How to organise your kit below deck

Your Kit & EquipmentYour kit is likely to be split into three parts on any one leg. These are;

• Deck Gear & Kit
• General Kit
• Sleeping Bag

If you are doing multiple legs, you may decant your warm and cold weather kit into different dry bags so that you have less kit to manage on any one leg. The redundant kit can be stowed in a dry bag under other bags (space is very limited on each yacht).
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Deck KitEvery watch change you will need certain kit. Dependent on whether it's hot or cold and day or night, this kit might include everything from warm beanie hat, sun hat, peaked cap, gloves, mittens, balaclava, lip balm, leatherman multi-tool, safety knife, head torch, etc.

I kept all this kit in a 12L Lomo Bag which I had clipped to my bunk by a carabiner clip. This enabled me to quickly and easily stow and find essential kit needed on watch change. Time is of the essence when getting to deck and this speeds things up and saves you scrabbling around in the bilges late at night, trying to find your head torch!
General KitI kept this kit in a larger dry bag (maybe 60 - 80L) with back pack straps so it was easy to travel with. Having a dry bag saves your kit getting wet in its storage location (usually due to a leaking deck stanchion). This keeps your clothing, underwear, etc dry and in one place. Your wet gear is kept in the crew wet lockers near the galley.
​Sleeping BagMost boats have a dedicated bunk which they use to store the on-watch's sleeping bags. You can't leave them on your bunk, after all. Someone from the off watch is using it! Ocean Sleepwear bags are very popular for RTW crew and cold leggers.

These bags have a Goretex outer and come with a bag which is great for storage on a bunk because, in rough weather, bags can fall off bunks onto a wet floor. With a down-filled bag, this can be disastrous. With an Ocean bag it's no drama.
This video goes through kit organisation.

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