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Category: Narrowboat Storage Series

How to DIY a magnetic spice rack

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Most of this series will be a look into storage options in different areas of the boat. Today’s will be a little different. It’s all about making a spice rack. Easy, practical- a great DIY project!! I’ll give you a materials list and an overview of how I put mine together. It’s a lovely way to organise your kitchen spices, plus an attractive kitchen feature. 

Materials

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Jars

I love the honeycomb jars, they tesselate well and make interesting patterns. However, any clean, food safe small jar with a metal lid will do. Plastic lids might work, I haven’t tried it. You want a jar of around 190ml, but you can use bigger/smaller jars to suit your needs.

190ml Hexagonal Clear Glass Jar With Lid

Magnets

Getting the strength right is key. I used neodymium magnets, they are stronger for their size than ferrite magnets and less brittle too. Around a 3-5kg pull strength is ample. 

https://www.first4magnets.com/circular-disc-rod-c34/20mm-dia-x-3mm-thick-n42-neodymium-magnet-4-6kg-pull-p3300#ps_0_3352|ps_1_1481

Backing Board

Any magnet (ferrous) material.  I used a piece of metal sheet I got from our Blacksmith neighbours. You can get steel or iron sheet online and cut to size, or find something to repurpose. How about an old iron skillet? It maybe possible to stick the jars directly to a fridge, cooker hood or other metal surface.

Be aware that not all stainless steels are magnetic!

https://www.metals4u.co.uk/materials/mild-steel/mild-steel-sheet/sheets/2500-p

Labelling Material

My partner has a vintage Dymo label maker from her grandparents which made our gorgeous labels. If you have a label maker then great, but it’s not essential. You can write paper labels and tape them on or use a marker that will write on glass. The latter may rub off with time.

Fixings / Adhesive

If you are mounting a backing board to the wall or a cupboard then you will need to fix it off.  A combination of grab adhesive and screws will be nice and strong. Most narrowboat walls are wooden so you can screw straight into them (Mind Cables!!). To drill metal you will want a 4mm HHS bit for a clearance hole and a 8-10mm HSS bit to countersink the hole. 

Tools

(suggested, but not all essential)

  • Drill and drill bits
  • Screwdriver
  • Adhesive applicator gun
  • Label maker

Method

Once you have all your materials it couldn’t be simpler. Put a magnet into the lid of each jar. Use two if they are too weak.  They stick to the inside of the lid and the jars will now stick to your backing board/fridge/cooker hood. 

To mount a metal backing board I drilled holes and then countersunk them. You need HHS metal drill bits to drill a clearance hole and then countersink so the screw heads don’t stick out too far. I used a little grab adhesive on the back to be belt and braces, though a screw in each corner will likely be sufficient.  You can screw straight into the walls of most narrowboats as they are typically ply or MDF. Make sure to check for pipes and cables beneath. I would suggest not using screws longer than required.

Label up each of your jars with your chosen labelling method. Putting the names on the bases makes it easy to see what is in each jar and avoid any culinary surprises! You can make these as elaborate and ornate as you care to. 

Finally, decant your spices and arrange in a pleasing pattern. It is good to leave a few gaps so that you can get fingers in to grab them. 

I hope that you have found this guide helpful. Why not have a go at making one for your kitchen. If you do, then tag us #cluettcarpentry

How to use Bulkheads for Storage

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A bulkhead is a nautical term to describe any vertical wall that isn’t the hull/cabin top. These may be structural, or merely a way to compartmentalise internal space.  As boats become more open plan, we tend to have less walls dividing the space but they are always a significant square footage of surface area. You can maximise the storage capability of your boat by making use of the bulkheads.

In this blog I will go through some good ways to use the space. A lot of this is things you can buy or make at home. You don’t need to be an expert to make the most of bulkhead walls.  So, if lack of storage is driving you up the wall, then read on!

Space: Bulkheads

Size: Widely varied. Generally half or full height (900mm or 1800mm) tall. Widths from 400mm to 3000mm

Type of storage: Shallow storage. Good for pre-made items as it’s typically vertical.  Shelving, hanging and racking. Nothing that sticks out too far

Suitable for: Books and trinkets, but also great for hanging kitchen items and such. Coats, bags and boots.  It is also useful for ‘active’ use, like a draining rack. It’s a dry internal area, so anything that will fit

Materials: Almost anything, especially if it is off the ground.  Damp shouldn’t be an issue so pretty much anything goes

Difficulty rating: Very easy. The flat vertical surface lends itself to almost anything you would do in a home so “off-shelf” items will readily fit, as well as being prime for upcycling and DIY

After the cat, I think one of our favourite things on the boat is the draining rack. My partner found it on eBay and it revolutionised our washing-up.  It’s small. Only a couple of square feet. It can hold an amazing amount of crockery and cutlery though.  For a fairly cheap internet purchase it has made the space in the kitchen feel so much bigger. It’s wall mounted and has a drip tray underneath so we don’t lose any worktop space. With three tiers it can hold loads. A really handy addition. 

