I unloaded our refrigerator and did a few measurements of the space that I had to deal with. Since our refrigerator is outboard, the back side slopes inward. And the top of the refrigerator is wider than the bottom, and the right side is wider than the left. Not an easy space to work with. And then there was the fact that I also had to deal with the side loading door. After measuring, I decided that I would only have room for two shelves and no more.

So I headed off to Wal-Mart to see if I could find the tension rods that Jaime had used. And to also figure out which cutting boards that I would need, how many, and what the total cost would be. I found everything that I needed. My only concern with the cutting boards, was that they were square and the space I had to deal with was not. So ultimately there would be gaps around the edges. Question was, would the gaps be large enough for some items to fall thru? Before buying I thought that I could possibly use a different product for the shelves instead of the cutting boards. I walked many different stores, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s and Lowe’s to name a few to see if I could jump start the ‘creative juices’ to flowing! And it worked! I solved my dilemma! My solution….Plexiglas!

I ran back to the boat and unloaded the refrigerator, again, and using some lathing strips I made a template of each shelf. A trick that I had learned from our friend Dan Tinley when he was redoing the inside of his Gulfstar 37.  I then used them to draw out the shelves  on poster board. Next I took my drawing to a little shop here in League City, called Bay Area Glass. They used ¼ inch thick Plexiglas and made my shelves! And it took them maybe five minutes to cut them out! Then back to Wal-Mart to get the tension rods and another quick stop at Home Depot for hot glue!

Since we have the side opening door, I first had to put in a ½ inch square powder rod on the front and back sides of the refrigerator, that way the tension rods would have something to press against. I used a wood workers carpentry hot glue to put the rods in with. Oh Christopher Lowell would be so proud! Once these were in and secured, and tension rods were in place, the shelves were set on top and… ‘Voile La!’ Refrigerator shelving! Each shelf buy the way, had been cut in half, front to back so that if needed, one can move the shelf to reach into the lower part without opening the side door. The lower shelf was also cut this way to utilize the space below it too. Which is deep enough for several cans or bottles of frosty beverages! I also drilled numerous holes in each shelf so that there would be plenty of air circulation.

So far to date the shelving has worked out beautifully!

Click below to read more about living aboard

Scaling Down
The Art of Stowing