Where Do You Put Everything? Storage on a Sailboat With 6 People

So you’ve got one sailboat and six people. And we live on the boat full-time. We don’t have a house, we don’t have storage. Everything we have — all our stuff — is on the boat… so where on earth do we put it all?!

I feel like today would be a great day to answer that… why not?

All the Stuff

First of all, let me do a quick run-through of all the stuff we have.

‘Normal’ stuff: clothes, books, swimmers, computers, phones, etc. THIS is what I would call normal stuff, and we have it. Each kid has several sets of clothes, a pair or three of shoes, and a computer. Like, it’s all the normal stuff. For six people, this adds up already!

Watersports: We surf, we kitesurf, we wingfoil, we freedive. We do a LOT and have to keep all the gear somewhere. This was such a big thing that we actually have a whole blog post on where exactly we store things like surfboards and kites. You can read that post here: how we store watersports gear on a 46ft boat.

Sailing: We’re a sailboat! A sailboat needs lines, sails, safety equipment, etc. And so, whilst being a house that floats, it also needs to be able to turn into a sailboat.

I feel like these are the main things we have to find places for… I’m sure there’s more, but I’ll get there. For now, let’s go look at how storing ‘normal’ stuff on a boat is different.

Clothes & Stuff

Stuff. So much stuff. And yet I feel like we’d be starred as minimalists compared to ‘normal land life’ people. Why, you ask?

Clothes

Well, we don’t live in our swimmers, but we also only have about five shirts each and even fewer pairs of pants. But that’s called practicality, and we only have one small cupboard with one or two shelves anyway. Pip probably has the most clothes. This likely doesn’t surprise anyone who’s watched our videos — she loves dressing up and things.

Even she has to cram it all into one cupboard, though.

So, to store clothes, each person has a very practical cupboard with shelves in our rooms. Mine is at the end of our bed and has two levels. It really sucks for organisation, but hey, too bad.

Kris’s is a tall cupboard that the previous owners actually had added aftermarket. It just has three shelves, and he organises it with shirts, shorts, etc.

Over in the other hull, Finn uses the same type of cupboard. The forward cabins have another cupboard that we’ve added shelves to — on both sides. The girls are happy with that setup.

And Archie… well, he’s the minimalist of us all because he has three shelves, and literally everything he owns lives on those three shelves. This only gets frustrating when he attempts to wear the same thing three days in a row and we’re all looking at him thinking, mate, that needs a wash.

No, in reality, we’re so used to the living space we have that we hardly think about it anymore. Right, that explains clothes…

Tech

Next, tech? We do school online, we work online, we film — we have a lot of tech.

Cameras and drones are in Finn’s room, in a cupboard behind his door. He’s very organised with that. Everyone keeps their own computers downstairs, and we have a charging box where all the phones go. Perfect, and it works well.

What else is ‘normal’?

Kitchen & Food

I guess this counts in the normal category. It lives in the galley! All the spoons and forks and plates and pots live upstairs in and around the kitchen/galley. Well, the utensils and crockery do.

The food… well, that, very simply, lives EVERYWHERE. Under the couch, under the floors, on Bella’s top shelf (ahem, chocolate supply), hanging outside, in the fridges. It’s everywhere.

Oh! The best one is that we have a fridge down in one of the bathrooms that we regularly use. Someone’s on the toilet and you yell down, like, ‘Hey, could you bring the lettuce up, please?’

You’re just hoping they remember to wash their hands. Nah, just joking. Mostly.

Watersports Gear

This is a big one for us because our ways of having fun take up quite a bit of space. It would be a lot easier if we all just loved hiking. But no, we have to have at least four sports’ worth of gear onboard.

We love it, and over the years, we’ve adjusted again and again until we landed on what we think is a pretty great system.

Since I’ve already written a post on where and how that system works, I won’t waste time writing it all again… so save me the time and go have a read here: how we store watersports gear on a 46ft boat. Also if you want to know the actual gear we currently carry, you can go check that out our complete kitesurfing and wing foiling gear setup for a family of six.

Sailing & Boat Storage

Right, sails. We have two in the forward lockers that are accessible on deck. Those are the spinnakers. Super great access, works really well.

Also in those forward lockers are water tanks, a generator, spare fuel, lines, batteries, and the anchor locker.

In our starboard forepeak, you’ll find our watermaker.

Back at the stern are the engines. In the engine bays, we have diesel, petrol, and spares.

Under one of the outside seats are the gas bottles.

Speaking of spares, the rest of them are under beds: belts, oil, fenders, filters, all of it. The diesel tanks are also under the aft beds.

Hmm, what else?

Oh, the dinghy comes up at the stern, and we lash it on. That’s our car.

So yes, everything has its place. I’m pretty sure you can own a boat for years and still not know about little hidey-holes and storage spots. It’s crazy. The first year is spent just trying to discover where each hatch leads!

Summary

Well, well, well. I, for one, feel like I’ve explained the unexplainable a little. Not fully, but hopefully enough to give you an idea of what it’s like living on a boat with six people’s stuff!

It’s different, for sure, but that’s part of the draw.

Boat life isn’t comfortable, far from it, but I think we do pretty well keeping it as comfortable, homey, and practical as we can. It’s a constant battle, trust me on that one.

Lastly, there are two general rules we use: 

1. "A place for everything, and everything in it's place."
2. If you bring something new on you have to take something old or no longer used off.

And that’s that! Now it’s your turn: I really want to know what it’s like where you live. How many rooms are there? How many cupboards? What’s the weirdest place you’ve had to store food?

Please enlighten us and comment below!