On the other side of the kitchen we have more bulkhead storage. This is simple. The idea is the same as our curtain rails. Copper pipe and Munsen clips. A touch more advanced on the DIY front, but still an easy beginner job. Hanging items is great for pans, spatulas, sieves etc.  This takes a lot of clutter off the side and can be more flexible than shelving, with large items hanging vertically.  If you hang some baskets off them you could put pretty much anything here. Elsewhere in the boat we have used the same idea to hang our kindling basket, hats and gloves basket, you could even have a cat basket for your feline friend. 

Walls are great for hanging pre-made items to use as storage as bulkheads are mostly plumb. It is easiest when they are vertical walls unlike the sides of boats which can be almost any angle.  You can get lots of interesting pieces, very cheaply, and with a few screws you’ve got extra shelves.  An example of this on our boat is that we use a cute little hexagon shelving unit from my wife’s old flat to store bathroom items, we have plenty of space to stash toilet rolls and a bottle of room freshener spray. The latter is important when you live in a small shared space.  Anything like this can be fitted to the wall for instant storage.

Upcycled items are cheap, fashionable and can add character to a boat. While the inside is our ‘medicine cabinet’ as it were, the top is space to hide away more bits and bobs.  Spaces like this this help keep sides clear. A clear side makes a small home feel more spacious. Clutter can be oppressive. We aren’t always the best at keeping things tidy, but having a home for things helps.

If you have the space for some custom shelving then you can really go to town. Wide beams especially have big open bulkheads.  The sky is the limit here. Any material, any design. You can have book shelves, display shelves, even a full home entertainment wall.  Open shelving is great, but you could also have cupboards if you have the space. We have two cupboards in the front of our boat. It does take some of our lounge space, but without them we wouldn’t have any hanging space. 

In a wide beam then a bulkhead of full height cabinets across the boats can make a real statement, especially in a dark colour. Like a feature wall, but more useful.  Using interesting materials can make for some gorgeous pieces. I love industrial and steam punk looks, as well as drawing on the natural beauty of wood and metal.  Scaffold board, as made famous by East London coffee shops (excuse the tongue in cheek joke) looks great stained and varnished. It’s a lot cheap than slices of hardwood live edge timber. With some well chosen brackets it looks great. We have also used veneered ply to good effect, finished with a hardwood lip.

There are loads of ways to DIY your bulkhead storage. I think it might be the most approachable off all the spaces in our series. It certainly has a wide spectrum of uses. Why not upcycle some shelving, or plan out an intricate Welsh dresser style steam punk creation from reclaimed timber and oversized copper piping! Make sure you make the most of this prime boat real estate and if you want something really beautiful and practical then why not get in touch, let us design something just for you. 

Under the gunwale storage ideas

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Under the gunwale storage ideas

Narrowboat Storage Series

Boats are full of nooks and crannies. Dead spaces. We try to use all the space we can when living in boats. The more the merrier. Every little space can be used. The gunwale, pronounced gunnel, is the top edge of the hull. Beneath this is typically a recess and internally it is a prime place to build storage on narrowboats, Dutch barges and house boats.

In this blog I want to show you a few ways that we have made use of this space. Both shelves and cupboards, you can fit a variety of things in underneath. Plus having a little depth means you can build storage in without interfering with the thoroughfare.

Space: Under Gunwale

Size: Typically, around 100mm deep and 900mm high on a narrowboat, 300-400mm deep and 800mm high on a Dutch barge

Type of storage: Cupboards, shelves or even a hanging space

Suitable for: Storing anything. Clean and dry, so clothes, books, shoes, trinkets. Really just determined by the size of the space

Materials: Normally already clad out in a ply, adding birch ply shelves with doors if required

Difficulty rating: Quite straightforward on a narrowboat where the space is reasonably regular. Much more challenging on the swept curves of a Dutch barge

under gunwale storage

One of my favourite uses of this space is the shelving in the bedroom on my boat at home. It’s a simple birch ply structure, stained and varnished. The different sized openings make it perfect for a whole host of items. Shoes, books, trinkets. It’s only about a hands breadth deep, so it won’t take deep folders or hardbacks. Still, it’s ample for a pair of trainers, paperbacks and lots of other things.  My wife has a love of storage boxes and has found lots of wicker boxes that fit the holes. We have one each and fill them with all the odds and ends from around the room.  The cat loves them. If only so he can scratch the wicker to pieces.

A Dutch barge has a much deeper recess beneath the gunwale. That’s too good to waste! With a space like this you can have full depth storage cupboards. The shape of the space makes it fiddly to build furniture to suit. Dutch barge hulls move in more dimensions than seems possible, which creates beautiful lines that are a pain to work with. It’s a great space.  One boat we did had enough space that we had room for a clothes rail tucked in under there.  What would be a hard to use alcove and wasted space at the edge of a room can be a cupboard for plates, glassware, linen, clothes, files, anything. The tricky thing is making something that is sympathetic to the lines of the hull. Keeping the line plumb down the wall to the floor can make for a seamless storage that melts into the background. 

