her/his requirements

[phillippeterson]

This is more about her requirements. My requirements are extensive and probably nothing different than most of yours.

However, her requirements are, the smallest with a residential size fridge and full size washer/dryer (not a combo).

Please send your suggestions.

 

[tiltrider1]

I fully understand this.

I have 24” stackable washer and dryer. I do not call these full size as I feel that label is reserved for 27” or larger unIts. However, the apartment combo units are usually made up of a 24” washer and a 19” dryer. There is a world of difference between 24” and 19” in a dryer. There is a difference between 24” and 27” in a dryer but not nearly so significant. I can put a full set of King size sheets through my washer and dryer. The only caveat is that with a 24” dryer you will need to use wool balls or tennis balls to keep the sheets from rolling into a tight ball.

I believe if you point this out to her she will find the 24” models acceptable.

I have only seen full size washer dryers on 60’+ size boats. I only see 24” stackable on 50’+ boats.

Smaller than 50’ usually means a single unit that washes and dryies. Personally I have had good luck with those but you must really limit the load size.

 

[Delta Riverat]

Your gonna need a big boat!

I'm replacing my fridge now. It's an old non functional absorption unit, a whole 6 cu-ft. Gonna see a 33% capacity increase with the new 8 cu-ft 12 volt unit -

 

[sjisailor]

Many semi-custom boats in the 43'+ range seem possible. I've seen stacked w/d on various of them (e.g. American Tug 43). Probably 24" as Tiltrider notes.

Not sure I've seen a full sized refrigerator below a 46 or so (maybe on a Nordhavn?) but that would be an easy question to assess for potential upgrade, since it depends mostly on available counter space and depth.

However I'd question closely what "residential" size means Having lived in Manhattan, I have seen quite small fridges in residences. Also does it mean 30" depth? That would be challenging in most mid-sized boats. 24" depth is much more realistic. Go to an appliance store and see what is the smallest one acceptable to the boss. (Not as a marine unit but to gauge the size.)

 

[psneeld]

To have the same sized appliances, as many appliances and all the great conveniences we have in typical American homes, one has to have a pretty grandiose estimation of what boat to buy. It will cost a bunch of money and the same to operate.

Granted I don't know all the possible boats out there that meet this requirement....so hopefully someone or two may know of a suitable buy.

At best, there are moderate sized and value boats that can be rebuilt around a cruising couple with the accommodations of a luxury home/vessel at the sacrifice of having guests aboard by utilizing those spaces to fit the larger sized appliances and the systems to use them while cruising.

If willing to do that...something in the 40-43 foot range trawler type hull could accommodate those type systems.... production and most professionally designed boats will be much, much larger.

 

[phillippeterson]

What I'm trying to get at is that we've had absorption fridges and never want one again. Then we went with compressor fridge, e.g. Danforth, which was much better but still froze things that shouldn't and didn't freeze things it should.

Have had a combo w/d but was barely adequate that the wife won't have one again. Stacked seems to work okay but she really wants a full size w/d.

We don't intend to do much entertaining but want a larger boat with plenty of room.

Perhaps a Helmsman 43 (or 46 maybe?) configured as a really nice, spacious live aboard for two that uses some of the "entertaining" space for mechanical area.

Don't want to, well, really don't have the means to, move up to a Fleming 55.

 

[psneeld]

Most boats DON'T have absorption fridges. Plus what is a "residential sized" fridge. So many sizes and just how big does your crew really need? Many people are more worried about configuration than cu ft..... but many will agree on a minimum size cu ft requirement. Also, percentage fridge/freezer becomes important depending on ones diet.

Just saying..... many, many boats including all 3 of my liveaboards and now my land cruiser RV didn't have washers or dryers on them of any size. But I do agree with all those that too many people thought they were getting a good deal with a washer/drier that they later found almost useless.

When visiting family and friends, I still opted for laundromats as it took a fraction of the time than some home sized "energy efficient" ones and I could run several loads at one time. Just depends on one's cruising grounds.

 

[Dawgfan]

North Pacific puts apartment size fridges on their 45' boats. These are 120v units that are powered from a dedicated inverter. The washer/dryer on board is a combo unit, but a stacked apartment size washer/dryer set of separates could be installed in the laundry "closet". If you are interested in building a boat, check out the North Pacific 45 or 49. Trevor is the owner of North Pacific and is very open to discussing modifications on new builds. Retrofitting an existing 45 or 49 might also be possible, but on my boat there is an electrical junction box at the back of the laundry closet. That junction box is usually never accessed, but you never know when you're going to have to trace a wire, so I'd have to think a bit about that.

 

[Portage_Bay]

You don't say how hard you're willing to work, how much $$$ you're willing to spend or how many people you want aboard. I'm thinking if it's just the two of you then sleeping accommodations for more people can be renovated to meet her needs. In other words if it's a two state room boat give up one to become laundry. If it's a boat that raises it's total number of bodies by having "sleeping" arrangements in the salon / galley give that up to make room for a full sized fridge. You still need to address electrical demands to meet those appliances.

