Too many small berths

I have been looking for a boat just to do the Great Loop with my wife and have noticed the layouts seem to put a premium on more berths over one standard size queen or even double bed that you can access on both sides.

Why should I carry around all the extra berths just to get one comfortable bed?

What am I missing?

Many people purchase boats with the intention of hosting friends and family. This is despite the reality that the majority of boat owners only occasionally have guests.

We haven't had guests on our boat in years. We have friends who boat and friends who don't. We tend to boat with the friends who also have boats. We call the guest stateroom the "Walk-in Closet".

AdkChris said:

I have been looking for a boat just to do the Great Loop with my wife and have noticed the layouts seem to put a premium on more berths over one standard size queen or even double bed that you can access on both sides.

Why should I carry around all the extra berths just to get one comfortable bed?

What am I missing?

Click to expand...

There are certainly plenty of boats with queen sized master beds. If all you're seeing is boats with multiple small berths then I think you need to expand the brands or types of boats you're looking at.


Ken

It is not the lack of centerline aka walk around beds it is the low priority they seem to get. It seems like the 36' to 42' boats I have looked at have room for a centerline queen the boat designers just went other ways? Why do I have to buy, feed and maintain a larger boat when there is room for what I want in a smaller boat?


I was hoping someone might suggest some moderate size models that make have one centerline queen instead of multiple smaller berths.

So what size are you looking for? THat might help.


I have seen approx. 32' -34 aft cabin type boats with a centreline bed/berth. I never paid them much attention because we don.t dislike the Vberth enough and I will not trade engine access off. But there are some out there. You may simply need to look more and spread your area of looking more.
It usually also costs any back deck.

AdkChris said:

It seems like the 36' to 42' boats I have looked at have room for a centerline queen the boat designers just went other ways?
.....

I was hoping someone might suggest some moderate size models that make have one centerline queen instead of multiple smaller berths.

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What model year are you looking at? The V-berth starting getting replaced with centerline berths in the mid to late 90's. Look at any Mainship from the late 90's 350, 390, 400 both later and up in size. They all have centerline berths in the bow.

Will look
Is there an advantage of putting larger bed forward instead of aft? The few Aft cabins with centerline beds seemed the best fit for us. Again seems rare on 36' to 42' boats.

I have been looking at older boats to minimize loses when selling the boat. Our goal is to get a boat, enjoy the loop, sell the boat and go back to the Adirondack mountains where we seem to belong.

What boats are you looking at? It seems that there are a lot of boats that have center line queen berths in your size range. I think almost any boat with an aft cabin will have that layout.

AdkChris said:

Will look
Is there an advantage of putting larger bed forward instead of aft? The few Aft cabins with centerline beds seemed the best fit for us. Again seems rare on 36' to 42' boats.

I have been looking at older boats to minimize loses when selling the boat. Our goal is to get a boat, enjoy the loop, sell the boat and go back to the Adirondack mountains where we seem to belong.

Click to expand...

That's odd, I can't think of any aft cabin boats in that price range that don't have a full sized (be-it full or queen, even in some cases a king) beds in the aft stateroom. I'm curious what you've been looking at.

Keep in mind a cheap initial-cost-of-ownership older boat ultimately may often after a few years end up being the most expensive total cost of ownership boat in its class and vintage.

Open to ideas but favoring 36' to 42'

Am I wrong to think that purchase & carrying cost as well as amount you can lose at resale go up fast as the boat gets bigger?

Most significant advantage I see, for us, of bigger boats is higher hull speed?

BTW C Lectric like your fat cat our fat cat is sick and losing weight.

Have looked at so many boats online they are a blur. Still trying learn enough to narrow down the search.

I can see a boat with fundamental problems being a real money pit but if I educate myself and choose a solid older boat with effective updates then don't mess with it just to 'personalize' it how will it cost more?

Besides this would be a learner boat. I am more worried about damaging it in an accident than realizing the motor is NG. I am an old hand with mechanics but a boating newbie.

Shrew said:

We haven't had guests on our boat in years. We have friends who boat and friends who don't. We tend to boat with the friends who also have boats. We call the guest stateroom the "Walk-in Closet".

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Ha! Ours is the "tool room".





To AdkChris:


Our first boat was a 35' Taiwanese Sundeck Trawler. It had a full Queen walk around bed in the aft cabin.


Our current boat is a 42' Navigator and our master cabin is a full walkaround queen in a midship cabin.


As others have said, you might want to expand your search criteria. There are tons of good options out there.

Take a look at the American Tug line. They are built in the northeast US and there are many used boats on both coasts. I saw about 4 or 5 used boats on the east coast of FL. The AT34 has one stateroom with centerline berth and a decent dry head. The AT41, 2 stateroom.

Our 41’ President has a walk around queen bed in the aft cabin. We have an offset full size in the forward cabin. Our guests get the smaller bed forward which they either like or don’t come with us... We have guests aboard a couple of times a year.

It seems to me that older boats at less than 36 feet often featured twin beds, often V berth. If you had a queen in that size boat they were often not walk arounds which can be a hassle. (mine is)..

I prefer sleeping with the Admiral so we just put up with one of us climbing over the other. Since it is generally me who gets up to check anchor, wind, strange noises, etc. it is generally the Admiral who must climb over me. If I pull my legs up it isn't too bad for either of us.

We occasionally sleep in the "V" berth but since the A/C is in the aft cabin and natural ventilation is better in the stern that is where night generally finds us.

