Saloon tables that double as berths?

[libspero]

It appears to me that regardless the size of boat, saloon tables are formed almost perfectly to fit the "foot well" of the seating area that surrounds them.. so much so that it looks like you could just drop the table down and the combination of seat and table would make a great spare double berth (with the addition of some table shape foam).

Looking at pictures of various boats this ability to "drop down" the table doesn't seem to be common (or at least not immediately apparent). Is this actually a common feature and I just haven't spotted it, or is there a good reason why this isn't done?

With the saloon usually being in the very centre of the boat it strikes you as the perfect place to add an additional sleeping area. Any thoughts?

[UNCIVILIZED]

It IS a common feature on many/most boats of say 35' & under. Usually one just removes the central post which holds the table up, & then lowers it onto cleats built into the sides of the footwell around the dinette. And even if it's not a feature that the boat comes with, if you're even a barely passable carpenter, it's an easy thing to retrofit.

[libspero]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

It IS a common feature on many/most boats of say 35' & under. Usually one just removes the central post which holds the table up, & then lowers it onto cleats built into the sides of the footwell around the dinette.

Ok, many thanks.

Some of them must have clever mechanisms to achieve this, I presumed they would have something like a post/tube and peg arrangement. The ones I've seen seem to be have wooden legs or permenant looking construction.

[four winds]

Pearson 323 dinette table rides a pole. Can be pinned at ceiling, table, and berth levels.

Good feature to me.

[Paul Kelly]

Saloon tables that double as births? I never knew they could reproduce. Clever, the designer who managed that.

I prefer to stick to berths myself.

[alexanick]

My Cal 29 has a folding table and a center post. The table opens up to double in size and fits exactly in the seating well when it is dropped. The boat came with an extra, shorter post. When you need to have another bunk, you switch posts and now the table comes down to the same level as the seats. We also have a cushion to go on it that now makes it one big bed.

[PDelay]

Gozzards have swinging bench seats that come together on top of the center table. It makes a perfect queen size bed right in the salon.

[libspero]

Originally Posted by Paul Kelly

Saloon tables that double as births? I never knew they could reproduce. Clever, the designer who managed that.

I prefer to stick to berths myself.

Yep, that's a suitably embarrassing gaff now engrained forever in the sands of internet.

I'm going to blame autocorrect..

[TrentePieds]

It is indeed very common in boats too small to sleep more than two persons without this feature.

No clever mechanisms are required, just sockets on the outboatd ceiling that take "hooks" (actually plates) mounted on the underside of the outboard end of the table. These "hooks" hold the table in position fore'n'aft and thwartships when the table is up in normal position, the weight of the table being taken on the inboard end by a leg hinged to the underside of it. When down, the table lies on "cleats" (strips of wood) on the table side of the settees. Simply lift the table and drop it into the particular position you want. The "squabs" (cushions for the backrest are dimensioned to just fill the table top, thus affording a complete matress when the dinette is in "bed" mode. TrentePieds' setup if 6'6" x 4' when in "bed" mode, basically the size of a shoreside "long double".

But there is an old rule for small boats, say <30Ft, "Sleep two, seat four, drink six" and crowding a 30 footer with four people by relying on a "convertible" dinette is not really a satisfactory arrangement if you wish to remain civilized. The reason is that a "double" is only useful while moored. When underway and heeled, let alone rolling with the seas, sleeping on such an arrangement is downright dangerous, and no sensible skipper would countenance it.

The real merit of this arrangement is not in its convertibility, which should considered an "emergency" feature only. The merit is in getting people out of the fore'n'aft gangway when the boat is being worked and permitting unimpeded passage through the length of the boat even with people using the table. That luxury is not available if the table is mounted on the centreline as a narrow plank having dropleaves to make it useful.

With the "offset" dinette, access to the stowage in the dinette seats is, admittedly, a little more difficult, but the additional difficulty is mitigated by having multiple seat cushions, each no wider than a man's bum, and an access hatch under each cushion. This small additional difficulty in getting to the stowage is richly recompensed by getting idle bodies out of the centre of the fore'n'aft passage.

TrentePieds

[TrentePieds]

I used to get my students' instant attention by telling them off: "You and you - you are up forward. You and you, you are in the dinette, and I will sleep in the afterbirth" Meaning the quarter-berth, of course :-)

TP

[JFN]

The Saloon table in my Contessa 32 can be raised or lowered on a two metal poles one of which slides inside the other. There is a simple knob which is tightened to keep the table up and loosened to drop the table down. There is a cushion that fits perfectly making a very comfortable and pretty wide bunk. Works great and can be switched from table to bunk in about two minutes.

[rwidman]

My table can be lowered to the level of the lounge so by adding two cushions it becomes a double bed (berth). The problem is finding an out of the way place to store the cushions when not in use (99% of the time). We just store them at home in a spare room and don't invite people to overnight on our boat.

In eight years we've had two overnight guests (not at the same time) so they just slept on the lounge.


The table mounts to the deck with two standard adjustable seat pedestals.

[indiana_ct]

I have such an arrangement in both my sailing yachts. The first was a pain, because it provided the only dry usable berth for someone over 5ft 2 and was right in the middle of the boat. The one I have now is off to one side and not the main sleeping berth. It just provides extra options over amd above the forepeak or quarter berth. It's still really only a 2 person boat.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by libspero

Looking at pictures of various boats this ability to "drop down" the table doesn't seem to be common (or at least not immediately apparent).

On the contrary, it's so common it's the norm, not the exception. Some boats have an electric push button option to lower the salon table. The Bavaria Vision boats take that a step further, and the cockpit table can also lower to form another berth outside.

Island Packet Yachts are one of the few that don't convert this way - instead their salon tables fold up against the bulkhead (I don't believe you can use that table as a berth, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

[Dave22q]

Grampian 25. It's been years but as I recall the table dropped and after placing a cushion I had a nice double bed.