Stowing glass jars

[mmccoy]

I''ve heard ''put them in socks'' but I''m not sure a sock would keep a glass jar/bottle from breaking in a locker if you were slogging into the wind in pounding waves. At least not in my salon under seat lockers that is also full of cans.

I suppose I could wrap them in bubblewrap but that seems umm.. ''excessive'' as a single use/environmentally unfriendly way.

Anyone have a good ideas of how (and/or where?) to stow things in jars/bottles like spaghetti sauce, pickles, etc.?

[TrueBlue]

The builder of our boat, which was designed for passagemaking, fitted out two galley lockers and the base of one of the dinette settees, with specialised drawer/shelf inserts. Each of these inserts consist of a removeable horizontal teak panel with several circular holes cut out. One of the lockers is sized for tall containers such as wine bottles, while the others have varying heights and diameters.

If space is available, this is a great way to store glass jars/bottles while cruising. Every boat builder should integrate this feature into their designs.

Steve

[WHOOSH]

M, we happen to have a locker with storage for vertical bottles such as Steve describes and it is very effective offshore...but as he notes, it consumes a lot of space and so isn''t likely to be the only answer for all those bottles of olives, mustard and such that are part of long-term provisioning.

We do use socks. (In fact, I wonder just WHERE all these socks have come from!?) We use them on spare wine bottles, and all the smaller glass bottles, and we have several larger lockers where they coexist successfully with cans. So far, lots of Caribbean miles and an Atlantic crossing, but not one broken bottle.

You''ll probably be pretty efficient in stowing cans and glass jars (no boat has ''enough'' space, it seems...) and so I think you''ll find there won''t be a lot of motion allowed between the two types of containers.

BTW we also moved to another option for wine bottles: using scraps of nonskid material such as you find in Bed, Bath & Beyond and WM. It not only works well as non-skid, e.g. at preventing small carpets from skidding around on varnished soles, but it takes up little add''l space when used to protect bottles. But it is more costly than all these old socks we seem to have!

Jack

[GordMay]

We use those expanded plastic sleeves that liquor stores provide, in addition to socks, dish towels etc. The plastic sleeves stay on the bottles even when they’re out & in use.

BTW: We’ve never had a glass container break; but we have had plastic bottles puncture and/or abrade, and spill. I’m not certain that I can endorse the conventional wisdom that prohibits glass aboard, and advises transferring everything into plastic containers.

FWIW,
Gord

[WHOOSH]

Gord mentions something I wish I''d thought to add, and want to repeat it for emphasis: we''ve had many a plastic container fail for one reason or another, either via being abraded, punctured, or simply offering a less successful seal, perhaps because the material allows distortion if overtightened. And the problems aren''t just with food & beverage containers. One example, which I notice is quite common, has been 1 gal containers of lube oil, which can develop crease or puncture leaks no matter how carefully chocked and protected.

While we''re at it, let''s also call attention to aluminum cans. They seem to suffer puncture leaks easily, as well, and perhaps aren''t given the careful storage they require because ''they''re metal''.

Perhaps one reason plastic failures aren''t uncommon for WHOOSH is the fact that we decant a lot of things into plastic containers (from glass or cans) and so the odds with plastic are just greater. But plastic is hardly foolproof while glass has, for us, yet to cause a problem. (Well...there are those times when I''m washing the dishes...).

Jack

[Billpjr]

We wrapped glass jars in the plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in. Most jars were double bagged and just folded over the ends. We also sealed lids with wax before wrapping. The plastic makes a cushion to prevent breakage and will hold leaks. We had no breaks or issues with any glass when doing this. I bought extra bags from a newspaper delivery guy. They work really well...cruised two years and no problems.

[SmartCaptain]

No special wrappings used on jars or bottles.

I live aboard and sail about 3500 miles a year going up and down the East coast. I've never had a glass jar fail, even when we've pounded for days through some pretty heavy seas. We load up a deep locker with cans and jars. Wine bottles are laid down in the bilge. Packing them tightly together so they don't shift seems to do the trick.

The only failure we've had is thin plastic water bottles. We stowed several 1 gallon jugs for extra drinking water. All of them chafed through and leaked their contents into the bilge.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

www.smartcaptain.com

[sailingdog]

Another container to watch out for is the waxed cardboard containers that the UHT milk comes in. If you wear through the waxed coating, they can leak.