If a full sized fridge, washer and dryer are needed along with room for kids and grand kids you're gonna need a BIG boat.

 

[sean9c]

You need one of those Florida Coaster things

 

[ranger58sb]

What I'm trying to get at is that we've had absorption fridges and never want one again. Then we went with compressor fridge, e.g. Danforth, which was much better but still froze things that shouldn't and didn't freeze things it should.

Have had a combo w/d but was barely adequate that the wife won't have one again. Stacked seems to work okay but she really wants a full size w/d.

Absorption fridge?

We've had compressor fridges -- Nova Kool, w/ Danfoss compressors on the last boat, some kind of Norcold now. All AC/DC. All OK, although needing defrosting from time to time.

We currently have Sub-Zero AC-only undercounter units in the galley, and they work pretty well... including a frost-free feature, that we're becoming fond of. The freezer has a door, the fridge is a 2-drawer model, and we've come to appreciate the drawer thing, too.

And then we installed an inverter to feed those (and other AC stuff) when we're away from shorepower and don't want the genset on.

If you buy a 2- or 3-stateroom boat, for example, you can probably put full size laundry equipment in the extra rooms... at least whatever size you can fit through the doorway. Maybe put a foozball table in there, too,...

-Chris

 

[sjisailor]

Agreed on all the comments about fridges, and ability to repurpose space for laundry. Also, hanging clothes to dry can be very fast on many boats depending on layout and cruising grounds.

Like most things with boats the limits are mostly about $$$$ and having a place to put the boat of whatever size is needed. Plus ability to handle a larger boat (not difficult but needs more hands).

Another thing to consider is that refrigerator and freezer space is often provided in multiple locations on a boat. For example you might have an extra refrigerator in the cockpit or fly bridge, or add a 12v freezer unit in the lazarette or tank room. So a "house like" smaller fridge in the galley can be supplemented easily.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Your gonna need a big boat!

I'm replacing my fridge now. It's an old non functional absorption unit, a whole 6 cu-ft. Gonna see a 33% capacity increase with the new 8 cu-ft 12 volt unit -

Our fridge is a Vitrifrigo 220v 12volt auto changeover, once your'e on shorepower it eases the load on your batteries so you don't have to run the motor to recharge them.

 

[Mambo42]

It all depends on how you are going to use the boat. Is it going to be only for the weekends or is it for living onboard.
If only for the weekends you probably don't need a water maker, washing machine, multiple freezers and fridges, dishwasher etc. However, if you plan to live on the boat for a prolonged period of time those items become important.
However, those items are completely unimportant compared to the most important item on a boat if you have to deal with an admiral who is not overly enthusiastic about living or spending a lot of time on a boat and you planning to take the boat out to sea..............
That most important item is called comfort and not being sea sick, which means stabilization. If I would not have stabilized the boat I am 100 % sure that all of the other equipment onboard would not have been able to convince her to spend 8 months a year onboard. Now that we have stabilization underway, on anchor and even in the port / marina, she has relaxed and does not make a big fuzz out of not being able to wash large amounts of blankets and towels in a short period of time.

 

[alormaria]

I saw a 53 Hatteras aft cabin with full sized Maytag washer and dryer on the bridge deck. It regularly cruised down to the Bahamas from Manasquan. Looked strange but everyone was happy.

 

[Irish Rambler]

I've been a liveaboard for 30 years and believe me its quite a lifestyle change if you are going to liveaboard full time.
To buy a boat you need to look long term, you may be as fit as a butchers dog now but time and tide wait for no man. Choose a boat with easy access, not only for getting on and off quickly when mooring, but also mundane things like putting bikes on and off, loading your shopping on board etc. Whatever boat you buy there's one golden rule, happy wife = happy life, if not 2 things will happen, either a divorce, or the boat will be sold, the only difference is the time it will take. We have a 42 foot ex hireboat single engine motor cruiser, originally an 8 berth now it's comfortablefor the two of us, with a relatively low freeboard, the reason is simple, advancing years and access, we're retired so we monitor the weather and only go to sea when conditions are ideal. Having said that, we have, like everyone, been caught out with force 4 touching 5 seas and our boat proved it's ability to cope, (p.s ginger is good for preventing sea sickness) with any engine you need to put preventive maintainence at the very top of your list and strive for nothing less than perfection.
There are many on this forum who go way over the top with unecessarily complicated systems, my advice is to keep it simple. Someone mentioned fridges and freezers, the simple fact is that the liveaboard lifestyle is not so energetic as shore based so you won't need massive household fridges, you either reduce your food intake or you'll become overweight, go for quality, not quantity. When you fit a fridges or freezers ONLY fit a frost free one, save yourself (or your wife) the hassle of defrosting. Fit a Danforth/Secop 220/110-12v auto changeover so that when you are in a marina shorepower will take care of that and when cruising your engine alternators will carry the load, or in case of shorepower breakdown. We use a 4Kg Aquamatic washing machine which is sufficient for our purposes, for drying clothes do it the old fashioned way, use solar and wind power, hang it on a line. You'll need a maximum efficiency battery charging system, we use a system made by ADVERC in the UK which has never let us down, when on shorepower we have a Victron double outlet system, the main outlet is for charging domestic batteries and a secondary outlet trickle charges the bow thruster batteries. We recommend fitting a hydraulic bow thruster a size larger than recommended because electric ones have a thermal cutout and if you get caught out by the weather the last thing you need is the darn thing to quit. (It happened to us and we had to revert to old fashioned boat handling skills). Early electric models with brush motors covered everything thing around them with carbon dust so avoid those.
If you lead a hectic shore based life and picture yourself anchored in lovely bays reading a book and sipping a glass of wine, yes its nice, but beware because after a while you will get bored with it and that can lead to tetchy relations. We don't anchor out as the admiral gets a gippy tummy from the motion, we don't touch alcohol when we're moving the boat.
You also need to be aware of your power consumption battery size, recharging. When buying appliances check out their consumption ie a fast boil kettle will consume 2.2kw whereas a low consumption kettle would be around 950w, many marina's have a power limit on shorepower and in the winter its easy to use too much power and jump the trip switch
Remember the 5 'P'military maxim. Proper Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance.
If time is not pressing, visit any hire boat and secondhand boat sales you can find, take a clipboard and camera, note photograph all the good points and especially any bad points to avoid.
Finally everybody thinks they can easily drive a boat, they can't there's an art to it, go to a reputable boat handling school and learn how to do close quarters handling properly, the same with an engine maintainence course.
Its a wonderful life if you adapt to it. when you've stopped working your income will drop so plan your future life accordingly.

