Wine Cellar - Baseplate cold store

[Quaysider]

 I thought I'd share my attempt last week at making a wine cellar * beer cellar/cider store/veg store*....

I've been putting it off for ages but now that non-private BSS has been done AND the Business license is going through with crt, i thought I'd better pull my finger out and do a few jobs before we get our first guest on board (10th April). STILL not got enough bookings to make us rich but pleased to have 6 lined up so far.


Anyway - I remembered a door frame (don't ask) I had left in the garage at home so went to collect some post and loaded it into the car. Not wanting to buy any more wood, I convinced myself that it wouldn't look odd using both 1 and 2 inch sections to make a frame.
...

 

Having gone back into the boat, I rather sensibly (for once) had the idea to number the pieces on the floor before taking it up. I used a bit of masking tape and simple 1-36 system.



Once the frame was the size I wanted it, put it on the floor, drew around it and then took it up. Having already removed ballast here, there were cut sections in the sub floor but of course NOT the place I wanted them... to add insult to injury, there was also a bearer in the wrong place meaning the last 6 inches of the store would not be usable. Not the end of the world though as I just moved it up a bit.
 

Moving it up of course meant I needed to cut some MORE floor out... and of course having sold my corded multi-too when we emptied the house/garage out, I was left using the battery version. Luckily I had a few charged up batteries *note to self - rotate the regularly on the charger*.



That seemed to take all afternoon so I abandoned it for the day and came back to if fresh yesterday afternoon (having had chores to do in the morning).

I began fitting back in the cut out sections down each side (once I'd tested a bottle of Pepsi (other coal flavoured soft drinks are available)) would fit. and then cut the sub floor to fit into the recess.



Whilst I'm sure I DID take more photos as I was doing things, my phone seems to have other ideas... as the next one it has stored is the (relatively) finished result
 

It's VERY sturdy and doesn't flex at all when walked on... I still need to find some flush handles to lift it out with and I'm toying with the idea of fitting hinges on one side.... It doesn't look too bad and I'm quite pleased with it. I still need to paint it out inside... I've got some hammertie garage door paint lurking somewhere so that will suffice.
 

[dogless]

Deja vu.

Nice crocs

Rog

[matty40s]

far too much water and pop.

 

 

well done, smart job.

[Chewbacka]

The op title is wine cellar, the clue is in the name for it's correct purpose, chuck that artificial sweetened 'waste of space' coke zero away and replace with a good red wine.

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

The op title is wine cellar, the clue is in the name for it's correct purpose, chuck that artificial sweetened 'waste of space' coke zero away and replace with a good red wine.

Should we be encouraging him to chill red wine?

(This awakens a memory: there is one regional French red which is served cold by the locals, I've been there, drunk that, but can't remember where it was. Can anyone help?)

[chubby]

50 minutes ago, Athy said:

Should we be encouraging him to chill red wine?

(This awakens a memory: there is one regional French red which is served cold by the locals, I've been there, drunk that, but can't remember where it was. Can anyone help?)

sounds like essex possibly .... 

probably basildon . 

Edited February 14, 2018 by chubby

[Tam & Di]

I used a slightly different version of these ring pulls:
https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/product/round-flush-ring-pull-45mm-polished-brass-764049?vat=1&shopping=true&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi7mkzqel2QIV4ZztCh0V7A7mEAQYAiABEgJ-I_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
and brass flap hinges like these:
https://www.hafele.co.uk/en/product/counter-flap-hinge-103-x-41-mm-brass-with-brass-pin/000000bb00005de900020023/#SearchParameter=&@QueryTerm=flap+hinges&@P.FF.followSearch=9822&PageNumber=1&OriginalPageSize=12&Position=11&OrigPos=11&ProductListSize=40&PDP=true

I'm not sure I'd let anyone on our boat who drank the stuff you've got there - we're in France of course, and buy most of our wine from the people who grew the grapes, trod them and bottled the end result. They don't usually label them with the grape variety either.

Beaujolais is generally drunk lightly chilled Athy, but there are other light reds too.

[Stilllearning]

56 minutes ago, Athy said:

Should we be encouraging him to chill red wine?

(This awakens a memory: there is one regional French red which is served cold by the locals, I've been there, drunk that, but can't remember where it was. Can anyone help?)

Beaujolais perhaps?

Pinot noir possibly, according to some websites I just looked at.

