Convertible Quarter Berth <--> Nav Station

[Foswick]

On our new boat, we do not currently have a dedicated nav station. There is sort of a "nav area" at the forward end of the starboard quarter berth (see picture). And some instruments like the radar are actually in the cockpit (not sure why).

We will rarely, if ever, use that quarter berth for a live body. As on most boats of this configuration, it will be storage. But, we want to retain the ability to convert it to a sleeping berth, should we end up with more than four people on board.

We want the forward end of the berth to be a proper nav station. Might even figure out a way to put a little fold-out seat there. I'm trying to think of clever ways to make this space highly useful as a nav station, including related storage, but also such that it can be converted to sleeping in a few minutes.

It wouldn't be hard to simply make a removable table/cabinet. But, then that has to be stored somewhere when removed. The obvious solution is to make something that folds up.

I'm wondering if anyone has examples of someone having done something similar that might serve as inspiration.

Parenthetically, I actually considered putting the nav station on a track and just sliding it all the way to the aft end of the berth, when not wanted. That introduces its own set of challenges, but it ultimately make the berth only useful for a rather short person.

[pdx_sailing]

I don't see an attachment. What is the boat?
have you looked at the Lagun table system? https://www.lagunusa.com/?gad_source...xoClSkQAvD_BwE

[Foswick]

Woops.

[Foswick]

That Laguna system is pretty slick. Not the aesthetic we are going for, but maybe in black with a nice teak tabletop. Pretty clever design.

Thanks!

[HippieTye]

my Newport 30 has the nav station just outside the quarter birth, the thing that makes it efficient is the Nav table slides into the ceiling of the quarter birth when not in use., so sitting at nav station, you face the stern. oh, and the nav station seat is a cushion that attaches to the top of a narrow set of 3 drawers

[Foswick]

I was having a hard time picturing it, so I did some digging and found a YouTube video of just that boat. I really like the flexibility and economy of space that approach brings.

I don't think I could do exactly that, but I might be able to do a version of it.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Foswick

On our new boat, we do not currently have a dedicated nav station. There is sort of a "nav area" at the forward end of the starboard quarter berth (see picture). And some instruments like the radar are actually in the cockpit (not sure why).

Radar is an instrument useful in the cockpit and useless buried down below somewhere. Assuming you run the boat from the cockpit...

Is your cockpit covered? Dodger, bimini, whatever? If so, perhaps you can build your primary nav station there?

-Chris

[Foswick]

Originally Posted by ranger58sb

Radar is an instrument useful in the cockpit and useless buried down below somewhere. Assuming you run the boat from the cockpit...

There is a secondary chartplotter at the binnacle/helm, which is wired to support a radar overlay. So, my issue is more in where the radar is located in the cockpit. It is too far from the helm to be useful as a cockpit aid, and is redundant in the cockpit anyway.

[NorthCoastJoe]

If I remember right some early Macgregor boats ( pre motorboat types 1980's ) had a foldable nav station on the port aft side.

[Iron E]

I believe you said you had the Fuji 32. There's a member here that has the same boat, and he used to have a website/blog about his upgrades.
I believe he put the Navigation station behind his fold-up salon table. If you have the same table, you can put your navigation station in there. using it when the table is down.

Edit: There's also a YouTube video of an Alden Mistral 36 winning the Marion Bermuda race that had a similar setup as yours.
I haven't seen the video in a while, but I believe they had a sliding board that slid back and stowed back into the quarter birth and would slide out and lock when they needed the table.

[Iron E]

I found it, this is how it works.
When you need the table it slides out and locks on a catch. It has rails/fiddles it rides on inside the quarter birth.