Creating usable storage in a deep galley locker
Issue 153: Nov/Dec 2023
“Got it.” I wiggled out backward from my shoulderdown position inside the locker, clutching a bag of blueberry muffin mix.
I found my footing, righted myself, and surveyed the mess of displaced items that would need to be put away before the baking project could begin. Such is life on a small boat, right? I sighed and started stashing. These muffins had better be worth it.
Calypso’s original galley, with the outboard storage dismantled.
Calypso’s original galley had a locker that we called the pantry. This vertical space, outboard of the engine and aft of the sink, was where we stored provisions that didn’t seem to go anywhere else — longterm supplies, daily use items, baking supplies, bread and cereal, snacks and crackers. The only access was from the top; that the locker went all the way down to where it intersected with the hull meant a lot of upending of contents to get to what I needed on a very regular basis. Containers for organization helped only marginally. The biggest issue was the depth. Deep lockers are both the joy and the curse of life on board. The joy of good secure storage is not to be underestimated. The curse of having to unload every single item to reach what’s at the bottom? That’s also not to be underestimated. And let’s not forget the need to basically do a headstand to get into the bowels of a deep locker.
Our recent refit of our 1976 Bristol Channel Cutter, Calypso, involved taking the galley down to the bare hull. The biggest obvious changes, other than the new counter, involved moving the fridge, installing a new sink, and designing better outboard storage above the counter. All of these changes have made life aboard notably better — but the most ingenious, hidden upgrade was putting a shelf inside the pantry.
The new pantry space was so large that the author’s husband, Jeremy, could sit inside.
Keeping the pantry was never in question. Having a place within the galley to store items like bread and open bags of crackers is great. Unlike the settee lockers, you don’t need to move a cushion to get into the pantry. But how to make that space more usable was important too.
Moving the fridge, which previously occupied much of the available space along the aft outboard section of the galley, opened up a sizable cavity for the pantry. More space, though, isn’t beneficial if it is just a yawning orifice to be filled with easily lost critical stuff. Add to that the fact that the hull curves, so there’s almost no flat surface on which to place items. What to do?
Larger items placed on top of the new hatch can be easily removed for access below.
It was this hull curvature conundrum that got us envisioning a flat floor of sorts within the locker. The need to access the copious storage space below that floor led us to the hatch access solution. The result is a twostory locker that is much easier to keep organized and offers incredible utility. Deep stores and seldomused appliances go in the lower section, while daily use items including containers of rice and granola, coffee paraphernalia, and snacks live on top. Our new bread machine even fits on the flat floor! The access lid is large enough to be useful but small enough that the entire shelf does not have to be emptied to get to it.
After we hit on this idea, we took some time to figure out the ideal height for the top level. At first we just eyeballed. Eight inches? Twelve? Making it too deep would almost defeat the purpose, while a tooshallow space would render it useless. Our granola container, a repurposed 10inch tall peanut butter pretzel plastic jar, became our litmus test.
Once we decided on the height, we added an extra halfinch to ensure clearance on any tabbing on the underside of the counter. The fl oor sits 11.5 inches below the countertop. Jeremy installed tabbing made from pieces of 1by 2-inch fir along the hull and the bulkhead, making sure there was good support on all sides. He created a template using shim material and hot glue, then used ½-inch medium density overlay (MDO) plywood (sign plywood, not to be confused with particle board MDF) to make the fl at surface. After a test fi t, he removed it to more easily create the access lid.
The size of the new hatch had to be just right, and a finger hole makes opening the hatch simple.
How did we decide on the size of the access? It needed to be large enough to easily stow a 5pound bag of fl our, going in at any orientation, so that was the minimum aperture. We wound up with an opening that’s 12 by 13 inches and situated in such a way that I can reach directly down into the locker without having to lean over any part of the counter.
Tabbing on all four sides on the underside of the floor created a lip that the lid sits on, and the lid has a finger hole for easy removal. There is no locking mechanism, though I think if you wanted that you could install some kind of latch system like many locker doors have. A top lock would mean the whole level isn’t flat.
After a huge galley upgrade, Calypso has more functional storage and pantry space.
I use the pantry (and thank Jeremy for the brilliant, simple innovation) every single day. There’s a single layer of containers on the flat surface, at just the right level for me to reach what I need without having to contort into small spaces. When I need to access the deeper stores, it’s a simple matter to remove the couple of containers to get at the access hatch, and from there I can do my swan dive down to retrieve the bigger bulk item I’m after.
Recently — years after my blueberry muffin mix deep dive — I spied a bag of mix in the baking box when I was getting out the coffee grinder. Jeremy’s enthusiastic, “Yes!” had me back in the pantry, reaching for the mixing bowls and baking cups that are stored on that false floor — no dumpster diving required. Ah, sweet relief.
The major changes in the galley are visible to anyone who looks. A before and after shot is fairly revealing. One of the biggest upgrades, though, has nothing to do with looks and everything to do with usability.
Nica Waters and her husband, Jeremy, own not one, but two, Bristol Channel Cutters. They’re currently fi nishing up a refi t on the second one, Mischief, and will be cruising her in the Bahamas for the winter 2023-2024 season.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
