I don't have a barn either!

[Figment]

I've started this thread in the hope that we poor barn-less slobs can share ideas and methods for dealing with the logistics of working on a boat that's not parked in the backyard.

1) My personal method is really more of a lifestyle than a method. I drive an old 4runner, and I can't remember a time when the "cargo bay" wasn't loaded in boat stuff. It's really just a 4wheeled tool chest. The downsides of this are that I occasionally walk into work in the morning smelling of solvents, and constantly lugging around all that weight costs me at least 4mpg. but it beats wasting half a day because I left that particular tube of goo back at the house.

2) My father has a better, though similar, method. He built an insert for the bed of his Dakota that houses all of his boat stuff. It started a number of years ago as a bed-mounted reel of extension cord (the yard had set him 500yards from the nearest power) that allowed him to plug in and drive away with the cord paying out behind him, and just kinda grew into its current form from there. It's the length and depth of the bed, sits 'tween the wheelboxes, with a big hinged top, cord reel at the back. Anyway, this unit gets dropped into the bed during haulout and commisioning seasons, and hoisted out to live in a corner of the yard for the rest of the year. All of his stuff is always in ONE place, whereas mine is always scattered between boat, car, and house for lack of sufficient car space. Plus, he's not lugging around the extra thousand pounds when he doesn't need to be.

3) A few members of my boat club have what I consider to be the ultimate solution. They have small (4'x8'x6') box trailers that hold all of their boat stuff. They've customized the crap out of these things to suit their individual purposes. It's amazing to see these guys arrive and set up on a saturday morning.... it's like a jack-in-a-box. foldout workbenches, tablesaws, vises, compressed air, and the guys with high topsides use them as mobile staging units. They don't bother to register the trailers, they just sneak them down to the yard in the dead of night twice a year and leave them at the boat. All of their stuff is in one very well organized place, and they're not carrying it around with them all the time. downside.... gotta have a place to park the trailer the other 9 months of the year.

Maybe Don Casey can keep a well-ordered list and preplan all of his boaty tasks to see that he has all necessary materials on hand and doesn't waste time, etc. but for me that just doesn't work. I deal with lists and workplans all day long as part of my job. The LAST thing I want to do is apply that kind of anal organization to my boat time. I gotta roll with the flow, man, and that means having stuff on hand all the time.

Anyway, everyone chime in here! How do you deal with this issue?

[Dave, 397]

I should take a pic of all the crap that can fit in a Honda Accord!!!

Burden has been eased somewhat by the building rental, where I have built new/modified existing lockers to secure/conceal less than heart-stoppingly valuable gear. Also, the boat is on a bunk, so I can chain some items (ladders, workmate, etc.) to it so they don't go voyaging alone.

If you're already set up, vehicle-wise, for trades work you have it made. Also nice is to make buddies with someone in a good sized NAPA jobber or similar place where a lot of freight comes in daily, all in sturdy plastic totes. If they do enough volume, there is (oh man...most employees and even managers do not know this. Giving away state secrets!) a small allowance for lost/miscounted totes, so the jobber does not suffer for your new and improved organizational setup in the 4-runner.

Dave

[Tim]

I have a number of these plastic fish totes. I find one floating in the bay from time to time, and have obtained them from other sources over the years. It's approximately 3+ feet long and a little under 2' in width (roughly)

These are excellent for storing boat-work stuff. While you can overload them from a weight-and-lifting perspective, one of the nice things is that they can be easily dragged with a line, gaff, boathook, what have you, even when loaded full of something heavy. They're strong, yet light; they stack beautifully, both when empty and when full. And each one can hold a lot of tools, or supplies, or whatever. I love 'em. If you ever see one of these going begging, grab it.