When it comes to deck layout there are lots of bits an pieces here and there but I do not know of a specific thread dedicated to it here. And a lot of how you lay your deck out should in my opinion be geared to how you like things to work when you are sailing your boat. For example Mike who sails Commander 227 prefers his halyards led aft to the cockpit. Me on the other hand I find especially when trying to reef that I am bouncing back and forth between the cockpit and the mast far too much. So I want everything all in one place where I can do a complete job and then head back to the cockpit and go back to sailing. Neither is wrong it is just personnel preference. I have a friend who is older than me and sails an ensign and he sits in one spot in his cockpit whenever he is sailing so everything is led to that spot. Bottom line is there are a lot of things that work but knowing how you like things to be is what really makes your sailing more enjoyable.


Now that being said, I should tell you I feel like with my deck layout I did one thing less than perfect for my way of sailing. The jib track next to the cabin is not long enough going forward. With our lower shrouds the forward one can interfere with the sheet when running down wind. So if you chose to follow that jib track placement make the track go far enough forward to have a clear path for the sheet when running down wind. I chose to put the track down there because I used up most of the cabin top with my long handrails. I have no life lines and wanted more place to hold onto when going forward.