Room For Stuff 2

Marathon, FL
No LL

Today, I want to talk about how the design of one's boat affects the room to hold stuff.

The first sail boat we ever owned was a 19 foot O'day Mariner. She was a wonderful little boat, but her cabin was so small that an adult could not stay inside comfortably for more than an hour. That was OK, the Mariner was designed for day sailing. On a day sail, one brings the food and clothes needed for the day with you. Little or nothing is left aboard the boat.

Our next two boats were a Clipper 26 and a Tanzer 27. Those boats were designed for day sailing, plus occasional weekend cruises in inland waters. They had room to sleep, but they were very limited in space to store "stuff" on board.

Sometimes, people use boats like the Clipper 26 or the Tanzer 27 for long term cruising. I wouldn't feel safe in them because their hulls were as little as 1/16" thick. Nevertheless, they have been used successfully and some have even circumnavigated. Would be cruisers soon learn though that the biggest failings of such boats is inadequate tank sizes for fuel, for fresh water or for waste water.

What about cruising boats? Tarwathie, at 32 feet, is on the small end of boats designed for long term cruising. Most cruisers for 2 people are 30-45 feet long. In a 45 foot boat, there is very much more room for stuff than on a 30 foot boat; as much as 20 times more volume if I may hazard a guess.

There are also major differences in boats designed for blue water cruising or for coastal and ICW cruising. Blue water boats, like the Westsail 32, are heavier, stiffer and stronger. They have very small cockpits and they have wind vane self-steering. The interior spaces are small, narrow and have lots of handholds to limit the distance your body can be thrown when you lose balance.

Coastal cruising boats have generous cockpits, enclosures for the cockpits, they have davits for suspending the dinghy behind the stern, they have more "living space" inside, sometimes with big expansive open spaces, and they have room for more and bigger batteries. My thought when I see expansive open spaces, is "My God, imagine being propelled head first across that cabin." They also tend to be lighter. Indeed, the popular Beneteau brand of boats are nicknamed bendy-tau by some cruisers because of their tendency to, twist, flex and bend in heavy seas.

I'll admit that for the type of cruising we have done so far, a Westsail 32 is overkill. We might be more comfortable with a coastal cruising design. However, we feel much safer in our Westsail when offshore. We also enjoy the compliments, expressions of admiration, and shouts of "BEAUTIFUL BOAT" when we pass by, and the queries "Is that a real Westsail?" The W32 is a classic and one of the most famous cruising designs ever.

Tarwathie's biggest deficiency is the lack of a bigger, and enclosed, cockpit. We see other boaters relaxing in their cockpits at the end of the day. We seldom do that because there is no comfortable place to lounge and no shade from the sun. Therefore, we tend to relax only below in the cabin. The exception to that is when I string the hammock between the mast and the forestay and then cover it with a sun shade tarp.

Tarwathie's best deisgn feature is the way we can pull out the pilot berth in the main cabin to make a comfortable double bed, and the way that our very nice table drops down for means. That gives us triple use of very precious space. When we are not sleeping or eating, our cabin is open, light and airy. Many other boats have sleeping space that can only be used for sleeping and table spaces that can only be used for tables. That is inefficient.

The really cool thing is that there are a seeminly infinite number of designs. Anyone who searches hard enough can find the combination of "features" that satisfies his/her needs. I'm remined of Blue Topaz, owned by Reggie and Terry. Reggie designed the interior of Blue Topaz himself. Terry is a gourmet cook and she wanted enough space for the food and utensils of a fully-equipped gourmet kitchen. She has that on Blue Topaz.