What Do Women Want ?

[Lady Circumnavi]

Here are some "wants" that may be worth considering. Does she want to sail with you? Does she want to share some of the responsibilities? Does she want to be an active participant in this part of your life? If "No" is the answer, you may never be able to make her happy on board regardless of how big or well equipped your boat. On a more positive note, she may be trying to tell you that she already has everything she wants.

[Kimarah]

Things I really like about the new boat (in no particular order):

- Light, bright interior
- No external teak (pretty, but too much work)
- Workshop with lots of storage space for tools (so the tools can go away after the project is done - I really like this)
- Terrific engine room/engine access (much less stress)
- 3 (!) Comfy beds that are easy to get into
- Smallish mainsail that I can put up/put away
- Clear side decks with bulwarks
- Big, double sink in galley
- Good counter space
- Anchor washdown
- Electric windlass
- Ridiculous amounts of storage space
- Big water tanks
- Propane grill, oven and stove
- XM radio with inside and outside speakers
- Hard dodger
- Swim platform
- Dinghy davits/RIB with motor
- Solar panels (so cool!)
- Reasonably shallow draft
- Fridge/freezer
- (Definitely not least) Sails well

Things I wish it had (most of these are current/future projects):

- Bigger holding tank
- Radar/AIS
- Masthead wind instruments
- LED lights
- Freezer that I could get ice cubes out of without moving things in the fridge
- Wind generator
- Better autopilot
- Full cockpit enclosures, both net and solid
- More comfortable helm seat
- Rub rail

Well, you asked.:-)

[rustypirate]

There are two seperate instances that I remember when my parents were outfitting their boat.

First thing is to picture my mother, a 5' 2" middle aged housewife in the late 1970s.

I know that you specifically asked for no galley references, but take this story beyone just the galley and apply it to any area of the boat....

"When the builder and my parents discussed the stove for the galley of the boat, my mother went into the kitchen ane brought out her three largest pots/pans.

She said "I want to be able to use all of these at the same time."

The builder looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head, but she just stuck her hands on her hips and stared right back at him.
In the end, they managed to find a marine stove that would accomodate all three pots at the same time, and it worked out for the best because as you all know when at sea, the gimballed stove is where you put anything that you don't want to spill, or fall over."

The second story I recall revolved around our dinghy.

"We started out with a pretty standard inflatable with a wood partition floor, and a 4 hp outboard. We were living aboard at a mooring in Hoing Kong, and it was Mom's duty to ferry everyone ashore for work or school. On one particularly windy day after making her dinghy rounds, she was going ashore and trying to exit the dink when she slipped falling into the water.
She was unable to climb back into the inflatable over the tubes, and with the outboard raised, the wind just carried the boat away from shore in an instant. Luckily she managed to drift across the bay and into the opposite shore without more than a scrape and a scare.
Less than a month later we had a new aluminum dink with a 6hp outboard that was much easier to get into and out of."

The lessons here are that sometimes they just want some of the same comforts that they have come to expect, and that they are not allways able to handle situations that we are and we should take their dimensions/abilities into account to ensure their comfort and enjoyment.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

a stand-up shower (she told me this before we got our current boat)

So you have a history of not listening to what she wants. Hopefully this post from you means that its time to give her at least the bare minimum.

I wonder why so many new people to cruising want Cats. I have surmised that it appears to give women what they want: A less embarrassing time.

The don't want to spew up in front of people so they think a Cat will make them less sea sick (this isnt true as a cats motion can be difficult in other ways)

They don't want to look frail and show their bum when climbing on and off the boat from the dinghy. So give her a boat with a swim platform.

An outboard she can handle on a dinghy she can enjoy. So no 15hp unless it has an eletric start. 6hp is good with an easy start - no old bone shaker.

She is used to a 400 litre fridge and freezer at home so give her proper refrigeration at sea.

If she doesn’t cook that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like the galley. She wouldn't like to clean the toilets either but she will like some nice large clean heads.

She wants proper places to store clothes thats not in some tiny glove-box hole-of-Calcutta at the other end of the boat.

