Aft Lazarette

[Vic Suben]

I have an '87 Catalina 34 the lazarette in the stern is very deep & whatever I store in there winds up either all the way at the bottom, and sometimes half way under the cockpit.  So far I have stored cleaning supplies, buckets, etc. in the aft lazarette.  I'm thinking of moving those items to the locker under the cockpit seat, and moving the dock lines, fenders, etc. to the aft lazarette.

Has anyone figured out a way to keep items at a handy level in the aft cockpit so that you don't have to dive all the way in to get what you need?

[Ron Hill]

Vic : I keep 6 fenders in the aft lazeratte (2 large and 4 medium).  I've attached clips and store 8 or 10 dock lines back there also.  You didn't say if you have a propane box back there (I do).  
Another idea - I store a folding dock cart that also come apart way down on the bottom, as it's used infrequently.  If you fridge compressor is back there you need to keep that area clear.  

[Ted Pounds]

Vic,

A small cooler can be mounted on top of the steering quadrant cover with bungee cord.  You could use a box instead of a cooler (if you want to store something other than cold beer   ) to store whatever for easy access.  Behind the steering quadrant I store a square "safety bag" of life jackets.   It can be easily accessed by grabbing the handle on it.  On the starboard side I store  large stuff I don't  I don't have to get at very often like extra dock lines, shore power cord, hose...  On the port side I store my fenders by looping the fender lines over the bilge pump hose.  That way to get them out I can easily grab the line and pull the fender out.  Storing large stuff or stuff in large containers ( I keep the spare lines in a big bucket) makes it easier to get them out of the deep parts.  Tools, spare parts, cleaning stuff, other safety gear all goes in the port seat locker.  My docklines stay on the cleats when I'm underway.  The bow ones are coiled in the anchor locker; the mid spring coiled behind the hand rail and the stern line sits coiled on the aft seat.

[Stu Jackson]

Vic

You're right, and your move sounds correct.  We keep our toxic waste dump in what we call the port locker, in a plastic crate - cleaning supplies and also four docklines, a bucket, broom handle, boat hook and winch handles.

The BIG lines go in the lazzarette (aft).  We've installed lines to hang larger lines by looping line around the inside bolts of the rub rail.  We also keep our snorkel gear and the dinghy pump in there.  When we race we store our fenders in there - otherwise when cruising we just loop them over the lifelines.

Anything that's big enough to be able to reach goes in the back.  Anything smaller goes in the port locker.  Needing a boat hook to get anything out of the lazarrette is no fun.  We learned that early.  Just because it's not chock full of stuff to the brim doesn't mean the space's not useful.

I rarely even bother to open the lazarrette for day sails, since all of our "daily" stuff is in the port locker.

Our nomenclature is: aft is the lazzarrette; underneath the seat is the port locker - simple, no confusion.  ""back there" and "over here" also work as needed.