Comfortable Sleepng . . . Bow or Stern ?

[rlstout]

My wife and I can't agree on a boat to buy. She wants the Beneteau Oceanis 50 and I want the Jeanneau DS50. Jeanneau has a 3 cabin layout with a Captains cabin in the stern. Beneteau does not. I think a cabin in the stern will be more comfortable and more stable than a cabin in the bow. Can anyone help us resolve this dilemma?

[Joli]

You will have better ventilation in the bow but the anchor chain can be noisy. With a 50 footer motion won't be much of and issue.

[Zanshin]

I have the 49DS with the master cabin forward, and used to have the 43DS where I tended to sleep aft. On boats with a sugar scoop you can get wave slap on the transom, particularly when at a dock. I have come to really like the forward cabin arrangement but the big forward bed is useless when underway at sea.
I spend most of my time at anchor in the Caribbean and find that I turn on my fan when sleeping in the forward cabin despite having 2 dorades that feed fresh air into it. The aft cabin, with 2 side and 2 upper hatches plus the doors to the main cabin or the aft head, gets more ventilation.

I have been playing with the idea of the 57 and would most certainly choose the aft main cabin, mainly because that way I could convert the forepeak to a workroom and access it from inside the boat.

The stern main cabin is most likely going to be larger than one forward - but with my J49DS I still have a huge double-bed but no walking room to the sides of the bed.

p.s. The anchor chain noise isn't bothersome since you have a bulkhead and some distance to the windlass or snubbing point. The Jeanneaus tend to sail quite a bit at anchor in the wind but it isn't excessive and I sleep a deeper sleep forward where I know the feel of the motion than aft where all the "action" is 50 feet away...

[PamlicoTraveler]

I agree...at dock with AC on the stern is fine, but when it's 95 degrees at anchor you'd rather be up front and open the hatch.

[Troubadour52993]

I agree with the ventilation forward. Have always taken a forward cabin when I was chartering, and the centerline forward berth in the Beneteau is our home now. Our aft cabin hatch is behind the dodger and doesn't see nearly as much breeze. The forward cabin is closest to the mast/center of gravity and doesn't move too much. The aft cabin can be noisy in an anchorage when the fishing boats and ferrys go by and their wakes slap the stern.

Joli: Use a snubber on the anchor chain and you don't hear it at all!

[donradcliffe]

There is definitely less motion in the stern than the bow--a bow berth is essentially unusable at sea.

Depending on the design, a stern berth may not have any through-ventilation, and you will need a fan in the tropics.

If the stern sections are flat with a reverse transom, the stern may slap in the waves if the wind goes against the tide and the boat turns stern into the wind.

Every boat is a compromise.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Troubadour52993

..........Use a snubber on the anchor chain and you don't hear it at all!

We sleep forward despite having a large aft cabin, mainly for the increased ventilation. We use a snubber not only to quiet the chain, but to keep the shock load off the windlass. I also lift an added few inches of the slack chain just forward of my bow roller with a small line. This further quiets any noise from the chain rubbing on the snubber line.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Aft cabin for us, very little motion, quiet and ventilation is excessive at times where we have to close the forward big hatch and use the smaller hatches forward and open the aft cabin hatch so it pulls the air thru the boat..

[nautical62]

During the winter, I prefer the aft stateroom on my Beneteau since it has more room, a bit less motion and less anchor noise. In the summer, I prefer the froward berth due to the increased ventilation.

[barnakiel]

Hate sleeping fwd - too much movement.

Best place midships with the head facing the nav table. Max comfort there.

b.

[MarkJ]

Sailing/passagemaking we sleep aft so the off watch person is close to the cockpit. In port/anchorage we sleep forward.

There are Beneteau configurations that give both a large aft cabin and large forward cabin. The 46 is a cracker for it I think the 50 might have similar. The 523 had the best 2 cabin version in the world.



Mark

[cfarrar]

We put on our snubber then use bungees to silence the slack section of chain.

[rusky]

We sleep aft. Aft can have more rolling if wind against tide but otherwise is 'calmer'.

My snub line is shackled outside the bow roller and so has zero rubbing movement so zero snub line noise and no chafe.

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. Aft cabin here. Good ventilation with large hatch overhead. Excellent sea berths on each tack. Cheers.

[Sandero]

Always aft and especially because it's close to nav station and cockpit when underway.