Tom and Heather-
We have an 2011 R27. It is about a 4 hour drive to it, so I can't measure it for you right away. The port lift-up compartment holds a large milk crate well (the double sized ones, 8 gallon) with some room left over both on the sides and higher than the top of the crate. Since it is a seat/step, you have nice storage height options in this one. The battery compartment is full of batteries and offers no storage option.
The aft seat has our propane locker that takes up about half, and the other half we store soda's and water hoses. In this area, you need to contain stuff from rolling all the way back, as things can get into the bilge if they are small and get all the way back. We have a couple dry bags that we store in there that prevents that stuff from moving. A piece of carpet would work well also.
The Starboard side has a small locker in the step, that we keep extra lines and a small dinghy anchor. It is very limited space, but usable for stuff. The large compartment on the starboard side is about 10" in height. A couple of small totes will fit in it. You have about (estimated) 10-12" from side to side (more that that forward of the inverter) and about 3 feet fore and aft. (just guessing). The inverter is in there and hot water is forward, steering to the stern, so totes in there would keep stuff from moving around. We store our spare anchor in there with extra heavy duty lines for a second anchor, a manual bilge pump, the Dinghy middle seat and air pump, oil change kit in a dry bag to keep from spilling and things like that. Most of that stuff does not fit in a tote very easily, so we went without.
"Waterproof storage" is nearly true. We have found the most waterproof place is in the stern seat. You don't often get spill over from the deck into the compartments, but you would drip a little. For us, the dog hair clogging drains is a daily fight, but we just clean them often. If dirt or hair clogs one, they can spill over the lip and drip into the compartment. It is never an big issue for us and again the dog hair is the worst for that, but I certainly would not store a laptop in there or family photos 😀
Hope that helps.
For up forward, since the compartments under the bed is not "normal shaped", we opted for some REI duffel bags to form fit the compartment a bit better than totes.
jeff and Ela, Bobolink R27
