Prairie 36 Offer

[tallswede]

Fog, that does help, thanks. Tom, good points, I'll have to consider carefully before making changes. As it is, I love the V-berth setup on my boat as it is very roomy on both sides and I think we'll be sleeping there most of the time on anchor any way.

Kevin

 

[FOG]

Funny story regarding the "Queen" centerline berth on our Prairie 36. My wife said there was no way she was sleeping on an old 4" foam mattress. So she bought a Queen memory foam mattress at Costco that was 14" thick. The Admiral likes to be comfortable. There isn't a Costco in New Bern so I put it in the truck with everything else we thought we needed to bring the boat back to Wilmington.
It comes in a big box with built in wheels. No way am I getting this box through the salon side doors. I take the mattress out of the box and I am able to squeeze it through the side door. Once inside the main salon I can see the mattress is tightly wrapped, so I decide to take it down the companion way to the master cabin "before" cutting the wrapping. I strategically place the mattress on the Prairie "Queen" size centerline berth and cut the wrapping. The mattress explodes into the Prairie "Queen" size centerline berth cavity ............................. and beyond!
OK to be honest here I have to say that I did measure everything first and knew the mattress was too big. I'm an engineer, what did you expect. But the Admiral says, "let's just try it" she has an MBA. I'm thinking it's foam, and I can always cut it down. My objective is to move the boat to Wilmington and not to start making improvements. But the top of the 14" thick mattress is level with the top of the side vanities and there is no way we are getting our heads into the "cockpit" as Tom says, claustrophobia for sure!
So the Admiral says we'll just put our feet at the other end. It worked for 5 nights.
Kevin, just sleep in the other direction. On the last morning I figured out the trick. Just bring your knees to your chest, getting your feet out of the cockpit, and then roll out.

 

[KneeDeep]

FOG - great pics, nice setup on the inside. Thanks for sharing. Our Atlantic has same setup on the rear bedroom and head, but we have galley down and bunks in the front.

We replaced our centerline mattress shortly after our purchase and had the same problem with reduced headroom.

We got one of these toddler rails for a headboard and now sleep backwards and love it! No more head banging when you wake up.

 

[CaptTom]

Ken:

Funny story - but I wish you'd asked. That berth takes a standard "full" size (double) mattress. I'm amazed you got the queen size down there.

We tried sleeping with our feet in the cave under the "cockpit" at first, too. In the end we found that we liked the other way better.

I've heard really good things about foam mattresses, especially if you carefully select two or more layers. We were about to go that way when we decided to try the one we had in the spare bedroom. We're finding it very comfortable. Somehow the combination of the hard base and the way-too-soft mattress came out just right.

 

[FOG]

Has anyone really measured the actual LOA of their Prairie 36?
We are moving ours to a different marina and they are very strict about LOA. We were looking at a 40 foot slip and they said if you are only 1 inch over you must go to the next size up, 45 foot.
So I got out the measuring tape yesterday and conservatively came up with 41 feet 4 inches. We reserved the 45 foot slip.
I also measured the swim step and bowsprit that I would then add to the boat length as a second method of measurement.
The swim step measured 23.5 inches at the transom. The transom angles in at the swim step, so knock off a couple of inches and call it 21 inches. The bowsprit measured about 37 inches give or take an inch. Add those two to the 36 foot length and you get 40 feet 8 inches. Everything I've seen posted shows the boat length to be more than 36 feet by 2 to 6 inches, so that puts my second calculation/measurement very close to my first.
Anybody else care to share their measurements?

 

[koliver]

re: "headroom" in the master bed. Same issue with our C&L 44. I put in a thicker, all foam mattress, so diminished the headroom too much. Sleeping the other way around didn't appeal, but taking up the 1/2" plywood that the mattress laid on, the 2x2 framing below it, and putting the 1" solid blue styrofoam insulation right on top of the 150 gal SS water tanks got me the room needed.

