Cabin layout changes, do they make sense to you?

[GILow]

Hi all,

I am staring at the layout in the boat, and thinking it is not quite right.

I have the classic "C" shaped settee with dining table on the starboard side, directly facing a bench settee on the port side. The bench settee doubles as a berth (watch berth) and is about 6'4" long. Because the bench settee has been made deep enough (front to back) to allow sleeping, it is not at all comfortable to sit on, the back rest is way too far back.

Now my boat has an excellent deck house with watch berths on both sides, and even has the ability to sleep transverse to the line of the boat if that is your thing (it is my preferred option.) When under way this is where I live, the rest of the boat downstairs is a ghost town except when I duck down to make a cup of tea or grab something to eat.

There is an aft cabin with a generous double transverse berth and a starboard cabin with a generous single berth running fore and aft.

I sail solo, and expect to continue to do so, with maybe the odd situation where I take crew for longer passages, one or two others at most.

Storage on the boat is very good, but most of it is a little tricky to access, you have to lift settee cushions out of the way and that sort of thing.

So I got looking at interior layouts on lots of boats, old and new. And I got to thinking about storage and I realised I could turn the port side bench settee into a single "arm chair" style seat like some of the modern boats are doing and then I would pick up some truly excellent storage space in the main living area where I could have drawers, or upright hanging space or goodness know what else for the things I use frequently, either under way or living at anchor.

Downside, this would leave only ONE watch berth on the port side, the one in the deck house, and if sailing with a crew that might feel a bit odd for a crew member who wanted some privacy. (Not there's much of that down in the main cabin either, but the deckhouse does feel very exposed.)

What do you think? Good/bad idea. Are those single arm chair style settees useful on a boat? What might I miss about the bench settee that I will regret later?

Matt

[JPA Cate]

What might you miss?

Well, I like to sit on the opposite settee, with my feet up, and read there.

Even if you are singlehanded now, doesn't mean you necessarily will be for the duration of owning that boat. Lack of the amidships sea berth would be a real turnoff to someone who understands how useful it really is. This may matter to me more than most, but I tend to get seasick. The midships sea berths is the only place I can sleep if we are going to windward in strong conditions. So, I wouldn't want to lose that safe,secure place, where the motion is the least. To make it more comfortable, I would consider doing something creative with pillows for the outboard side of it, so that it fits better for you. Possibly split the cushion, make a vertical dropboard, and cover that with foam and fabric, et voila, an arm, but the armchair concept is de-mountable.


Ann

[GILow]

Hadn't thought of the seasickness aspect. Does the fact that the deckhouse berths are in the midship line as well help or would their height above the waterline be a problem I wonder?

[GILow]

Hmmmm. Might be able to make a berth ABOVE the settee after making the changes. That would be midships AND at the waterline.

[toddster8]

I have been doing something similar. Just making all the additions in the form of modules that could be easily removed if plans change.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by GILow

Hmmmm. Might be able to make a berth ABOVE the settee after making the changes. That would be midships AND at the waterline.

The lower down in the boat, the better it is. Sometimes people lie on the cabin sole.

Ann

[GILow]

Originally Posted by toddster8

I have been doing something similar. Just making all the additions in the form of modules that could be easily removed if plans change.

Brilliant idea. Any inspirational photos/sketches you'd care to share?

[denverd0n]

If it makes sense for you then it makes sense for you. You just have to remember that what makes sense for YOU may not make sense for a future, prospective buyer when/if you decide to sell the boat. Anything that is non-standard will lower the resale value of the boat, or make selling it take longer as you will have to find that unique buyer who has the same tastes/desires as yours.

For that reason, I would go ahead and make the changes that I want, but I would try to the absolute greatest extent possible to make it easily reversible. In that way, when it came time to sell, I could put it back, or at least be able to explain to prospective buyers how they can very easily put it back themselves.

A lot of people make all kinds of drastic changes to their boats, and then expect to get lots more for it when they sell it, because the boat is so wonderfully "customized." Nope. It just doesn't work that way. Anything beyond very minor customizations are much more likely to LOWER the value of the boat than they are to increase it.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

[Seabeau]

I've been amazed at the neat watch keeping, resting and berthing solutions that some of the solo round the world racers have employed. Webbed suspensions like beach furniture on a tubular frame recliner that becomes a berth if necessary and gimbaled and attached parallel to the vessels centerline. Bungee cords supply the necessary motion restraint when needed..

[John_Trusty]

Personally, aside from extra berths rather than storage, the thing I find most annoying on single-handed/partner boats is that C-shaped saloon table. Great for entertaining the charter crew, but with just the wife and I that leaves a whole bunch of empty seats. I'm surprised you did not target that space waster for changes. Of course, a well mounted table helps reduce the falling distance when healed over.

Having never seen your boat, take it with a grain of salt.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by toddster8

I have been doing something similar. Just making all the additions in the form of modules that could be easily removed if plans change.

As well I. My plan includes a seaberth on the starboard side behind the L shaped settee w dining table. On the starboard side storage space as drawers and such. Under the settees and storage space against the bilges diesel tanks which is quite unpractical for anything else not just becouse becouse the access but also becouse of that wedge formed shape of it.

BR Teddy

[toddster8]

Originally Posted by John_Trusty

Personally, aside from extra berths rather than storage, the thing I find most annoying on single-handed/partner boats is that C-shaped saloon table. Great for entertaining the charter crew, but with just the wife and I that leaves a whole bunch of empty seats. I'm surprised you did not target that space waster for changes. Of course, a well mounted table helps reduce the falling distance when healed over.

Having never seen your boat, take it with a grain of salt.

Well, this is exactly what I've come to realize about upgrading from a 30'er to a bigger boat. I'd gain a dinette taking up half the cabin and a slightly larger head. Nothing really useful in terms of accommodation. Some of those dinettes encompass the engine space, which makes them hard to modify.

[toddster8]

Originally Posted by GILow

Brilliant idea. Any inspirational photos/sketches you'd care to share?

I don't know how "inspirational" it is, but I've been whittling away at the port-side berth on my much smaller boat, seen in this "before" picture.



First adding control panels and a nav station at the forward end. Note that at this stage, one could still bunk there in a pinch by sticking one's feet into the large locker.


Next stage is a module to extend the galley on the aft end. I've done various drawings, but then discovered that the designer of the boat already did the exact same thing on a slightly different model. So will just copy the bit at the forward end of the gimbaled range shown here, except that it will lap over the existing settee:



The main reason I haven't done that end yet is keeping the boat balanced - i.e. need to finish cabinets on the starboard side first. For the remaining gap, I intend to steal the swinging pipe table design from "Panope," seen in the thread, "Happiness is a warm spool gun." I happen to have a piece of 2.5" aluminum conduit in my junk, er - resources - pile that is just the right shape.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Well, I like to sit on the opposite settee, with my feet up, and read there.


Ann

YOU TOO! There is ALWAYS somebody there on my boat! Constantly "move your feet", "look out", "can you move please, I'm working through here". There's the whole friggin' boat, yet all it takes is one family member to be aboard, and there they are.

[Colin A]

Like others said maybe make removable changes. I had a friend with a little 18' trailer sailer. He was always alone so he built a little cabinet and table on the part of the V berth as it was more useful for him that way. But he built it as a unit that could fit thru the companionway and attached with toggle latches so it could be easily removed.