Where the heck is it!

[captflood]

GREETINGS EARTHLING; I use the lunch boxes that the children discard when they go outof fashion get them cheap from the charity wefare shops but a slice of old inertube (Tyershops give them free) indelable pen, elec, plumb, stannding, running, brass, SS, (stainless steel), and Elec test it a OK system and it has been working for me over fifteen years ( with a few alterations) GO SAFE

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by bljones

I keep the tools in front of the rum bottles. Nobody ever loses track of where the rum is.

Hummm... I know some folks that "lost" and entire case of white wine on a 47' Swan. Took them months to find it!

[treilley]

Not my idea. The previous owner was very disciplined about this and I have tried to keep it going. Not 100% but not too bad.

You live on a but long enough and you figure it out. I often bring tools from storage or new parts and keep them in a canvas project bag until that project is complete.

[CalypsoP35]

I've gotten pretty good at remembering where stuff should be by putting it in logical groupings. The killer is when friends or crew try and being helpful by putting stuff away and they don't put it back in the right spot.

[FSMike]

Anecdote from years ago-
Family getting ready to circumnavigate in a fairly large boat made up a notebook with everything indexed as to where it was stored. After 6 months or so they finally needed something which was stored in an unknown place. So what happened? They couldn't remember where they had stored the notebook.

[killarney_sailor]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Hummm... I know some folks that "lost" and entire case of white wine on a 47' Swan. Took them months to find it!

On a 47' Swan you might lose the case of white in amongst the cases of red so I understand.

On our boat, we have 109 storage locations (the guys in Bristol, RI really liked their carpentry) - I know because I put a number on each from my labelmaker, which I bought to start the process of inventorying everything onboard. Then I started the data base of contents which went on for a few weeks and many pages. So I could make reports for paint, maintenance items, food, safety gear, etc, etc. But I just did not keep it up as I used stuff (one less can of tomato paste), or bought stuff (where did I put those batteries anyway). I am thinking of doing it again to see if I can around the second half of the world in a more organized fashion than the first half.

Those plastic cases with the dividers are great though. I have a little plastic cabinet that they sit in, inside a cupboard. I always know where the screws, electrical connectors and the like are.

[jackdale]

Two systems that I have seen on various boats.

The high tech method. Scan the layout of you boat. Use the textbox function of your word processor to list what is in each locker.

The low tech method. Use address book to describe where each item is. Anchors go under "A", bosun's chair under "B", etc..

Then there are the rules:

If you open it, close it

If you take it out, put it back

If you turn it on, switch it off

If you move it, put it back

If you get it dirty, clean it up

If you bring it, take it home

If you borrow it, bring it back

If you break it, get it fixed

[HUGOSALT]

Maintain inventory list and diagram of lockers and contents...highlighting
different catagories in various colors...safety...parts...tools...etc.
Try to go through it once a year on a winters day to keep it up to date,
as I always manage to move..that is.. improve it.
Will try to put list on computer as soon as I locate!

[smurphny]

I have a couple of those divided plastic trays. They are handy and I never lose them because they live under the foot end of the main cabin bunk pad.
Started on a spreadsheet, listing all the large and small places to put stuff. It's amazing, as Killarney has noted above, how many places there are. Not only that but there are those small places INSIDE or below other places, like the space under drawers where my pair of pipe wrenches live, and the places you can never actually see but need to be brave and just put your hand in to feel if the thing you're looking for is in there, hoping nothing moves or bites. And then there's the bilge where I know many small "Jesus clips" have disappeared, never to be seen again-secondary storage for small parts.