Tam and Di beat me to it

Edited February 14, 2018 by Stilllearning

[Athy]

Thanks, Tam, Di and SL. I wasn't thinking of Beauj but yes, probably a light wine. I'm sure that they chill it in several regions and that we just happen top have stayed in one of those regions.

19 minutes ago, chubby said:

sounds like Essex possibly .... 

probably Basildon . 

We rarely drink British wine, so I don't think it was, no. We did actually buy a bottle of British red recently, and frankly it was like a cartoon compared with the real thing.

[Nightwatch]

Back on topic. The wine cellar looks like a success to me. The best form of ballast I can think of.

[Athy]

4 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Back on topic. 

We never really left it.

[Tam & Di]

A possible problem is it slowly moves from the wine cellar to the holding tank which can create problems with the trim.

[Nightwatch]

7 minutes ago, Athy said:

We never really left it.

A little. Teeny weeny bit. Hardly any, nope! I was wrong. It was still on topic.

[Quaysider]

I've got a couple of these from screw fix.

[Naughty Cal]

It won't really work as a chiller in the summer.

We have a similar "cupboard" which is great for keeping things cold at this time of year but come summer when the water is much warmer it doesn't really help at all.

Last weekend the water was 1.8 degrees on our mooring. In the summer that rises to over 20 degrees. On the few hot days we had last June it was nearly 26 degrees.

[NigelMoore]

Have you thought of building a Coolgardie safe for outside? The absolute best method for really chilling drinks and perishables without power; the hotter the weather, the colder the insides.

[Quaysider]

it'd be a bit bulky/ugly though...

[NigelMoore]

Why? You could design the shape and size as you wished, to suit whatever location. When family camping we used a small one to keep butter and milk in -- no more than a foot square and about 18" high.

Not a Coolgardie safe, but using the same principle, we always had large hessian waterbags hanging up in the local railway stations when I was at school, with chained enamel mug attached. The water was icy cold during summer days. Every car venturing into the outback always had smaller, flat versions hanging from the roo-bars; I even had a couple hung on my front pannier rack when cycling across the Nullarbor.

[Quaysider]

not really room outside the boat though... and it'd be a pain getting in the way although I do like the idea of it...

[Boat&Bikes]

4 hours ago, Athy said:

Should we be encouraging him to chill red wine?

(This awakens a memory: there is one regional French red which is served cold by the locals, I've been there, drunk that, but can't remember where it was. Can anyone help?)

Brouilly.

Ian.

 

[Athy]

13 minutes ago, ianali said:

Brouilly.

Ian.

 

Thank you for the memory nudge, Ian. I now know what I was thinking of: Gamay - a grape rather than a region I know, but at one time Mrs. Athy and I used to drink Gamay, which came in bottles labelled with the Gamay name rather than the region of production, and the back label recommended drinking it cool. It may, of course, have come from the Brouilly area.

I think we used to bring cases of it back when we lived in Sussex and used to do a "booze cruise" through the Chunnel every couple of months.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Athy

[Tam & Di]

Brouilly is of course one of the 10 named village wine regions of Beaujoais, along with St-Amour (too late to dash out for some now for Valentine's Day), Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-a-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, and Côte de Brouilly.

[Boat&Bikes]

10 minutes ago, Tam & Di said:

Brouilly is of course one of the 10 named village wine regions of Beaujoais, along with St-Amour (too late to dash out for some now for Valentine's Day), Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-a-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, and Côte de Brouilly.

Indeed. I used to have Brouilly sent to me from France in the 80 s from a French friend. He always insisted that it be drank chilled. So long ago. I do love wine.

Ian.

[Harpur Hill]

20 hours ago, NigelMoore said:

Why? You could design the shape and size as you wished, to suit whatever location. When family camping we used a small one to keep butter and milk in -- no more than a foot square and about 18" high.

Not a Coolgardie safe, but using the same principle, we always had large hessian waterbags hanging up in the local railway stations when I was at school, with chained enamel mug attached. The water was icy cold during summer days. Every car venturing into the outback always had smaller, flat versions hanging from the roo-bars; I even had a couple hung on my front pannier rack when cycling across the Nullarbor.

In the days of yore when ale was sold direct from the barrel behind the bar it was cooled by draping a wet towel over the barrel. If the ale was not ready to drink the barmaid would say "Sorry the towel's on". That expression is still used when you can't get a pint, thought usually now due to the bar closing.