Soft sea rails

Here's an innovative solution for keeping things from flying around down below in a seaway.   Jeff from s/v C'est la Vie shows us a new way to address the problem:

A couple of years ago we added some shelves to C'est la Vie's main cabin - photos from shelf project. During the installation, I had visions of adding a wooden bar across the front of the shelves to keep the contents from evacuating during rough conditions. Since the installation the bars have never materialized and fortunately we have met with only a couple of evacuations. Dings on the cabin sole from large dry boxes flying off the starboard top shelf serve as evidence of the danger of flying dry boxes.

The solution came to me while sewing straps for the foredeck awning. The most time consuming aspect of the solution was running to town for the supplies...

Rather than the wooden bars envisioned, we can use webbing. We will be giving up that traditional nautical look, but the creation & installation is much less time consuming and the straps can be easily stored out of sight when not underway.

I sewed the buckles to the webbing to create a more clean look.

On the opposite ends I used a slider buckle rather than sewing. The slider buckles will allow the straps to be easily removed for cleaning or aesthetics. Next step was to install the stainless steel footman's loop (does anyone out there know the origins of the name?).

A bit of measuring and a visit to the hot knife completed the installation....

now back to loading the boat and closing down the basecamp.