 

[chanprr]

Mambo42 hit the issues right-on.
Reading these threads just reminds me how important it has been working with Helmsman on the interior of the new H46. We are the launch customer.
To get straight to the point, my spouse wanted three things up front: separate washer and dryer, as much freezer space as possible, a queen size bed in the master positioned with enough room on either side (long side) to be able to make up the bed properly. And Helmsman has provided generously.
We will have three two-draw Vitrifrigo units, two of which are freezers only. The bed and washer-dryer designs we provided were welcomed. The only adds I wanted were stabilizers, water maker, and Yacht Controller (to dock single handed). We are fitting out the H46 for long range cruising, with few marina stops, and my spouse is happy about that.

 

[Mac2]

Mambo42 hit the issues right-on.
Reading these threads just reminds me how important it has been working with Helmsman on the interior of the new H46. We are the launch customer.
To get straight to the point, my spouse wanted three things up front: separate washer and dryer, as much freezer space as possible, a queen size bed in the master positioned with enough room on either side (long side) to be able to make up the bed properly. And Helmsman has provided generously.
We will have three two-draw Vitrifrigo units, two of which are freezers only. The bed and washer-dryer designs we provided were welcomed. The only adds I wanted were stabilizers, water maker, and Yacht Controller (to dock single handed). We are fitting out the H46 for long range cruising, with few marina stops, and my spouse is happy about that.

Nailed it! Helmsman is now on my radar. You are designing a great boat for the type of cruising I prefer-no marinas and self reliance. My boat is very similar in set-up, but just up sized i.e full sized house fridge, stacked apartment sized washer drier, and king bed. God help me when I need to replace them! OP needs to understand that to get what he wants in those sizes, he will need something in the 60+ range that can handle these sizes without looking ridiculous, or handling poorly. For reference my boat is 65 x 20 and 90 tons. As someone mentioned above, Florida Bay Coasters are designed for full sized everything. A barge would be a good choice as well.

 

[Capt Ray]

This is more about her requirements. My requirements are extensive and probably nothing different than most of yours.

However, her requirements are, the smallest with a residential size fridge and full size washer/dryer (not a combo).

Please send your suggestions.

2000 Mainship 390 here we just added a Dometic CFX power cooler (12vdc or 120vac) LOVE IT. They have several different sizes. We don't find marina laundry to be a pain. Some ports have drop off + fold laundry services nearby. I encourage my wife to use them to make it easier. We are not "clothes-intensive" ... swim trunks and an occasional shirt for me if leaving the boat. I have not worn a pair of shoes 'n' socks in over a year. I use sun+rain to "clean" my good quality (Reef & Grundens) flip flops... 1 week swap between 2 pairs.
Similar for my wife.

 

[phillippeterson]

Mambo42 hit the issues right-on.
Reading these threads just reminds me how important it has been working with Helmsman on the interior of the new H46. We are the launch customer.
To get straight to the point, my spouse wanted three things up front: separate washer and dryer, as much freezer space as possible, a queen size bed in the master positioned with enough room on either side (long side) to be able to make up the bed properly. And Helmsman has provided generously.
We will have three two-draw Vitrifrigo units, two of which are freezers only. The bed and washer-dryer designs we provided were welcomed. The only adds I wanted were stabilizers, water maker, and Yacht Controller (to dock single handed). We are fitting out the H46 for long range cruising, with few marina stops, and my spouse is happy about that.

Me thinks you found our boat. We look forward to seeing more as you accept delivery and have time to enjoy her.