Where there isn’t us much depth there is still space for cupboards. Like the bathroom. Our boat has cupboards beneath the gunwale in the bathroom. They’re small, but functional.  Like the bedroom shelving it’s a shallow space. This is plenty of room for all the tinctures and ointments of a bathroom. Toiletries, perfumes, oils and lotions, as well as space for medicines.  The doors are simple slab doors with soft close hinges.  This keeps dust and dirt off everything and leaves the space looking tidy. 

Another bathroom we did had a piece of cladding missing beneath the gunwale. We had removed the old shower and put in something more modern, but this left a hole. True, it could have just been cladded with a board. Covered up. But putting in a shelving unit tidied it up and added storage. Another bonus was it allowed us to cover up pipework that was sitting proud of the wall lower down. 

Deep or shallow, shelves and cupboards can fit either and make use of a dead space that would otherwise be left unutilised. It can be a little difficult to make something to fit the space well, but it can be achieved by an amateur with decent DIY skills. If you want something tailor made to suit you then why not get in touch with us. 

5 Storage Drawer Ideas for Narrowboats

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5 Storage Drawer Ideas for Narrowboats

Narrowboat Storage Series

As a cabinet maker we joke that all we do is build boxes. Drawers are just a box in a box, but they can help make the most of limited storage in a boat. What you in the thickness of the drawer and runners, you can in utility as easy access makes it a breeze to use the full depth of hard-to-reach spaces. Plus, it makes organisation satisfying and pretty. If I were building my dream kitchen I would have 80% drawers, cupboards just wouldn’t cut it.  They’re great for under-bed storage, beneath dinettes and anywhere you can fit them in around the home. 

Space: Drawers

Size: From around 200-300mm wide and 400mm deep, to giant drawers over a metre wide, breakfast bars a metre deep and up to 600-700mm tall

Type of storage: Very varied, though typically not over about 1-1.2 metres in the largest dimensions and often much smaller.  Generally shallow, though not always

Suitable for: Anything that isn’t too long and large.  Everything for the kitchen, from crockery to cutlery to pantry items. Clothes, shoes, linen. Toys, books, DVDs

Materials: Varied, though Birch ply, clear lacquer and a soft-close undermount runner for preference

Difficulty rating: Medium to hard.  Not for amateur DIYers, but very effective done properly

1) Breakfast Bar

My favourite drawer, though it might be a stretch to call it that, is a breakfast bar we did. It’s 900mm long and marble. The body is birch ply and the runners are heavy duty locking runners, designed for fire trucks and similar. They can take an even load of 250kg! We were able to fit such a deep bar as it is a Dutch Barge and there was a lot of space under the gunwale, behind the kitchen. It gives a big additional kitchen surface and an elegant table for breakfasting with a loved one.

2) Coffee Station

Here we have my coffee station. My partner arranged this and I love it. It is a good example of how a drawer can help organise and beautify. Everything is together; one drawer for mugs, the next for coffee, filters and other supplies. It is very ergonomic and feels great to use.

3) Pull out bin

Drawers are nothing if not versatile. On the other side of the kitchen we have a pull out bin. It is not glamorous. It is very useful though. With two sections to keep general waste and recycling apart it is clean and green. It’s nice to be able to hide the rubbish away and this gives you plenty of space when you are between refuse points, keeping you going as long as possible.

Photograph of pull out bin in a narrowboat
Photograph of plinth drawers in a narrowboat kitchen
Photograph of a unfinished pull out breakfast bar
Photograph of Coffee station with pull out drawers

4) Plinth drawers

A relatively new type of drawer, plinth drawers have been growing in popularity. We fit these in pretty much every kitchen we do now. The plinth (the area beneath the units) is dead space and is normally unused. A plinth drawer gives you a space you never knew you had. It is ideal for odds and sods. It also makes an adorable pull out for pet food and water bowls. They can be fitted with most kitchen units and add a good amount of additional storage.

5) Chopping board

Another fun kitchen addition is a pull-out chopping board. It provides extra working space in a tight galley kitchen. It feels good to use and can help you keep things clean and clear while you cook. I’ve seen some with a hole to put a bin beneath for easy clearing of peelings and scraps, something to try on a future project.

All things considered, drawers are a really great way to access deep spaces, keep things organised and make the best use of the space you have. They can be integrated into most pieces of furniture and modern drawers runners are reliable, look great (undermount are effectively invisible) work brilliantly and will last and last. All sorts of spaces, shapes and sizes can be made and with heavy duty ratings on some runners the uses are almost endless. If you want some help getting the most out of the space in your home, then give us a call and let us design and build a gorgeous piece of furniture for you.