Perhaps most importantly give her her own spaces where she can get the hell away from you! A private place she can call her own.

Give her a boat where she cleans the bilges with a vacuum cleaner not a bucket and sponge i.e DRY!

Give her a boat that when she puts her head out the companionway to go on watch she doesnt get an ocean in her face. I.e. get her a modern design boat not an old submarine.

Finally let it be her HOME by having comfy pillows, soft beds, plants, picutres on the walls, let her colour select the cushions and instead of it beinig the yacht of some old sea dog let it be filled with love!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by rustypirate

we should take their dimensions/abilities into account to ensure their comfort and enjoyment.

Well said!

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by rustypirate

we should take their dimensions/abilities into account to ensure their comfort and enjoyment.

Or you can get a new women with dimensions that better suits the boat you want

[Boracay]

Originally Posted by Kimarah

Things I really like about the new boat (in no particular order):

- Light, bright interior
- No external teak (pretty, but too much work)
- Workshop with lots of storage space for tools (so the tools can go away after the project is done - I really like this)
- Terrific engine room/engine access (much less stress)
- 3 (!) Comfy beds that are easy to get into
- Smallish mainsail that I can put up/put away
- Clear side decks with bulwarks
- Big, double sink in galley
- Good counter space
- Anchor washdown
- Electric windlass
- Ridiculous amounts of storage space
- Big water tanks
- Propane grill, oven and stove
- XM radio with inside and outside speakers
- Hard dodger
- Swim platform
- Dinghy davits/RIB with motor
- Solar panels (so cool!)
- Reasonably shallow draft
- Fridge/freezer
- (Definitely not least) Sails well

Things I wish it had (most of these are current/future projects):

- Bigger holding tank
- Radar/AIS
- Masthead wind instruments
- LED lights
- Freezer that I could get ice cubes out of without moving things in the fridge
- Wind generator
- Better autopilot
- Full cockpit enclosures, both net and solid
- More comfortable helm seat
- Rub rail

Well, you asked.:-)

The above reads like my "To do " list.

I just realised why I seem to spend all my days putting in more cupboards and storage.

I'm told the current single sink is OK, as is 2" high toerails. Do we really need bulwarks and double sinks?

"Freezer that I could get ice cubes out of without moving things in the fridge"
"Full cockpit enclosures, both net and solid"
Thanks for the tips...

[fishwife]

Being British and very fond of my frequent mugs of tea, the one thing I inherited when I bought my boat, never ever to be without now, is a (nearly) instant boiling water tap. It's the most used ancillary kitchen item on the boat. It's even power efficient because you only heat the water you want.

For me the other luxury is hanging locker space, which means room for clothes to go on hangers, not pegs or hooks. Oh yes, a fold down ironing board, for my clothes, anyone else wants their clothes ironed, it's there for them as well

Paige

[sailorboy1]

"So you have a history of not listening to what she wants. Hopefully this post from you means that its time to give her at least the bare minimum. " -MarkJ

No! our current Cal-39 is a single head boat. Which means it has a large head with a separate satnd-up shower. I started this bevause I'm not a total fool

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

No! our current Cal-39 is a single head boat. Which means it has a large head with a separate satnd-up shower. I started this bevause I'm not a total fool

Damn, just wrote a long reply that got chomped up in cyberspace

Anyway... sorry, I don't think you a fool! Never have. Sorry it came accross that way.

Mark

[Joli]

Me? What's that honey? Umm, never mind, I have to take the garbage out.

[Charlie]

If a man says something in the forest and there is no woman around to hear him -- is he still wrong?

[sailvayu]

My girl friend says she wants more shoe storage lol

[decktapper]

Originally Posted by sailvayu

My girl friend says she wants more shoe storage lol

What does a woman who is barefoot pregnant and in the galley need shoe storage for?

[fishwife]

Originally Posted by decktapper

What does a woman who is barefoot pregnant and in the galley need shoe storage for?

Stomping on your bare feet with her heels, for even suggesting such an idea