Almost everything on a boat is some type of compromise.

pete

AdkChris said:

I was hoping someone might suggest some moderate size models that make have one centerline queen instead of multiple smaller berths.

Click to expand...

If I understand your stated goal correctly, and that is to do the Great Loop with just you & your wife, take a look at the Halvorsen 32' Gourmet Cruiser. (If you can find one!) Single engine, 1 stateroom (queen size walk around) Up galley, cockpit, low air draft, (no fly bridge) etc. I had one for 8 years and we went everywhere at 8.4 knots. Absolutely a great boat!

One reason builders don't do wide beds in the aft cabin is lack of available width between the inner side of the bed and the ladder to the aft opening door.
Safety requires an escape hatch from the aft cabin. That is normally accomplished by putting in an aft-facing door to the cockpit, with a ladder up from inside the aft cabin.
If the boat is under 14' beam, you are unlikely to have room for more than a twin size bed, or a pair of them.
Not too many boats under 42' have that much beam.

AdkChris said:

It is not the lack of centerline aka walk around beds it is the low priority they seem to get. It seems like the 36' to 42' boats I have looked at have room for a centerline queen the boat designers just went other ways? Why do I have to buy, feed and maintain a larger boat when there is room for what I want in a smaller boat?


I was hoping someone might suggest some moderate size models that make have one centerline queen instead of multiple smaller berths.

Click to expand...

There are many, many boats that have a centerline queen berth in the aft cabin. Maybe get a copy of Powerboat Guide. It has line drawings of hundreds of different power boats along with some specs and a brief description. I would see a boat on Yachtworld and then look in PBG to see what the layout was.

Shrew said:

Many people purchase boats with the intention of hosting friends and family. This is despite the reality that the majority of boat owners only occasionally have guests.

Click to expand...

I had a couple of friends who loved to come visit and spend nights onboard. Turns out they loved doing coke on my glass top table.

So the operative words here are "had a couple of friends"

makobuilders said:

I had a couple of friends who loved to come visit and spend nights onboard. Turns out they loved doing coke on my glass top table.

So the operative words here are "had a couple of friends"

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Good choice. Hate to see the Feds taking your boat and worse leaving you with the mortgage.
The first time someone tries to do dope on my boat, I will get close to shore and send them to shore in my RIB. They can keep the RIB. I dont even permit drinking booze/beer while underway.

With a 35-foot boat, believe in a boat that sleeps two, entertains six. My saloon can sleep three more, making a total of five, but can't imagine having "sleep overs" beyond master's cabin, for more than one night.

I remember going to boat shows and seeing all the boats that sleep six. I asked where 6 people sit having a meal or lounging. Many boats and maybe RV's are sold by how many they sleep.

Soo-Valley said:

I remember going to boat shows and seeing all the boats that sleep six. I asked where 6 people sit having a meal or lounging. Many boats and maybe RV's are sold by how many they sleep.

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We can entertain 8 comfortably without a problem
But we can only sleep two and we do that in a king sized bed.

Simi 60 said:

We can entertain 8 comfortably without a problem
But we can only sleep two and we do that in a king sized bed.

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only 8
I think I was looking at smaller boats

"Why should I carry around all the extra berths just to get one comfortable bed?
What am I missing?"


Small berths are easier and cheaper to build.

Hmmm, let's see. The owner's stateroom, the famous convertible bed in the salon for 2 then, add in a hammock in the saloon and 2 people sleeping under the hammock. Of course that leaves, someone sleeping on the swim platform and one more hammock in the cockpit and one more under that aft hammock.
Yup, sleeps 10 unless you use a 2 person hammock in the saloon and the cockpit, then sleeping for 12. Ah forgot one on the pilot house floor for a total of you count it up.
Beginning to sound like a prelude to a Roman orgy. LOL

Soo-Valley said:

only 8
I think I was looking at smaller boats

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It's very layout dependent. Entertaining wise, 6 is comfortable, 8 is do-able on my boat. It'll sleep for comfortably, 6 if 2 don't mind taking the fold out couch in the salon. On the other hand, similar sized boats with a more entertaining-focused layout may only sleep 4, but I've seen some where 8 or even 10 wouldn't be too squeezed on board.

I see lots of 36-42 foot boats with centerline queens in the aft cabin. Among the 40-42 foot boat, very definitely the majority of them. So I'm a little confused by this whole thread.


This is actually kind of ironic, because I have restless leg syndrome. The result is that at home my wife and I have a king size bed, and put a bolster between us when we are sleeping so that I won't kick her in my sleep. In looking for boats we really wanted one with twin berths, instead of a double or a queen. A king would be okay, but we really weren't looking for boats that would be big enough to fit a king. We found it darned hard to find a boat that had twin berths in the master cabin -- seems like 3/4ths of the 40-42 foot boats out there have a centerline queen in the master cabin!

denverd0n said:

A king would be okay, but we really weren't looking for boats that would be big enough to fit a king. We found it darned hard to find a boat that had twin berths in the master cabin -- seems like 3/4ths of the 40-42 foot boats out there have a centerline queen in the master cabin!

Click to expand...

They're out there (both kings and separate berths), but it's definitely less common in that size range, so it limits the boat options a bit. My 38 footer has a centerline king in the aft. Earlier years of the same boat had the fuel tanks further outboard and 2 bunks in the aft (1 full, 1 twin, I think) with a walkway between them. Of course, I also don't have a cockpit like a lot of boats, so that makes a difference in terms of available cabin space vs boat size.

I have to admit that I've learned something from reading the TF all this time... "the 90% rule." Keep that in mind when determining how many berths you need or want.