Rick, I spend many nights on my M15 every year and cannot recommend any location for permanently mounted shelves that would not interfere with sleeping or the constant rearrangement of gear. I keep a dishpan on top of a plastic box in the space just aft of the the V berth, starboard side. I also keep the long handled things like whisker poles, paddles, brooms, fishing poles etc. here. The long poles keep the dishpan from sliding laterally and the plastic box is just low enough to keep the dishpan from sliding forward. When you need something from the "junk drawer - GPS, sunscreen, pens, knife etc you just reach under while siting in the cockpit (sailing along) lift up the edge of the dishpan and pull the pan on to the berth. Most of the time I can find what I need by feel and don't have to actually slide the pan out. Living space is precious and permanent shelves don't add enough value to encroach on the living space. For what it is worth. Thanks Doug Kelch "Seas the Day" M15 #310 --- Rick Langer <farreach@optonline.net> wrote:

Of all the improvements I plan for my boat, one that is important every time I sail is some quickly accessible interior storage. A lot of boats have shelves port and starboard running the length of the cabin. I find these shelves great for storing all the things you need to grab fast. The M15 has a ton of storage, but I don't really like guessing where what I want is and then go digging through gear and cushions to find it. When I sold my old boat and cleaned out I found things in the below cushions storage areas that I had forgot I ever had.

So I thinking of building some shelves, but the hard part seems to be attaching them to the boat. I thought that drilling holes through the hull would be less than prudent and those screw points sticking out of the hull might be hazardous to fellow boaters. Seriously, there is a small amount of space between the cabin skin and the hull, but finding the place where I won't go through the hull is problematic.

Has anyone built shelves and can you advise me?

Rick Langer _______________________________________________

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