LOL, Mike.
You know, that really *is* a good picture (all the fluffy rain excepted). When I saw it, those shapely underwater Alberg lines, my breath drew up for just a second. Remember the old adage about wanting a boat that, whenever you are leaving it, you have to stop and look back *just one more time* before you walk out of sight? That's how I am with these boats - smitten like a sweaty palmed high school junior on prom night. lol
Frank - I looked all over that site for an image depicting the swing-up filler you mentioned, didn't see it. Imagination will suffice, and besides, I saw a bunch of very nice pics anyway.Those are sweet boats, very shippy. Lotta room and function for a 22'er.
And funny that you should mention that boat, because it was Mike above who sent me a picture some time back of the FC22 interior (below), a picture that I just found on Friday or Saturday in my old email account. It was this picture which made me start to think of the possibility of an aft U-berth. Looking at it, it is easy to imagine a U berth below the companionway, unseen, and the rest of the pic shows what will basically be my setup once done.
Couple of notes on that:
{ramble on}
I have a friend who is gutting and rebuilding from bare-hull-out a Tartan 26. He is planning a very similar setup to what I have chosen through my "research", although he hasn't made up his mind totally on it yet. He also came to this interior config through a period of experimentation and some living aboard. I'd forgotten of his plans until Sunday, when some subconcious thought connected a couple of barely used neurons, and I went to his website and rooted around to rediscover his plan drawings. Interesting how the brain works. His ideas must have rested deep in my head for a long time, jarred from hiding by Mikes pic and some moving about of my storage bins.
Yesterday I took my settee cushion (I've only had one aboard since May or thereabouts, since I began playing with different layouts - and only 1 V-berth cushion too) to my shop, pulled the foam out and chopped it up. First, I cut away the hull-hugging curve, making the cushion a plain rectangle, about 23" wide, a shade over 6' long. Then I cut it into 2 pieces - 1 that is 24" long, and the other is the rest of the cushion. The long piece I cut halfway through in the middle, to make folding it into a 90 degree angle easier. Then I whipped up a couple of quicky covers for the pieces out of some Gore-Tex material. I brought the cushions back aboard last night for their first night of service. Worked great. I can leave the smaller cushion on one side of the boat, and fold the larger cushion into a seat shape on the other, the folded-up half resting against the hull, vertically. I think that eventually, though, there will be 3 pieces, the (when set up as a berth) center piece will just be set off to a side when not being slept upon.
Since I've moved all of my storage containers around to this new configuration, Katie sits levelly now, heeling only a couple of degrees when Cap'n and one or more Crew have moved off center. Before, with all the stowage to one side, she wanted to maintain a constant (though slight) heel, even with counterbalancing weight placed up in the V-berth on the opposite side. For some reason, having most of the weight lined up athwartships gives the boat a different, better feel. It may well be that the weight is much closer to the CB, or just forward of it, with this configuration. That's a Good Thing, I think she'll have less of that "squatty" tendency now.
Last, I am giving serious thought to pushing the berth-wall part of the aft bulhead back a foot or so, so that it would sit just forward of the cockpit locker hatch forward end. The cockpit footwell would project into the cabin over the center of the U berth if this was done, but at the same level as the current countertop, which should provide space enough for someone lying down there. If this mod was done, it would move the U-berth back far enough that the bottom inside edge of the U would be almost straight down from the companionway, not poking out underneath it. That extra foot of space along the current settees would allow me to leave in place the original hanging locker and drawers, both of which I find useful and handy. If I don't push back the bulkhead, I will probably have to remove the locker and drawers in the interest of countertop space. I think the work involved in either project would be basically about the same, so personal preference will basically be the deciding factor. If I move the aft bulkhead, I would put in place on the hull a low profile vertical stringer so as not to compromise any strength or stiffening the hull recieves from the bulkhead. Depending on how much room was under the cockpit footwell, a pull out (or simply removeable) dinette table could be made to fit/fix there, a la the Falmouth Cutter table. The legs of the U berth would act as dinette seats for the table, which would be at the current countertop height.
Edit: I also wouldn't mind a little less volume in the cockpit footwell, in case of boarding seas. It's concievable that the forward foot or so of it could be rebuilt in order to accomplish this, while giving that over-berth area some additional height. Just a thought at this stage...
Ebb - now the only thing I am lacking is seating at a height to allow level gazing out of the deadlights while seated. But, I have ideas for that, too.
{ramble off}
Y'all have a great day!
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