 

[CaptTom]

Has anyone really measured the actual LOA of their Prairie 36?
We are moving ours to a different marina and they are very strict about LOA. We were looking at a 40 foot slip and they said if you are only 1 inch over you must go to the next size up, 45 foot.
So I got out the measuring tape yesterday and conservatively came up with 41 feet 4 inches. We reserved the 45 foot slip.
I also measured the swim step and bowsprit that I would then add to the boat length as a second method of measurement.
The swim step measured 23.5 inches at the transom. The transom angles in at the swim step, so knock off a couple of inches and call it 21 inches. The bowsprit measured about 37 inches give or take an inch. Add those two to the 36 foot length and you get 40 feet 8 inches. Everything I've seen posted shows the boat length to be more than 36 feet by 2 to 6 inches, so that puts my second calculation/measurement very close to my first.
Anybody else care to share their measurements?

I faced the same problem, only I already owned the "35 foot" slip which had a maximum allowable length of 36'11" (they give you out to the finger piling.)

It was either not buy the boat, or remove the pulpit.

Without the pulpit, I get 36'6" or 36'7". It's hard to know exactly. I should measure more precisely while it's on the hard.

I'd estimate the angle of the transom taking up more length than you did. If you sight straight down there seems to be quite a bit less than a foot showing beyond the aft edge of the transom.

In case anyone was wondering, I covered the area where the pulpit was mounted with a sheet of Starboard, cut to shape, with a center section which hinges up when I'm in the slip. The anchor roller is attached to this center section. Once I confirmed this works, the center section was replaced with 1/2" aluminum. It gives it a slightly snub-nosed look, and I've been accused of mutilating the boat, but this allowed me to keep it.

 

[FOG]

I faced the same problem, only I already owned the "35 foot" slip which had a maximum allowable length of 36'11" (they give you out to the finger piling.)

It was either not buy the boat, or remove the pulpit.

Without the pulpit, I get 36'6" or 36'7". It's hard to know exactly. I should measure more precisely while it's on the hard.

I'd estimate the angle of the transom taking up more length than you did. If you sight straight down there seems to be quite a bit less than a foot showing beyond the aft edge of the transom.

In case anyone was wondering, I covered the area where the pulpit was mounted with a sheet of Starboard, cut to shape, with a center section which hinges up when I'm in the slip. The anchor roller is attached to this center section. Once I confirmed this works, the center section was replaced with 1/2" aluminum. It gives it a slightly snub-nosed look, and I've been accused of mutilating the boat, but this allowed me to keep it.

What did you do about the railing? Do you have before and after pictures?

 

[FlyWright]

... putting the 1" solid blue styrofoam insulation right on top of the 150 gal SS water tanks got me the room needed.

On a good night when the tanks are near empty, does it sound like a drum beat?

 

[CaptTom]

What did you do about the railing? Do you have before and after pictures?

I had the local canvas shop bend a piece of railing to fit, and attached it with some SS rail clamps I found in the sailing hardware section. Not sure what the sailors do with them, but they've held up OK so far. One of these days I'll spot someone welding railings and see if they'll stop by and do a permanent job.

Before:

During:

After:

 

[FOG]

Tom,

I think you did a nice job on reconfiguring your bow. When I was in CA I saw many boats with bow modifications so they could save on their monthly rent. So I completely understand doing it when you OWN the slip.

I saw the holes under your bowsprit board. Was your windlass located on top of the bowsprit? If so how are you anchoring now?

 

[CaptTom]

It pained me to remove the pulpit, and I've been accused of boat mutilation. But it was that or buy a 32'er.

Below is the new roller mount in fabrication. The aluminum block is primed and painted now, and all the bolt holes in it are drilled and tapped. Just waiting for the shrink wrap to come off so I can bolt it back on.

The area behind the hinges in this pic is where the windlass fits. It just barely clears the hinges and lines up with the hawse hole.