Gimbled Galley? Swing beds? Whats next for comfort aboard?

[Deep Blue Blues]

Having pounded thousands of monohull layouts into my brain over the last six months, it's needless to say, I've had a few ideas.

Seems to me, with all the ultra lightweight materials being used to make sailing better being added, theyre are all being used on the outside of the boats.

With rounded hulls we should be designing round rolling beds, gimbled galleys and even swinging cabins. They take up the exact same space but they roll with the waves.

Why not have a platform with the stove mounted on it so the entire cooking station swings. Would keep the stove from swinging into a braced knee for sure.

Why don't they put swings on boats? Hang it where the salon table is to allow it to swing in all directions? I'd hang all the beds instead of building bases and cabinets for them. Hammocks are being ignored on sailboats and I have no idea why.

Do you?

[Hydra]

This idea is tempting but doesn't work. A gimballed device behaves like a pendulum: its center of gravity is below the pivot. Any pendulum has its own natural swinging period or frequency: when it is tilted away from rest, it swings back and forth at this period. If an external cause excites this swinging motion (e.g. when the yacht rolls) at a period close to the natural swinging period of the device, resonance results: the swinging amplitude is hugely increased.

Then, it would be necessary to build, say, a gimballed galley with such a natural period that it would be detuned from the yacht motions. It would be difficult because motions in a seaway can occur over a wide range of periods, approximately from 3 seconds to 20 seconds.

The only free-swinging device that stays almost steady while the yacht rolls is a hammock, because it is so light (even with somebody inside) that its natural period is far removed from yacht motions.

Alain

[Don C L]

I saw a boat with a gimballed table long ago... haven't seen one lately, but I haven't been looking for them. There just isn't a lot of room inside a boat to allow for all that stuff swinging... and it is not such a good idea to have really heavy things swinging around inside a boat. Ideally a boat would rotate on one axis, and all gimballed items would be hung from that same axis, at a constant frequency, but in a real ocean that is hard to find.

[Deep Blue Blues]

Thanks Again. I thought a gimbled galley would remove some of the motion, the side to side swing. While a suspended mid salon swing would remove all but the up and down motion. Might be good if you haven't slept in a day or two because of rough seas.

I'm definitely looking into hammocks onboard.

[nauticalnomad]

Imagine the whole inner boat on a gimble for and aft.. And like a 25mm (inch) clearance between inner and outer hull and it swings stb to port etc. But then it would need like a gyroscope type setup to compensate fore and aft motion.. End result would be steadyness...

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I saw a boat with a gimballed table long ago... haven't seen one lately, but I haven't been looking for them. There just isn't a lot of room inside a boat to allow for all that stuff swinging... and it is not such a good idea to have really heavy things swinging around inside a boat. Ideally a boat would rotate on one axis, and all gimballed items would be hung from that same axis, at a constant frequency, but in a real ocean that is hard to find.

Heavy objects swinging around made me think gimbled cabin. Make the entire room swing so it basically sits still while the boat rolls around it. Carbon fiber could make this happen without increasing weight drastically.

It would be cool to make gimbled sleeping capsules that eliminated front to back rocking. And then mount them on tracks that kept them level side to side. You could eliminate all the rocking motions except the rising and falling.

Call it the stay bed. Cause all the moving allows it to stay still. None of it moves till you're in it too, for safety.

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by nauticalnomad

Imagine the whole inner boat on a gimble for and aft.. And like a 25mm (inch) clearance between inner and outer hull and it swings stb to port etc. But then it would need like a gyroscope type setup to compensate fore and aft motion.. End result would be steadyness...

Now we're talking.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Blues

Call it the stay bed. Cause all the moving allows it to stay still. None of it moves till you're in it too, for safety.

Quick, copyright it NOW!!!!

[Tayana42]

Best comfort feature on a boat is a nice cushy wife!


S/V B'Shert

[Deep Blue Blues]

It's really the forward to aft rocking that moves the most. You'd have to have smaller cabins within the hull to eliminate that motion. Gimbelled on port and starboard allowing each room to rise and fall. Navigating the walk ways between rooms would prove tricky.

But honestly with all the incredible joinery the manufacturers use nowadays, it's not so far fetched.

As a whole with immediate applications, we should build the inner cabins separately from the hull so the entire cabin stays level from port to starboard all the time. Build on tracks or gimbel the ends at the stern and bow.

Think of thousand Mile passages with steady winds coming from one direction the entire trip. You'd be crooked for days. Or you could be level.

Let's call somebody.

[nauticalnomad]

The Imoca 60s have a floating bed inside that moves depending on the tack they are on.. The whole workstation shifts port to starboard..

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by nauticalnomad

The Imoca 60s have a floating bed inside that moves depending on the tack they are on.. The whole workstation shifts port to starboard..

They beat me to it...

[ahun]

There were trials back at the age of the tall ships on swinging cabin floors for passangers to eliminate seasickness, apparently they had adverse effect.

Boats, boffins and bowlines

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Blues

Hammocks are being ignored on sailboats and I have no idea why.

Do you?

Yep. On our old mono I strung a hammock from our forestay to the mast. The wake from a passing gamefishing boat got us rolling nicely.

The hammock, with me in it, was swinging wildly nearly going 360 degrees. For a couple of minutes I thought I was going to be thrown out and impaled on a lifeline stanchion at any moment.

[Deep Blue Blues]

So too much swing is a bad thing...cruising cat. Noted. Ty One could attach bungee cords to the swinging sides to slow the swinging or from the bottom to the deck. Ohhhhh Call it the Bungee bed!

And I'm glad they considered swinging deck floors, Ahun, but that's not exactly like walls and ceiling swinging too.

We could slow the swinging down to just make the cabin level. That would be safer and slower and it just naturally settles level. Hydraulics can be of use here.