Workshipping (2)

Six bolts ought to do it.

When last we gathered, I had had welder/fabricator Andrew Barlow make up one of his simpler efforts, a three-piece steel frame for the starboard side of the forepeak "workshop", so I could better allocate spares, tools and other items, such as line, cable and wire.

What Mrs. Alchemy gets up to whilst I am swearing at the bow: a much-needed repainting of the pilothouse interior.

Given the size of the forepeak, however, construction within is largely a solo effort; besides, given that I have a touch of tendonitis in one shoulder (which is better than a torn rotator cuff, according to my "tough love" physician), no one needs to hear that much vile sailor talk when I am bearing down on a Makita drill.

Moving a couple of toolboxes elsewhere on a boat is predicated in large part on keeping things from moving. To date, I've relied on eye straps and shock cord. And certain mechanical aids, such as the chunk of wood meant to confine the spares box.

The box is cheap, but fit for purpose. It's half spares storage and half tools I want to hand in this work space.

The lashing down of fairly heavy boxes is provisional at the moment. I may put further chocks or hold-downs to keep said containers in place should the sea prompt quick action. Or if I have to access something while we are flailing about. The point is that the above toolbox, which weighs about 18 kilos, is now about 30 cm. aft of where it was on the port side. Which, from a boat trim point-of-view, is desirable.

This box contains a couple of sanders and some hardware odds and ends. It's light and can therefore go forward without much penalty.

There's a small work area left free of stowage. A bigger area now exists on the "heavier-duty" port side. Beneath both workbenches are eye bolts for stowing line, anchors and any appropriately sized gear capable of fitting in the space. Should this gear amount to significant weight, I can remove or reposition trim ballast (lead ingots) off the boat or further aft.

Where the eye bolts go. There's a fair bit of space here in which spare/specialty lines can be kept neat and ready.

Clearly, I'm not finished yet. Some sort of coating to preserve that fresh plywood would be advisable, but one calm, warm day this coming spring can see that completed. Also, there's a foredeck full of gear and line wanting stowage in this currently unstowed space. This, too, shall pass.

The underside. Lines/gear can hang on carbiners or just via loops on these eye bolts. If I need chafe gear, I'll install it.

There's room at the end for sail stowage. Currently, there's a spare main, which will go in newly made space in the aft cabin (yes, more on this shortly); a storm jib of ridiculous heaviness; a smaller staysail than the one rigged, just acquired today; and a cruising spinnaker. The last three sails are light, or rather, lightish, and at perhaps 12 kilos in total, can sleep in the pointy end, especially if I move several dozen kilos of chain down and aft.

Behold "the closet". It's where pointy, light things will live.

The last portion of the new construction is "the closet". You'll have to visualize that worklight cord and the anchor windlass conduit cleanly secured on the outside of the little length of wood on the hinge. The reason for the hinged wood? I have a lot of pointy, awkward objects, such as oars, plastic Portabote thwarts, Alchemy's 2.2 metre tiller, nesting dinghy mast parts, and mostly et cetera, which, while not particularly heavy, take up some space, particularly vertical space. Being tall and not alive, they tend to fall down, even more often at sea. So I need a place to stow them, either on a series of hooks and loops overhead, or in this snug spot seen above. That little piece of wood is not strong enough to keep anything truly set in motion in place, but it is enough to stop things from tipping out of that space, especially when lashed down.

Or so I hope. Like most of my ideas, "provisional" is the keyword.