Proposed Boat Interior Layout - How Does This Look?

[ThresherMan]

"P.S. I suppose the latter would have the advantage of turning the chain locker into a collision bulkhead, so I could do away with the watertight bulkhead/door between the storage area and the saloon.."

I think that without an engine, you will be travelling fast enough to worry about collision damage in a steel boat, not your boat anyway.

[nautical62]

Having owned 2 boats in the 30-32 foot range, that's not how I would choose to use the space. I would much prefer dedicated sleeping quarters with personal storage to sleeping on a settee birth and would prefer to have more distance and privacy between myself and any guest. I would also have a head with shower space despite the fact I prefer showering outside.

I think the front of boats tend to make terrible sleeping spaces, so I like your idea to make other use of that. Think about the weight distribution consequences of putting so much storage space so far forward.

One design I'd consider in a 30-footer is double birth to port largely under the cockpit, lazarette storage to other side in cockpit. L-galley to starboard. Gallery counter/fridge top doubles as chart table. Forward of that settees/sea births (with boards) forward of that, large head and storage. This is similar to the 30-foot Westerly Centaur, except I'd expand the quarter birth under the cockpit floor for more space and get rid of the V-birth in favor of a bigger head and more storage.

Obviously much of this comes down to personal preference. I also think a 30 foot boat with just 2 settee births for sleeping will be limiting when it come to resale.

[Cheechako]

I think you will find that having a berth not in the salon that you can leave bed-ready is nice, as opposed to a double use settee /berth situation.
If you turn the L galley 180 degrees you could still have a 1/4 berth. Just a thought. Outside locker storage is often damp wet storage anyway and you have the big forward storage.
Other possible things: Consider a small locker , maybe aft, that is glassed in/sealed from all else for storage of full garbage bags between ports. or maybe for dingy gas storage.

[vtlli]

Few more points. If you are going to build boat yourself you will learn term "centre of gravity". Usually it is midship. On the way, on the anchor boat will rock around it. And best place to sleep, to rest it would be there where is movement is minimal. Bunks on your plan are too forward from that point. Also galley is far from dinner table. As your plan not to have engine there would be nothing to compensate weight of anchor chain . So it would be wise to move it more close to the COG. Water tanks worth put on the boat centreline just on top of the ballast. Needless to say mush better to invest few more pennies into lead ballast.
Another point: it worth to invest time to studying successful cruising designs of similar size.
When I started to built my own boat I tried to implement layout of one cruiser which I sailed before into new boat. It saved me time of building and now I'm very happy with this.


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[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by vtlli

Few more points. If you are going to build boat yourself you will learn term "centre of gravity". Usually it is midship. On the way, on the anchor boat will rock around it. And best place to sleep, to rest it would be there where is movement is minimal. Bunks on your plan are too forward from that point. Also galley is far from dinner table. As your plan not to have engine there would be nothing to compensate weight of anchor chain . So it would be wise to move it more close to the COG. Water tanks worth put on the boat centreline just on top of the ballast. Needless to say mush better to invest few more pennies into lead ballast.
Another point: it worth to invest time to studying successful cruising designs of similar size.
When I started to built my own boat I tried to implement layout of one cruiser which I sailed before into new boat. It saved me time of building and now I'm very happy with this.


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Actually his bunks are better located for that than most Nautical Architects berths are! They are usually located aft or in the V berth!

[vtlli]

Well 😀


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[mausgras]

Am i missing something, or are you. I cant read the labels on my phone but I don't see a companionway up onto the deck.

[Sun and Moon]

Why are you building a mono-hull? They are so outdated!

[FSMike]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

Perhaps a composting loo?

See post #5, the op already thought of it.

[Martin S]

Lots of good suggestions already. Since not mentioned , I would place the galley on the port side of the yacht. That way when you heave too on a starboard tack (stand on vessel), it will be easier to use the galley. Several producers miss this (may see as basic) design. Good luck with the project. We all need dreams and projects

[dannc]

Why design you own boat when there are plenty of designs already out there? One might want to change the layout but the reality is that for a given size boat there are not very many alternatives to the layout. The layout needs to be to scale. Being short a small amount, even a inch, can cause a redesign.

A 30 foot boat made of steel is going to be heavy. I like steel but all of the references I have read, and I read many, is that the you really don't want to use steel in boat under 32ish feet. Why not aluminum? The cost of the hull is a small part of the overall cost of the boat.

For a small home built sail boat a wood epoxy build would be worth considering. Light, strong and could be cheap depending on local costs.

