View Single Post
Old 08-31-2014, 01:51 PM   #129
dannc
Guru
 
City: NC
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,350
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayfarer View Post
I realize that this is a very individual sort of thing. I was just curious to see if there were any reasons for choosing one of the other that I may not have considered.
...
To answer the question, I think you have to also decide what you will do with the boat. Are you going to be doing coastal cruising? Crossing oceans? Once you answer those questions, then you have to ask what other designs changed have to occur to a boat with galley down vs galley up? Are these other design impacts important to you or not?

Minimal design changes can lead to major design changes. Galley Up vs Galley Down is a big design difference and leads to other design choices/compromises. This might not be apparent unless one compares two designs on the same hull.

Here is a design for the galley up aka a sedan. Lots of living space up which also means there is more top side weight and windage. This design is not recommended as a passage maker but people have taken this boat from Asia to Hawaii. Is top side weight and windage important to you? I think it depends on what you want to do with the boat.

Here is a sedan version and I think the engine room access is where the desk is located in the master stateroom. What is key to me is that engine room access is not optimum and it is through the master stateroom. Engine room height is also reduced because of the galley and living spaces being moved up stairs. There is quite a bit of space in the engine room but it is not easily accessed because of lack of height. Would that space be better used a different way?

Another common design issue with galley/living space up designs is that it leads to hallway space. Hallway space in a house is expensive and should be minimized. This is even more true on a boat. Look at the hall way space that is used down below. One needs hallway/passage way space but it is better if that space has duel usage. Just space to walk through is expensive.

Other brands/designs have very similar layouts down below. There really is a limited number of ways you can design in a couple of staterooms/large spaces and heads in this configuration. This is not bad, nor is it good, it just is and depends on personal preference.

The other problem I have with this particular design is how much space is in the master stateroom. That location of the bed is pretty optimum from a sleeping perspective since the room is in the center of the boat but that location at the widest part of the beam means that stateroom is sitting in a prime location on the boat. That extra space around the bed is wasted. Even with a king size bed, there still is quite a bit of walk around space. For me, that is wasted space but this is a personal choice.

Stairs aka ladders are danged expensive in a house, and again, more so in a boat. Notice how much space it take up by the curved stair in the sedan vs the pilot house only design. This is a common stair design I have seen in similar sized boats.

A big plus is that the galley does have more counter space than the galley down design. If windows in the galley is important, then the sedan wins vs the port hole on the non sedan.



Here is the deck plan for the same hull but with only a pilot house up and everything else down below.

The engine room is smaller but head room is much better. Access is from the galley so when underway the on watch crew does not have to go into the master stateroom to do engine checks. The galley is down and the space doubles as hallway space to the master stateroom and engine room. There is very little hallway space forward to the bow stateroom especially compared to the sedan version. The master stateroom is a bit tight at the foot of the bed, and there is a new design that adds a foot of extra space in the stateroom, but I would be happy with the current design. There really is not much wasted space in the design of the master stateroom.



I have not seen many designs/brands that allow one to pick and choose a galley up vs galley down on the same hull. If one does have a choice, I think the design impacts of galley up are pretty major in other areas of the boat design. Which design is better really is a personal decision.

Later,
Dan
dannc is offline   Reply With Quote