Gimbled Galley? Swing beds? Whats next for comfort aboard?

[On The Water]

I have been thinking about removing all settees, "book self's" and the rest of the crap from the saloon in my next boat and having big bean bags, maybe with a bit of Velcro to hold them down.
No need to gimbals, no pendulum effect, always perfect orientation.

Bean bag futons for sleeping but that needs some thought, cant use all the storage space for comfort.

[Cheechako]

Noise maybe? Maintenance too. Even a swinging stove can get noisy sometimes, with everything gimbaled can you imagine the noise and how disconcerting it would be below!
Pinch points! I envision a lot of severed hands or fingers....
The problem is....... not all seaways are simply laying over on a tack. They are often laying over, rolling back, hanging at the top of a wave and rolling again....

[Deep Blue Blues]

Bean bag beds are a fantastic idea but they don't breath well do they? I remember being glued into one when I was little from the sweat meeting the vinyl/plastic..maybe cover them in some foam pillow type padding.

Pinch points and noise are no fun. I've seen silent ball bearing swivels so maybe the noise wouldn't be so bad.

I've also never experienced a silent boat that was moving under power of some sort.

[sailor1924]

Many boats were built with gimballed featured to accommodate heeling. The original Palawan built in the 60s had a whole galley that was gimballed rather then a stove only. I cant confirm it, but I heard that the next owner got rid of it, the original owner went all over the northern ocean using it.
My old boat built in 1924 had a main saloon table with a gimbal and heavy pendulum weight beneath it. We eventually got rid of it because the on either tack the table edge would be very high on one side and very low on the other
and we rarely would use the table for formal dining when sailing. A small gimballed shelf in the galley can be very useful as place rest things before serving.
I've always used lee cloths and pillows or a Dutch wife when heeled and like jamming myself up one the leeward hull when deeply heeled, so never tried a hammock.

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by sailor1924

Many boats were built with gimballed featured to accommodate heeling. The original Palawan built in the 60s had a whole galley that was gimballed rather then a stove only. I cant confirm it, but I heard that the next owner got rid of it, the original owner went all over the northern ocean using it.
My old boat built in 1924 had a main saloon table with a gimbal and heavy pendulum weight beneath it. We eventually got rid of it because the on either tack the table edge would be very high on one side and very low on the other
and we rarely would use the table for formal dining when sailing. A small gimballed shelf in the galley can be very useful as place rest things before serving.
I've always used lee cloths and pillows or a Dutch wife when heeled and like jamming myself up one the leeward hull when deeply heeled, so never tried a hammock.

Gimbelled shelving?! A must!

I'm googling palawan!

[Panope]

These guys gimbaled the whole boat. Mast and keel are conected, hull stays level.

Steve

[Deep Blue Blues]

Genius! Put the mast and keel on the gimbel! It looks like Swan. I wonder how it sails.

[Cheechako]

I knew a designer that built a boat with an athwartships stove that gimbaled! It was complicated.

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I knew a designer that built a boat with an athwartships stove that gimbaled! It was complicated.

What does athwartship mean?

[Red Sky]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I knew a designer that built a boat with an athwartships stove that gimbaled! It was complicated.

I did some miles on the '79 Whitbread winner "Flyer", it had a huge stove that was mounted to gimbal athwartship.

[Red Sky]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Blues

What does athwartship mean?

Side to side, as opposed to fore and aft.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Hydra

This idea is tempting but doesn't work. A gimballed device behaves like a pendulum: its center of gravity is below the pivot. Any pendulum has its own natural swinging period or frequency: when it is tilted away from rest, it swings back and forth at this period. If an external cause excites this swinging motion (e.g. when the yacht rolls) at a period close to the natural swinging period of the device, resonance results: the swinging amplitude is hugely increased.

Then, it would be necessary to build, say, a gimballed galley with such a natural period that it would be detuned from the yacht motions. It would be difficult because motions in a seaway can occur over a wide range of periods, approximately from 3 seconds to 20 seconds.

The only free-swinging device that stays almost steady while the yacht rolls is a hammock, because it is so light (even with somebody inside) that its natural period is far removed from yacht motions.

Alain

A gimballed countertop with cooktop and sinks, would have a swinging period of 0.2 to 0.4 seconds. Wave action has a periods at least 10x which is a way too far to induce resonance, anyway if the countertop isn't streamlined and gimballed with high quality ballbearings. A single quick yawing motion could make some but this can be avoided by relatively low metacenter of the top ie the CG of the top is not too far low below the gimbals. If more stability is needed a small counter pendulum under the top makes the trick.

BR Teddy

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by Red Sky

I did some miles on the '79 Whitbread winner "Flyer", it had a huge stove that was mounted to gimbal athwartship.

Wow you had a great skipper and a great boat. Who knew I was in the presence of greatness? Just read an article about them bringing one of Rietschoten's Flyers back. I think it was last year. Glad to see them taking care of it.

[Red Sky]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Blues

Wow you had a great skipper and a great boat. Who knew I was in the presence of greatness? Just read an article about them bringing one of Rietschoten's Flyers back. I think it was last year. Glad to see them taking care of it.

That's the one I was on, I understand it's being restored to the original ketch rig configuration. I wasn't aboard during the Whitbread, I was able to sail aboard on a Honolulu to Victoria, Canada leg in '09 after it had participated as the communications vessel in that years TransPac race. It was a great boat and passage.