Ted Brewer, Ted Brewer Yacht Design, George Buehler, George Buehler Yacht Design Home Page, and Dudley Dix, Boat plans, yacht designs & boat kits from Dudley Dix Yacht Design & Boat Plans, have some very interesting designs from experienced boat designers that have designs for home builders. There are other designers out there as well... Comparing designs of a given size from different designers is educational.

Later,
Dan

[KISS]

Thanks for all the responses.

Some of the issues raised:

1. Berths too far forward. This was the reason I eliminated the V-berth and moved the berths back. They're still not quite at center, though, so perhaps something like the following would be better?



2. Weight of forward storage locker. That's going to be primarily for lighter items: sails, rope, bedding, pillows, clothes, etc. It may well weigh less than the wood/cushions/person which would ordinarily be there in the form of a V-berth.

3. Since no engine, how about auxiliary power for harbor entrance/exit? From what I've read, a yuloh can be pretty effective on a boat this size. Is that right? Beyond that, the dinghy will have a 2hp motor. This could be attached to the mothership fairly easily, if I installed the right kind of bracket at the transom. On a boat this size, is that going to be of any use, for the last 50yards (say) into/out-of a tricky harbor?

4. Leave out the nav station. I've been pondering this. Primary nav will be a chartplotter in the cockpit, backup a tablet. Laptop for planning purposes. Small-scale paper charts will be aboard for planning, passage-making, and in case of a lightning strike that kills the electronics. In light of that, do I really need a dedicated nav station? Maybe not. On the other hand, a nav station is ideal for eating dinner in rough seas, or reading a book, or anything else one might want to do without falling over. So, for the time being, I've left it in, mostly because I don't really need the space for anything else (not interested in interior shower).

Thanks again all

[SV Bacchus]

I think the advice given by several on this thread should be heeded. "Not drawn to scale" and simply placing a mast in the center to remind you it goes somewhere really doesn't work. By that I mean that you will probably find it will mess with your cabin table arrangement and as mentioned there will be no bulkheads for managing some of the stresses on the mast. Once the mast is properly placed your settees/berth placement may not work.

I tried to design a bedroom, bath, walk-in closet extension for my house once. I found out what looks good on paper, even halfway to scale by using graph paper, didn't work so well in real life.

If I were to hazard a guess I imagine you are really concerned about your living space and not what is under the cabin sole, correct? If I'm right then take the advice of others and use a design from the pros of the bilges, holding & fresh water tanks, battery banks, etc. and most importantly the placement of the mast. THEN you can design the living space above the cabin sole to fit your needs working around the parameters of the necessary items, properly placed, down below.

I like the idea of the berths amidships so maybe other things shift forward? Work around the mast and bulkhead, work with the placements under the cabin sole and design your personal living space to make yourself happy!

I can only speak for people I know personally and most have looked at a cabin and said "why did they do that?" Well, there was a reason. I'm sure of that..

[TrentePieds]

Bacchus is being very gentle :-)! And he's dead right!

In ship design the FIRST priority is determining what the ship, even if only a yot, needs "for her trade" and "designing those things in". Once that is done, you can begin to think about what the crew might need or even like. But those considerations are distinctly secondary to what the ship needs to be "fit for her trade"

You will realize, even if you haven't thought about it before, that superior naval architects have an ability not usually given to us mortals of holding in their minds a clear picture of the relationship in three-dimensional space of objects represented only two-dimensionally on paper - or a computer monitor.

The sine qua non in developing something like that ability is to draw TO SCALE the plan-view and two elevations of EVERY component you need. It is a laborious and time-costly activity, but is cannot be skirted!

To develop an accurate set of lines, for instance, takes forty to fifty hours of concentrated, focused intellectual activity regardless of whether the hull is seven feet long or seventy. Or, I imagine, four hundred. Off-set tables are extra :-)

TrentePieds

[KISS]

@SV Bacchus & TrentePieds

Thanks guys

To reiterate, I won't be designing the boat's shell, rigging, etc.

I'll be buying stock plans from a professional, and just modifying the interior furniture.

Steel boats in this size range don't generally have structural bulkheads, and the interior furniture does not generally play a structural role (unlike in a glass boat), thus making the interior highly modifiable by the amateur builder.

But if the possibilities for interior layout are limited by the plans (and they will inevitably be limited to some extent, e.g. by mast placement), all the more reason to know what interior I want before I start shopping for plans (i.e. I simply will not buy plans which make it impossible to install the kind of interior that I want).