Apartment living, where to put all the gear?

[MBH]

I use those huge Rubbermaid tubs for a lot of my gear but our home still looks like a dive shop. Forget buying a bigger house. Mines 4000 sq.ft. and I have dive gear every where. Double enders, spools and reels hanging in my bathroom, wetsuits hanging on the screend in porch, dive lights on the kitchen table, tanks in my outbuilding, single tank rig in the front seat of my truck, a new MK25 for my doubles on the living room coffee table. And...too much more to list.

I suspect my house keeper will be asking for a raise any day now!

 

[Charlie99]

So to those of you with experience in such matters, what do you do?

I need to store my Maui dive gear in a small locked closet while I rent the condo the 9 months of the year I'm not there. Everything fits in 3 small crates.


My secret is simple ---- GET RID OF ALL THE STUFF THAT YOU NO LONGER USE!

 

[Cacia]

My dad actually has couches that are gun safes.

Under the bed....look for places with hidden, wasted space.

Jb and I will move to a loft sometime in the next couple years, and I am planning to hang the sporting goods, like bikes, surf boards, etc on the exposed brick wall and light it dramaticaly. It is too bad that scuba gear is so ugly....except for the Eclipse, of course.

I am dying to go industrial, have a graffiti artist do my kitchen....use that stainless diamond plate for backsplashes. Anyway...work the gear into the motiff, refugee style.

 

[stevetim]

I actually use some strong door hooks to hang a lot of my gear on the backs of doors around my place. You know, the hooks that hang on the top of the door? They are pretty secure if you buy metal ones.

All in all, my regulators, fins, mask, wrist computer, BCD, wetsuits, and rashguards hang on 4 hooks. Great spacesaver.

 

[jeckyll]

Ummm a little all over?

My "dining area" has a full suspension mountain bike, drysuit, gearbag and rollerblades.

Behind a living room chair: Doubles & 40 cf bottle.

Garage: weights (behind the motorbike which is behind the car)

Bedroom: Drysuit underwear, hung up.

Yeah, I need a bigger place

 

[MeiLing]

Plan D: Scatter it around the house, utilizing parts of it as furniture. Fins work well to bolster up a sagging couch, wetsuits make oh-so-comfy floor mats for standing and working in the kitchen. Masks have many uses. I have seen lovely floor lamps using an Alu80 as a base. Lead weights may be used to communicate more effectively with your downstairs neighbor. I still haven't found an alternitive use for the BCD, so I just wear it around my apartment like a vest. Chicks dig this. Just show 'em your saftey sausage- failing that, whip out the ol' pink snorkel. Dive knife? You need to open cans of beans, right?

My answer, anywhere I can find space!

 

[DivingsInMyBlood]

what kind of gear do you have, maybe you can keep it at my place.

lol, best reply yet

 

[sambolino44]

I have the same problem. I live in a house, but it's smaller than most apartments. You have to be innovative, and not too concerned with how it looks. As long as it's neat, it's not too bad. You get used to having to unstack and unpack any time you need anything. Actually it's a pain, but I guess I'd rather have the stuff than a simple life.

I use those plastic bins, and just stack them up. When I visited Europe I noticed that they all have smaller living spaces than we do, and have a lot of neat ideas on how to store stuff. One thing I noticed was using ropes and pulleys to hang things from the ceiing, usually clotheslines, but also just storage. These were old places with high ceilings, though. Still, there's a lot of unused space if you just look up.

In addition to my large bins, I also have a lot of smaller bins, boxes, and bags. The clear ones make it easier to find what you need without having to open every one every time. We have these things stuffed in every available space, under the table, under the stove, under the dresser, on top of the cabinets.

One of the best suggestions so far was the one about getting rid of the stuff you no longer use!

 

[Ice9]

Mine is strewn out all over my living room. I have this phobia of losing something!

I really do need to find a better way...

 

[Damselfish]

I've got a friend with a van that doesn't really run anymore, he parks it in the lot at his apartment and uses it for storage. Not sure how he gets away with it all this time, you'd think they'd notice the vehicle has not moved in years.