Narrowboat Storage Series Archives - Cluett Carpentry https://cluettcarpentry.com Crafting Beautiful Things Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:30:34 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://cluettcarpentry.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-New_Logo_500x500-32x32.png Narrowboat Storage Series Archives - Cluett Carpentry https://cluettcarpentry.com 32 32 How to DIY a magnetic spice rack https://cluettcarpentry.com/how-to-diy-a-magnetic-spice-rack/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-diy-a-magnetic-spice-rack Tue, 26 Apr 2022 12:39:43 +0000 https://cluettcarpentry.com/?p=126 How to DIY a Magnetic spice rack is part of the “Narrowboat Storage Series”, 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 […]

The post How to DIY a magnetic spice rack appeared first on Cluett Carpentry.]]> How to DIY a Magnetic spice rack is part of the “Narrowboat Storage Series”, 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 on a boat or not. 

Materials for a magnetic spice rack

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Jars

I love the honeycomb jars, they tessellate 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.

Honeycomb, hexagonal glass jar with black metal 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. 

Neodymium magnets - really strong!

Backing Board

Any magnetic (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 frying-pan? It may be possible to stick the jars directly to a fridge, cooker hood or other metal surface.

Be aware that not all stainless steels are magnetic!

Backing sheet of metal

Labelling Material for a Spice Rack

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 narrow boat 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. 

DIY a magnetic spice rack with magnets

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 narrow boats, 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.

DIY a magnetic spice rack - in the making.

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. 

DIY magnetic spice rack

And that is How to DIY a magnetic spice rack. 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

Enjoy more reading in these articles.

Useful links

The post How to DIY a magnetic spice rack appeared first on Cluett Carpentry.]]> Big Bucket, Little Bucket, Little Dry Bucket https://cluettcarpentry.com/big-bucket-little-bucket-little-dry-bucket/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=big-bucket-little-bucket-little-dry-bucket Fri, 24 Apr 2020 12:18:00 +0000 https://cluettcarpentry.com/?p=400 Winter is setting in and boaters are gathering round to exchange stories and news. If you’ve spent anytime on the water or with boaters then you’ll know that sooner or later, generally sooner, the topic turns to toilets. It’s one of the favourite questions of Gongoozlers as well, ‘how do you go to the loo?’, […]

The post Big Bucket, Little Bucket, Little Dry Bucket appeared first on Cluett Carpentry.]]> Winter is setting in and boaters are gathering round to exchange stories and news. If you’ve spent anytime on the water or with boaters then you’ll know that sooner or later, generally sooner, the topic turns to toilets.

It’s one of the favourite questions of Gongoozlers as well, ‘how do you go to the loo?’, right up there with ‘does it get cold in the winter?’. Well, having just decommissioned a pump-out ready for a compost loo, I thought the time ripe to write a few words on it.

Just a quick disclaimer: as ever, that this is an opinion and I accept no liability for any choices or actions you make based upon reading this. Always refer to the manufacturer’s recommendations. I hope you find this useful and interesting

Little Bucket

There are three main types of loo; pump-out, cassette/porta potti and compost. Or, as I like to think of them, big bucket, little bucket and dry bucket. Within these main categories there is further subdivision in both attribute and application but these three are the basics of what you’ve got, ‘in privy terms’. Please note ‘sea’ toilets are not legal for use in British inland waterways and are not covered here

Big Bucket

A pump-out is a big ole tank (some bigger than others as pictured right, a monster we removed recently) and a toilet, either on top or separate. The latter generally requiring a macerator in order to make smooth the passage (yes, that is my level of humour) of waste to the storage point. If the toilet is on top of the tank, you don’t have a macerator, it can just drop straight through. The tank will have chemicals added to it to keep smells etc. in check. The particular concoction best suited is a much discussed topic, shows what happens when you don’t have a telly.

Big Bucket

Plus side

  • Big capacity
  • Empty less often
  • Closest resemblance (with some models/set-ups) to a traditional toilet
  • Requires little heavy lifting, the pump does the job

Minus side

  • Carry a big weight of waste around, can cause a boat to list
  • You don’t want to have one that’s rusted through on the tank
  • If you can’t find a working pump-out point (in London, shocker!) then you may be holding it for a while
  • Pay £10-15 each time you empty it, plus a little smelly
  • Relatively expensive and complex system
Connected toilet

All in all, they can be very convenient and, if used with an auxiliary backup, e.g. porta potti, then they are a good choice if in good nick and well maintained. Unpleasant when they go wrong, mind.

Little Bucket

This can be a cassette or the classic camping/caravan porta potti. It’s what it says on the tin.  A bucket with chemicals; toilet blue, toilet green, toilet pink, even biological detergent has been known to work.  Various formats make it seem more or less like a bucket/real loo, but in essence it’s pretty simple.  When you’re full, you just remove the tank and take to an Elsan to empty.

Little Bucket

Plus side

  • Relatively cheap system cost
  • Simple to operate
  • Not much to go wrong with it
  • Only ever carrying a small amount of waste

Minus side

  • Small capacity
  • Heavy lifting, some 20kg of poop and wee, to empty
  • Quite smelly to empty

You can get spare cassettes and cassettes with wheels, which alleviate some of the negatives. It’s still much smaller, though, and you may find yourself encouraging friends to wee in the hedge when they come to visit. Most boat owners in general, but particularly those with a cassette, take a pleasure in managing to use a loo while out and about, be it pub, restaurant or a friend’s house.

Little Dry bucket

Dry Bucket

A compost loo. The idea here being that poop if kept dry does not smell (edit: some people advocate a ‘one pot’ system and I can confirm that, having smelt one, these can be low odour as well) All the urine is separated off, there are various ways of achieving this, and a small amount of sawdust is added each time to keep it dry and odour free. When full, the solids are removed and left to compost until they are a safe and useful soil improver. There is debate as to how smelly or not they are. With all systems, a lot is down to how it is maintained and used, and this is no different. There are passive and active systems, but the simplest is a bucket with poop and sawdust

Plus side

  • Simple systems are very cheap
  • The products can be used in agriculture and/or disposed of more readily
  • Large capacity, presuming the urine is separated and emptied frequently, the dry part can go a long time
  • Potentially no need to use smelly Elsan or pump-out points

Minus side

  • More up market systems can be quite expensive
  • Relatively long composting time to produce ‘safe’ end product
  • Urine still needs to be dealt with (where does boater wee go…..)
  • Some heavy lifting of full tank
  • Requires more balancing and TLC to get a well functioning system

They can be the highest or lowest of toilets, from fan assisted externally vented sci-fi toilets, to bucket and dust privy. They are certainly gaining popularity amongst boaters and can be a good, reliable and green system if used well.

I can’t tell you what toilet is best, it’s more discussed by boaters than coal brand, water heater type and whether a trad or cruiser stern is best all rolled in to one. I do know that whatever type of toilet comes with a boat, half of boaters want to change to something different. It really depends on the individual needs of the boater.

It can be reasonably economically to swap out a system if DIYing, though this can involve a fair amount of knowledge, quite a bit of brute force and, last but not least, potentially having to deal with somebody else’s old waste tank, yuk.  On my boat I have a porta potti, though I am planning to prototype a compost loo in the new year (edit: we now sell a range of compost toilets, please contact us for info. I will be adding a shop to the site in coming months).  Whatever system you have and whatever system you want it can be, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it

Narrowboat top view

Enjoy more reading in these articles.

Useful links

The post Big Bucket, Little Bucket, Little Dry Bucket appeared first on Cluett Carpentry.]]>