Looking for Center Cockpit 40-50 ft Sloop or Cutter Rigged

[s/v Jedi]

SeaHunter & SeaDuction

You're both onto something. Everybody thinks I am anti CC just because I am pro AC and it is assumed on CF that everybody is in one camp or the other haha.

Look at this photo:

There are actually two cockpits but the CC is called pilothouse because of the house put over it. The photo is of Raven, a sistership of Jedi, but sloop rigged, making this clearly visible without the mizzen blocking the view.

The big difference is that this CC is just as low as the AC. Underneath the footwell are the freezer and fridges, because the engineroom is under the AC. And behind the AC there is as much aft deck as some CCs have.

We have a big aft cabin under the bridge deck that is between the two cockpits. It is big and luxurious enough to be called the VIP cabin. This shows that there are many different options to create comfortable cabins on boats.

Most of he trouble with choosing AC vs CC for cabins comes from the design guidelines that state how many beds there must be. More is better. The Sundeer design does not follow that principle and two possible cabins were replaced by engine room and forward sail storage, resulting in 3 cabins that can sleep 6 on a 64' boat. I have seen 40' boats that can sleep 8. The "market" wants more cabins, no engine rooms.

ciao!
Nick.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Most of he trouble with choosing AC vs CC for cabins comes from the design guidelines that state how many beds there must be. More is better. The Sundeer design does not follow that principle and two possible cabins were replaced by engine room and forward sail storage, resulting in 3 cabins that can sleep 6 on a 64' boat. I have seen 40' boats that can sleep 8. The "market" wants more cabins, no engine rooms.

ciao!
Nick.

Carp. Now you have me wading in, again, Nick! Our 47 has only 2 cabins. Our guest cabin has a queen bed, it's own settee, and a separate head and shower - the shower is tiled. Obviously, guests love it.

[Seahunter]

I really don't want more than 4 on our boat, (even if our boat was bigger). We can sleep 8, 6 is better, 4 is comfortable, 2 is best. We have 2 cabins with queens and 2 heads, plus the salon and the CC. The closest boat to ours (an IP460) which has 3 cabins in closed to the same length. What can I say, we like the room our CC offers.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by bstreep

Carp. Now you have me wading in, again, Nick! Our 47 has only 2 cabins. Our guest cabin has a queen bed, it's own settee, and a separate head and shower - the shower is tiled. Obviously, guests love it.

Okay, so here we have an example at 47'. I have never been on a Macintosh 47; is there a website with good photo's?

thanks,
Nick.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Okay, so here we have an example at 47'. I have never been on a Macintosh 47; is there a website with good photo's?

thanks,
Nick.

Yes. They only built 16. Ours was one of the last, and they newer ones were a bit different than the originals, as production progressed. This is actually our boat, and a layout is included:

MACINTOSH 47 sailboat on sailboatdata.com

This is our owner's website: McIntosh 47 Yachts - Fast cruising yachts for discerning owners

Pictures of our boat are 11-19 and 36-40.

Our boat tips the scales closer to 40,000 lbs...

[s/v Jedi]

Yes, the layout is very similar to our boat. Our interior is under 40', the rest is engine room and sail locker.

ciao!
Nick.

[bstreep]

Yes, Nick, every time I see your boat, I think "I'd love a ride on that thing!". I've looked it up more than once.

[joemac4sail]

Can I throw in my tuppence worth, an Amel Santorin 46 cc ketch or sloop, it has 4 water tight and fills all the requirements. It has a bow thruster as standard, so parking is easy. It's one of only a few boats that are designed for a couple. Our 1992 Santorin

[joemac4sail]

Sorry sent to soon. Our boat is a 92 Santorin if I had a choice of a new boat it would be a Amel super maramu another centre cockpit.
Regards Joe

[50gulfstar]

Don`t forget the Irwin 43,the perfect cruising boat for coastal and Island cruising.
Richard

[Capt Phil]

If you're looking for a 'blast from the past', a well maintained Transpac 49 might be worth a look. We lived aboard one for 5 years cruised the left coast, spent a year in Mexico and generally enjoyed ourselves. Very sound CC but was a ketch rig which we found easy to double hand even in a blow. I singlehanded her around the Sea of Cortez while my wife was away due to a death in the family and had no problems but didn't run into any really bad weather alone. She made a great retirement platform until health forced us in to a (gasp) powerboat. Capt Phil

[BentP]

We are currently considering an Amel Mango, for lice-aboard and bluewater cruising. My only concern is the position of the helm, which is on most other Amels a bit special.

Does anyone have any experience in sailing an Amel? Is the (not-so-good) viewing from the helm an issue when cruising?

And what is it with the special Amel type spinaker-poles. I am told that there is a special head-sail to be used instead of a spinaker, I think it sounded a litle strange. Can anyone explain?

And last, have you heard of any particular osmosis-problems with Amels?


Regards

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by BentP

We are currently considering an Amel Mango, for lice-aboard and bluewater cruising. My only concern is the position of the helm, which is on most other Amels a bit special.

I hope that was a typo

[BentP]

You guessed it...

C and V are right beside each other on this stupid keypad :0)

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by CabezonBD

Two main reasons......1) They tend to have larger aft master staterooms. I have seen the master stateroom in the bow and it is no fun in big water. 2) I fish, I am very passionate about fishing and a center cockpit usually has a great after deck for fishing. I have fished from an aft cockpit, it is do able, but I look at the center cockpits with nice stern area platforms that are ideal to fight and land fish.


Now to be honest.....I have never sailed or fished a center cockpit, but I have the vision.

What are some of the down sides of a center cockpit? I would think that they have more windage, not sure what the other trade offs are though.

For typical coastal cruising use (which is what most cruisers actually do...I think the perception of the need for a true "blue water" boat for typical cruising use is WAY over estimated), I think it is hard to beat a center cockpit. Not only do you get a nice aft cabin, but you get lots of usable aft deckspace for fishing, sunning, hanging-out, happy hour with a few guests -- most cruisers do a lot of more of this than they do true offshore work (being out of sight of land for 24 hours is not really "offshore" -- this term is way overused).

Also, engine room access is much better...another place you will be spending a lot of time.

As pointed out, the steering is more complex. And, emergency tiller extension access is generally poor. So, it would be worthwhile to improve upon this a bit -- like with a totally independent auto-helm drive system.

I have done a lot of fishing from both center cockpit monos and from aft cockpit monos. Way better with that aft deck space, more room to play the fish, land the fish, clean it, and cook it (all the above are much more inconvenient on a typical mid-sized aft-cockpit mono).

...almost as good as fishing from a cat!