Fiddles

I've noticed when looking at some newer boats that they have appear to have very pretty granite countertops in the galley but no fiddles. These are boats intended to leave the dock - Nordhavan and DeFever and others.

Seems to me given the coefficient of friction of well-maintained granite..

Are fiddles passé? Are there some removable setups?

I've noticed the same thing. Fiddles are a pain to keep clean where they meet the counter top, but certainly serve a purpose.

BTW, I almost didn't click on the thread becuase I was thinking musical intruments.

Based on Timjet`s thread about his experiences of showing his boat for sale, granite beats fiddles. But, if matching granite fiddles exist, it might be possible to have both.

Got stone, with fiddles!

Interesting timing...
My wife and I spent some time today on a sister ship of the boat we are having built in order to try and nail down some details that remain undecided.
One of the items is the main salon table size and whether or not it should have fiddles when the leaves are folded.
I think "we" are leaning toward no fiddles.
Another interesting observation on this subject, my wife noted a couple days ago that one thing she really liked about N4061's Helmsman 38 were the fiddles.
Our American Tug will not have fiddles on the galley countertop and that is fine by me!

On our last boat a Sabre 386 built in 2005, we actually insisted on bigger fiddles as those supplied by Sabre were about 1/2" high. I thought that a sailboat needed real fiddles so we got them. God forbid if the top half of your peanut butter and jelly sandwich slides off over the short fiddle during a tack! We sailed that boat to Bermuda 3 times and the fiddles were great! I'm guessing that our American Tug won't be needing that degree of sandwich protection...
Bruce

When I look at the interiors of modern boats I get the feeling the main design parameter was to sell the boat to a female who wants more cottage than boat. Gyroscopic, fin and flopper stopper stabilization may go a long way to substitute for fiddles. On the other hand fiddles are cheap and easy. With modern glues stone or wood fiddles even DIYS can be done after market.

markpierce said:

Got stone, with fiddles!

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Don't see what one would call real fiddles there. Slight lip maybe. Hard to tell from the picture.

dwhatty said:

Don't see what one would call real fiddles there. Slight lip maybe. Hard to tell from the picture.

Save​

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Perhaps that's hardly my "problem" and not yours.

Fiddles are a pain. Hard to wipe the counters and table clean, and we make sure everything on them is stored while underway. Just getting ready to remove the ones on the pilot house table (hard on the fore arms when using the computer or playing cards)

What about fiddles-on-demand, like the bowling alley gutter guards? Just slide up a piece of trim that locks in place?

Our Nordic Tug doesn't have granite, but rather Corian (or some such) with molded-in fiddles. There are gaps in the fiddles in a few places to help with cleanup. The counters wrap up along the inner edges as well. keeping wet and sloppy stuff off the cabin walls. After a summer of cruising with them, I like them a lot. The counters are easy to keep clean, and the fiddles keep stuff on the counter rather than the floor.

RCook said:

Our Nordic Tug doesn't have granite, but rather Corian (or some such) with molded-in fiddles. There are gaps in the fiddles in a few places to help with cleanup. The counters wrap up along the inner edges as well. keeping wet and sloppy stuff off the cabin walls. After a summer of cruising with them, I like them a lot. The counters are easy to keep clean, and the fiddles keep stuff on the counter rather than the floor.

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This was a feature that I really liked about the NTs. So did my wife.

Russell Clifton said:

Fiddles are a pain. Hard to wipe the counters and table clean, and we make sure everything on them is stored while underway. Just getting ready to remove the ones on the pilot house table (hard on the fore arms when using the computer or playing cards)

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I agree with the hard to clean. The trick is to have a small area of break in the fiddle so then you just wipe everything through that. My table came with fiddles and no break so we did a after build adjustment at the corners and now it is easy to clean.