench; the table legs are the perfect height and position for two stools. The current workbench design (L-shaped, where the seating was) has drawers and shelves below the work surface. Then yesterday I saw a picture of a way to store tools that made me start to think outside the toolbox sitting on a shelf concept.

I know some of you have wonderful tools /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and I am wondering, how do you store them? I doubt that your chisels are rolling about loose in a plastic bin like mine. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Do you have a workbench on board (or dreams of one) and tips/ideas to share about what would be especially useful, or things to avoid?

I live aboard so storage space is always an issue, and I do all my own work on every part of the boat so I need to securely store the quantity of many different types of tools and spare parts. (All hand tools, no power tools.) Also, everything needs to stay put during rough sailing, and of course at night I don’t want to hear the tinkle of sockets rolling about.

Any ideas, pictures, thoughts, advice … will be greatly appreciated.

Priscilla

 

[alan006]

I used to have three boxes/ bags for my tools. One box had normal mechanics hand tools, second smaller bag to keep tools for electrical work with a third bag for woodworking tools. These three bags were light enough to carry reasonably easily to where I was working.
I was lucky enough to get a job lot of bronze tools ( ex gas board) which are very resistant to corrosion ( I wish I could afford all stainless steel but hey ho)
Tools that were used less regularly were still kept on board but not in one of the 3 boxes. A friend of mine taught me that every tool in your bag has to earn its place by being used reasonably regularly....this keeps the weight of the toolbox to a reasonable figure.

 

[Peterduck]

While not living on board, my old ketch had a dedicated tool locker. The worst problem that I found was the constant battle against corrosion. Greasing edge tools and wrapping them in oil-soaked cloths was necessary as a basic precaution.
Peter.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I use plastic toolboxes and a dedicated socket set in it's own plastic box. Why no power tools? I use an old 12v drill for which the battery had died, threw away the batteries and wired it up with a lead so I could just plug it into a 12v car type socket.

 

[Gordonmc]

Not being a livaboard I seem to have built up a stratified collection of tool bags/boxes. Permanently on board is a plastic compartment box from B&Q which houses basics of the shifting spanner variety for unplanned work. This invariably gets cluttered up with old shackles etc. The closest I have to a workbench is a length of 8x2" with a vice bolted to it. This clamps to the cockpit locker lid.
If there is a project on-going I take on board a rigger bag with a more comprehensive collection of tools like a plane, spokeshave and chisels. For engine work I take on board my No. 2 mechanical box with "normal" sockets, open ended and ring spanners in metric, Whitworth, & AF. If I remember I will raid the No. 1 box for pullers, valve lifters etc.
Then there are the two electrical boxes; one for the boat and the second at home.
This is a long winded way of saying I have not planned out my tooling and perhaps its time I rationalised things.
I could say the same about my life!

 

[Poignard]

There's a chapter devoted to this in "The Cost Conscious Cruiser" by Lyn and Larry Pardney..

 

[desertqueen]

[ QUOTE ]
Why no power tools?

[/ QUOTE ]
First I have to get the tool, then extract the extension cord from its hideaway, crawl over everything I just took out of the storage bin the tool was in to get to an outlet. Then move EVERYTHING at least 26 feet away from any open hatches because the 25-foot extension cord WILL shove stuff in the bilge the second I look away (the bilge is five feet deep – it is VERY difficult to recover things from down there). By now the job would have been finished using a hand tool.

Additionally, often a power tool won’t fit in the space I need a hole or cut, and there are always wires or hoses in the vicinity of the business end of the tool. And what is the hurry? The past 25 years have been rush rush rush to get this done so I can start on that while dozens of other things nipped at my rear for attention. I enjoy working on my boat, and if it takes two minutes longer to accomplish something, so what? It feels marvelous to quietly enjoy the task at hand, and of course it is much more, um, gratifying to screw up something slowly. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I currently have some power tools that I use occasionally, but I’ll only have access to shore power for a few more months. I won’t keep my power tools, they are big and heavy compared to hand tools, and if I need a power tool in the future I can always rent or borrow one. I do like your idea with the cordless drill – brilliant!

Bins are ok for some types of spare parts, but I am fed up with bins of tools. If the bin is full of tools it is a nuisance, and if it is not full it is wasted space. I detest toolboxes. Jobs would be so much easier if tools were accessible and in order by size, somebody must have a good way to do this.

I checked out Amazon for the Cost Conscious Cruiser and there is one used copy for US $88 (60 pounds). /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Captain Coochie]

I use a home made tool tote .

 

[Bosunof]

I have a couple of wooden boxes that fit inside a locker... one for woodworking tools, one with sharps in it and an oily rag to help dispel moisture, a Halfords socket set, and four tesco bags of bits yet to be fitted, tapes (masking and sticky) bits that I am cosidering ditching and a fourth for stuff that cant be categorised. I then have two drawers for engine spares, two for electrical spares, bulbs, fuses, cable and meters. I still have a volvo estate boot full of electrical tools for refits that I do not trust to the moist seaside atmosphere. Sandpaper and paints and varnishes are to be found in a cockpit locker with paint brushes.
But I dont have much room for crew!!!

 

[Poignard]

Seems to me you have got it right. Tools are often useful, crews often useless.

 

[Blueboatman]

Workbench..9 inch by 48 inch by 2inch Scaffold plank, with a 5 inch vice bolted to it- great for working in the cockpit. And a couple of speedclamps and g cramps too.
I had dedicated lockers for tools, all forward of midships to put the weight somewhere useful.. I am afraid that I have always carried a very full toolkit, goops and unguents, at least 6 powertools including a 4inch grinder, industrial jigsaw, right angle batterydrill and a good 4 stroke mains /12v generator, top quality drill bits and sockets ( more than one set of each too), seperate 'lecky, plumbing,wood, rigging and spares boxes,and a locker with a gallon (!) of west and various fillers..At worst these plastic,lidded boxes add weight low down and forward, at best they are lifesavers..
But in all honesty the cockpit is the place to set up a workbench and make a mess and not downbelow, in my experience.
Basically on the last boat I carried the tools and materials that rebuilt the boat and added a new stern and rudder. I knew I could fix everything short of catastrophic hull failure, and so remained a happy, independent, and therefore relaxed yottie.

 

[Captain Coochie]

Ive just finished this tool box .

Its a traditional joiners tool box and if you add a few blocks of wood to the top they will act as bench hooks so the tool box becomes the work bench .

I'm leaving the blocks untill i start using it so i will know where i need them .

 

[Spuddy]

Just dumped the joiner's toolbox I made 35 years ago. The ply was delaminating and the dovetails had failed cos the cascamite seemed to have gone crystalline and lost its hold. I thought about making this a poignant episode but didn't have the time. Bought one of those plastic things to replace it. A nailbox I made a bit later was marine ply and Aerolite just nailed up - still going strong.

 

[desertqueen]

Ooh, I like the way you keep your saws /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif simple and very secure, I’ll definitely use that idea. Can probably rig up something similar for my squares too. Thanks!