What boat design works for a VERY tall person

[levi41]

Hi,

I just introduced myself in another thread and after being welcomed by 2 kind people I realized the first thing I want to ask the forums.

To put it shortly, in 5 years my son and I are intending to become liveaboard sailing enthusiasts. 5 years later +- we intend to sail off into the sunset.

So, the thing that has made me the most concerned about when it comes time to select our first boat is, my son stands 6'8" tall. Is there any type of sailboat or design characteristic in a boat we should be looking for that will accomodate his height? Any designs to steer away from?

I liked the idea of the smaller range in sizes but his height is steering me towards something larger than minimum size. What works?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by levi41

in 5 years my son and I are intending to become liveaboard sailing enthusiasts. 5 years later +- we intend to sail off into the sunset.

my son stands 6'8" tall. .

Dad and son will still be co-habitating in 10 years??

But, really, the selffish part of me (and thats a pretty big slab of my psychy) says: buy a boat you fit in, and buy a small piece of sticky foam for your son's forehead...


Mark

[Seeratlas]

You're going to have to look around. Unfortunately, its going to take a larger boat, I think you'll be looking at 40 feet or better, if not closer to 50, further, look for boats with a lot of freeboard, and tall doghouses. 6'8 is a tall order. I'm 6'4 and there are a lot of boats I have to be careful in. Powerboats tend to have more headroom, and you might look at the cats. A lot of those are built to emulate Condo proportions good luck

seer

[delmarrey]

That's one of the down falls of being tall. With sailboats, most are built for performance. Short free board and low cabins is what helps to reduce windage, allowing for more up wind performance.

What you may want to follow are the full keel or semi full keel boats. They'll have a deeper bilge which adds more head room (down the center).

You would most likely have to stay over 40' or go to power or a Catamaran as mentioned above. Actually I'd start at 45'. but it will take two people to operate, generally.

[Southern Star]

Most cats will give you 6'8" headroom in the hulls, but generally less in the bridgedeck cabin. You will likely be stuck with a compromise unless going to a very large yacht indeed. If looking at a smaller Cat, ensure that it has a 'galley down' arrangement and then he will be forced to duck only in moving between hulls or to the seating or navigation areas.

Brad

[Hud3]

Island Packets have pretty generous head room, but not to accomodate a full 6'8". My 380 has 6'5" head room, for example. You can download sales brochures and specs for all the models that are no longer in production at Island Packet Yachts

[jjorg]

The Catalina 387 has very generous headroom.

[Joli]

To get that kind of head room you are proabably going to have to buy a fairly large boat. I'm 6'4" and can't stand straight in many boats.

[Hubec]

I'm 6'3" and I was VERY lucky to find the perfect boat for me, at Catalina 350. The odd thing about this boat is that while it's the exact right size for me, it'd actually be TOO tall for most people. People of average height can't see the horizon through any of the windows (they just see blue sky) while I have a panorama of all the boats in the harbour. Plus there are other downsides that come with plenty of headroom including high freeboard and/or cabin tops.

This illustrates why most boats are engineered to fit the average person. While you might think that large boats will give you more headroom, it doesn't work out that way for the REALLY tall. At the 38 or 40 foot mark boat headroom starts leveling out.

Some boats have an area of raised cabin just forward of the companion way. The idea is to give an impression of spaciousness and to allow some very large windows. In this relatively small area you may get a lot of headroom, but your son will be back to crouching for the rest of the boat.

On a side note; the fact that you're planing 10 years into the future strikes me as ...hmm, how to put this diplomatically... odd? Buy what works for YOU now. Of course it's always a good idea to keep an eye to the future, but 10 years worth of life is a tough thing to plan. In fact it'd strike me as a little tragic if you were able to accurately chart out your life that far in advance.

[stevelxls]

What boat design works for a VERY tall person?

... got to be one with a BIG open cockpit and warm waterproofs

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by stevelxls

What boat design works for a VERY tall person?... got to be one with a BIG open cockpit and warm waterproofs

Who was it who opined that: “anyone who feels the need to stand upright on a sailboat, may go on deck” ?

[David M]

Tall ships...what else? Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

[Pblais]

I liked the idea of the smaller range in sizes but his height is steering me toward something larger than minimum size. What works?

Headroom is second to a sea berth. You can bend over or sit down but you need full room when you sleep. If you buy new many boat builders can make some adjustments. We had a tall person here a while back that looked at a lot of boats and found Valiants and Caliber had decent head room. That does not include everyplace in the boat however. Check the cockpit too. Many booms may not have that much headroom. A boom to the top of the head (seriously) can kill you.

[petehallett]

I'm in the same boat, nearly -- at 6'6"

- if you have the coin, the Catalina 38 made after '96 or so has inches over my 6'6" head

I'm still looking, since I cannot afford that.

P

[Kanani]

My Passport 45 had 6'8" headroom. I am 6'4" and it was good for me. I would think that a 6'8" person would need at least 6'10" headroom.

More important than headroom is bunk room IMO. Our aft-cabin bunk was 7' long and 9' wide foreward of the bunk and 4'6" at the transom.