Well, the new boat is in the driveway.....now it is time to get organized.
This boat has a lot less storage than my last powerquest. Mostly due to a larger gas tank, the fresh water system, and a smaller freeboard. So far I have come up with the following ideas or issues:
I have crammed all the mandatory vests into the storage below the berth, but am anticipating that we will have more things that will need to go in the boat.
1. Will most likely remove the head. It is a pump out, so the hoses will have to be terminated. We did this in our last boat and put cooler in its place. Will require some planning for those on board though..
2. I have seen a truck bed cargo net added so that you can store things on the berth without them falling back into the seating area. This looks like a good idea...any recommendations?
3. The storage on the sides of the cockpit are pretty big, but it look like you could lose things if they slid forward. There is nothing to make it a compartment.....it is an opening for things to disappear. I thought of throwing fenders and rope in this area....
4. The engine compartment is crowded to say the least. I had thoughts of mounting the anchor somehow...but do not want this to be a science experiment. The idea of ropes getting into sinning engine parts means I need a good plan.
5. What do people really store in the anchor locker? This seems like an oxymoron as an anchor is the last thing I would put in there. Any ideas of practical use for this space?
6. Lastly, ideas for simple stuff like more cell phones etc. there are not many surfaces to simply set a cell phone besides the cup holders....of which there are 4 in the cockpit. There is a nice glove box, but I was thinking of something in addition to simply set things so they don't fall, scratch paint, or get lost.

Thanks in advance....

I put a lot of stuff on the V berth and use two telescoping hooks (link), one low and one mid, extended and locked at the rear. This does good job keeping stuff up there. I cut some of that non-slip rubber fabric, like put under rugs on hardwood, and put a quilt like thing on top of that, then all the stuff like beach chairs, floats, vests, side and aft curtain bags, umbrellas, beach towels, lots of crap...j

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-m...05_158_003_009

I put fenders under the rear seat. Anchors go in side storage with lines, spot light, and extra fenders. Never lost anything in the sides.

The bow anchor line with a large stainless steel spring clip goes in the bow anchor storage. Just hand the Fortress anchor to my wife and she clips it on the line. We have Fat Towels which are huge and heavy, great when doing anchor work on the bow.

Coolers fit nice under the bolsters. They end up on the beach pretty quick, along with most of the other stuff.

Hope this helps!

Cell phones and wallets go in our sink bowl. Knock around on the floors of your gunwale storage, if it sounds hollow, pull the bottoms out and you gain lots of storage. I have a few 353 friends that have done this with great success. They also put the couch bottoms on hinges and cut out holes for storage there as well.

Great ideas. I was pulling on the cushions in the cabin seating thinking that they should come up as my PQ had some nice storage there. An awkward size space...but none the less, space for stuff.
I also will order some of those gel sticky pads that can hold phones on the dash. A simple solution that is also cheap.

I store life jackets, throwable and flare kit in the side bolsters. Docking fenders go in last in the deeper part of the side bolster along with my main docking lines. Tool kit, extra docking lines, extra anchor rope and small bucket with cleaning supplies under the back seat. I do store my anchor in the bow locker. I have a piece of rubber flooring in the bottom. I use a mid size fluke anchor and have the side posts covered in clear tygon tubing. I slide a piece of a noodle over each end once the anchor is in the locker and then loop the rubber coated anchor chain over the top to wedge it in there and then slide a piece of rubber flooring behind the anchor and against the side wall of the locker. In 6 years, I've never had it move. Unfortunately I didn't figure this out for a while and the anchor locker got beat up a bit but no more scratches since I went to this set up.

Since its generally just my wife and me, we use the small cooler that stores under the sink and have plenty of cooler space, additional coolers if needed go under the bolster seats. I keep extra cleaning supplies for the head unit in the small storage well on the right undertake v-berth and we have a smallish rubbermaid container with plants, plasticware etc. in the storage well on the left that houses the fresh water pump. We have boating bag that we use for change of clothes and other stuff that goes on the seat in the cabin.

Dave

I think the biggest thing with the anchor locker is to make sure the anchor is very secure in there. If it can move around, it will beat the **** out of everything in its path.

I put my anchor in the side, throwable against it to secure it as well as protect everything