Tools Aboard How do you store em?

[kb3pwc]

For the past few years we have used a commercially available black and red tool bag (satchel shape) that includes side pockets on the outside and the inner portion of the satchel holds the larger tools but I have to say, it is not an easy to use solution and it is hard to stow.

How do you organize and store your tools? There are so many approaches from hard tool boxes, pockets that are rolled up, trays that have slots for each tool. It needs to be functional for storage, easy to handle with visibility for accessing tools. Your thoughts and ideas are so needed...

with thanks,

Leslie

s/v Tango, Cabo Rico 34
On the Hard
Lankford Bay Marina
Chester River, MD

[bljones]

A soft tool bag for:
tools that are not sockets, box end wrenches, hex keys and ratchets. Sockets, wrenches, hex keys and ratchets all stay in their hard case ( some sort of 3,457 piece socket set I bought years ago that has more than paid for itself. A tool roll holds chisels. A small plastic single tray tool box is the "electrical box"- holds wire stripper, soldering iron, terminals etc.,
Last I have an old back pack which holds cordless tools- drill, driver, circular saw.

All of it fits in the locker under the quarter berth, a space about 3' x 2' x 1' high.

All the tool boxes/bags have containers of silica gel in them to ward off rust.

[kd3pc]

I use a small weather proof case ( about the size of two sixpacks) that is made of some moisture repelling plastic....and it works....for tools.

I use tackle/lure boxes for crimp stuff, another for small, another for stainless, and so on...

does make a difference.

BTW, I have drilled or attached sunglass lanyards to ratchet handles and crucial drivers....as I am prone to dropping things and did not want to lose something that said MAC or SnapOn....

all the best

[sawingknots]

i just throw mine in the bilge,adds ballast and if they get rusty no matter i won't have the one i really need anyway, actually i put the electric power tools in a rubbermaid tub and the hand tools in a water proof bag,the frequently used ones i keep in a drawer near the engine compartment

[Ocarina II]

I built a wood tool chest with a bunch of trays and partitions and tarted it up with cast brass corners and antique style leather trunk handles. I worked the boats name into a sheet brass oval and varnished the outside. I painted the inside in the accent colour of my boat and fitted loops to hold the specific tools I imagined needing. The box lives under the Dinette or between the v-berth bunks on the deck and is not an eyesore.

[sawingknots]

i forgot to mention the ones i'm storing in the brink

[Undadar]

Originally Posted by kb3pwc

How do you organize and store your tools? There are so many approaches from hard tool boxes, pockets that are rolled up, trays that have slots for each tool.

Great question. I am slowly learning several things but am a newbie so I'm sure I have lots more to learn.

First, hard cases waste a lot of space due to packing them into odd compartment shapes - I'm slowly going to soft cases/bags for everything.

Second, steel rusts. I'm from a dry climate and am not familiar with this problem. I've been spraying tools with Tool & Die Saver and keeping them in plastic bags. Success is poor (and kinda sticky). I need to try the others suggestions in regards to silica. I actually bought a big bag of it from a hobby store but haven't tried it yet.

I know... No secrets of the universe there....

[Ulladh]

Multiple soft tool bags, Home Depot or Lowes (Los Depot is usually where I tell people I am going or Howes Depot).

Different bags for electrical, sockets and wrenches, shackles, paint stuff, epoxy stuff and one bag for random stuff.

[Stu Jackson]

1. satchel for traveling with basic tools and all my electrical stuff

2. hard case tool set with everything

3. daily main tool box is the nav station desk with kitchen separators - work great, I put a spring holder on the desktop

[dhays]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

3. daily main tool box is the nav station desk with kitchen separators - work great, I put a spring holder on the desktop

Sounds good, but then where do you put all the crap that has nowhere else to live? My Nav station desk has an assortment of keys, pens, knives, whipping line, tide books, stereo remote, Sampson Brade splicing set, charging chords, tape measurer, and a bunch of other stuff that seemed important at one time...