Trampoline Vs. Solid Foredeck

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Eleven

Ladies of a certain age have an in built aversion to a tramp. Is that a plus?

After going for over a week having to make all kinds of concessions to a guest that (let's just say she was well fed) I love having tramps.
They serve as a repellent!

My wife and I now have a firm rule on the boat. NO FAT CHICKS!

Steve B.

[schoonerdog]

trampolines certainly can be fun

[djeeke]

I'm kind of asking myself the same question...
Solid foredeck or Trampoline...

In the boat size and age I'm looking at this seems to go with salon headroom or not. The ones with trampolines don't have headroom in the salon, some of the boats with solid foredeck do have standing headroom in the salon...

I agree, a solid foredeck is heavier but if the boat is constructed this way, what are the other drawbacks to it?
As a positive, I guess it also leaves room for a proper anchor windlass, no idea where I would fit this on a small cat with a trampoline...

Is the solid foredeck really so bad?
Does anybody know (first hand) of accidents due to solid foredecks ?
Has anybody ever attempted to cut-out his foredeck and install a trampoline to gain weight? (sounds like a big job to me, again what would be the benefits ???)

As for installing chairs on the foredeck, just as easy lie in the trampoline and not to worry about carrying chairs all over the boat

Djeeke

[Ram]

A solid deck gives more room,this is for sure, and if your not in the really bad weather its not going to matter- How often are you going out in 20'+ seas? And I would not cut the deck out for a tramp- no way! Some of the big Prouts have have these decks and have went around the world many times!

[Southern Star]

Djeeke, cutting out the foredeck of a boat designed and built to have one would be a decidedly bad idea: one can virtually guarantee that the remaining bridgedeck would not be strong enough to resist racking and ultimately, damage. Furthermore, you can guarantee that the bows would not be designed or built with sufficient strength to support the aluminum crossmember/dolphin striker necessary to support the forestay. In short, don't even think about it.

Really, in the price range and size that you are considering, I wouldn't let the presence or absence of a solid foredeck be a determining factor. As to mounting a windlass, I have separate bow rollers/windlasses on each bow rather than a single one foreward of the saloon - so yes, there are other places to mount a windlass, regardless of whether you have a solid foredeck.

Brad

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Tropic Cat

. Now...If I can just find a way to build in a refer/cooler....

Rick I saw a boat like yours in the EU that the fellow built 2 large coolers where the front windows were -no windows but lots of coolers

[Captain Bill]

Kanter states that solid foredecks are only found on "narrow" cats (<50% beam/length) because on standard (50%) or wide Cats (>50%) it puts too much weight in the bows and causes excessive pitching motion and problems with burying the bow. Having a narrow cat with a solid bridgedeck I can attest to issues with bridgedeck slamming under certain conditions. Interestingly, once in a steep following sea, I dug the bows in rather deeply. To my surprise rather than digging in, when the water hit the large angled flat area between my bows it lifted the bows rather than making them dig in. It seems that the large planing surface and increased bouyancy lifting the bows was much greater than the additional weight causing them to dig in.

[djeeke]

ooops

I would not consider cutting up a cat, just wondering what would be the advantages
Indeed you would lose a lot of the structural strength built in as that deck is supposed to be there

Bill that is an interesting remark...
Mi idea would be that submerging the solid foredeck would keep the whole bow under as a relatively big mass of water would be above the foredeck.
But you are right, it also makes sense that there is a lot more bouyancy as the foredeck itself has its own bouyancy too...
Hence the bow would even raise out of the water quicker than a boat with a trampoline...
(which might not be digging in at all as there is less weight...)

I love this discussion and Bill's remark will hopefully attract some more reactions !!!

[Cheechako]

Cats have plenty of room for louging aft. You can lay down on a tramp and watch the stars....................

[djeeke]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Cats have plenty of room for louging aft. You can lay down on a tramp and watch the stars....................

Well, you can't lay on that tramp if the cat does not have a tramp...
And, as mentioned, in my humble budget a cat with a tramp will not have standing headroom in the salon...

[s/v Jedi]

I have seen many cats arriving in Curacao from Aruba, that had their tramps hanging like a rag because the force from the slamming seas just took it off, incl mounting hardware. Many of these cats were big, like Voyage 440's.

Imagine what it would have been like with a solid deck instead of trampoline....

cheers,
Nick.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I have seen many cats arriving in Curacao from Aruba, that had their tramps hanging like a rag because the force from the slamming seas just took it off, incl mounting hardware. Many of these cats were big, like Voyage 440's.

Imagine what it would have been like with a solid deck instead of trampoline....

cheers,
Nick.

Ive seen those type of tramps that do not let much water through, and wile they are nice to lay on there not much good if you bury the bow- I like the fish net type with 2-3 inch holes. no amount of water is going to tear these kind up unless they are rotten

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Ram

Ive seen those type of tramps that do not let much water through, and wile they are nice to lay on there not much good if you bury the bow- I like the fish net type with 2-3 inch holes. no amount of water is going to tear these kind up unless they are rotten

The tramps weren't torn... they were in one piece mostly. They came off incl. the mounting hardware, both the slider-based and lotsa-pad-eye based hardware. But the tramps were all that special tramp-material, never fishing-nets...

cheers,
Nick.

[djeeke]

So a boat with a solid foredeck has less hardware that can break (or needs maintenance,replacement, ...).
which is a plus for them...

I think they will be solid enough, maybe not fun in such weather but since a bunch of them has circumnavigated they should be able to survive this kind of sea... I have not read anything about one breaking apart yet...

[Ram]

Originally Posted by djeeke

So a boat with a solid foredeck has less hardware that can break (or needs maintenance,replacement, ...).
which is a plus for them...

I think they will be solid enough, maybe not fun in such weather but since a bunch of them has circumnavigated they should be able to survive this kind of sea... I have not read anything about one breaking apart yet...

I dont think any of them are going to break apart- the worst that I see happening is a pitch pole and thats not going to be fun- I think it depends on who's sailing the boat and how strong the storm is-if a pitch pole would happen