The album of Ariel #422

[CapnK]

Ebb - you hit upon the very reason I have the counter edge set back in the drawing. The only thing about doing that (rotating the opening a bit from 90*), is that *if* the WC has a hard door, you'll lose knee room. Not much, but every bit will count. Still working on the door thing, but had thought of an accordion fold as the only realistic solution for a hard door. It worries me that it might be problematic eventually, though. That's where a curtain would work better. So... Still thinkin'.

Mike - Again, bingo. It would be nice to be able to have the area up top on that side wall open - which lends itself to a curtain, and a vertical metal tube from the top of the wall to the overhead which would make a dandy handhold. I probably will still do the retractable ladder under the bridgedeck - the steps below the shelf-like step are totally optional, and probably only ever put on if I found after some use that they would be nice to have.

No way would I move the companionway - that would be *way* too much work! It is that way in the original drawings, did you ever notice that? The B27 c'way is like that.

[CapnK]

Quick edit to take out the upper wall portions...

[mbd]

Dangit Kurt! Now you've got me daydreaming instead of working again! I was going to comment on "cutting" your large deadlight in half with a bulkhead and the potential maintenance issues should you ever have to remove said deadlight - then you posted the second drawing. So I won't point that out, although I guess I just did.

So, in thinking of your aft head location, I got to thinking of a couple of other layouts with the same, like the Flicka and the closely related Allegra 24. (I just added a pic of its enclosed head) Same beam, BTW. Both have nice and open v-berths and an enclosed head.

So I say, how about bring that bulkhead forward to between the deadlights? It takes up more space, but any "extra" could certainly be used for wet storage, like up under the cockpit. The extra bit of room just may make the head a little more welcoming and a place you could sit and read a good book, or, heaven forbid, get rid of some bad fish... Just a thought.

[ebb]

Kurt,
Now THAT'S a great idea - opening up the top. Keeps spaciousness, disapates odors. Could soft screen the top, along with the doorway - and it solves the bulkhead over the deadlite issue. If it is an issue: I've seen this work in pics of other boats if the bulkhead is NOT made an issue. If it is designed so that the critical eye sees the solution as, say, providing light to an 'enclosed' space and also providing an open feeling to the accomadation, then there is nothing 'wrong' with it. If the bulkhead was structural, it couldn't work. But as 'furniture', if it can be called that, it's fine!

Another thought: If you step the foreandaft companionway bulkhead (instead of adding cleats and steps to a sheer surface) you could created more room inside the head. Especially knee-room! What I mean is that you could make one side of the comp. ladder with a wall that is stepped out with ledges that are actually space makers inside the head. Maybe just one step could be done that way with the wall. NO?

[CapnK]

Lovin' the input, fellas - you're making me think.

Mike - Moving the forward wall up to the spot 'tween deadlights would give more space, but at the same time it'd take away from galley counter/drawer space (and sealed locker/potential floaty space, too). Dang those compromises! For someone my size or smaller, there is enough knee-room in that dimension. I'll measure it and post the #'s eventually. Due to our wineglass-shaped hulls, what it lacks is flat floor space, one low enough to provide some headroom when standing. Still fiddling with this to optimize what space I do have...

AFA this interfering with deadlight mounting/maintenance: I'm planning on doing something like I think Tony is doing with his deadlights, re-making them so that Lexan mounts into an external recess built into the cabin trunk, fastened from the outside. (Don't expect my work to look nearly as good as Tony's does when it comes to that stage, though. ) So far my rough plan is to mount structure on the inside that will enable me to enlarge to deadlight opening to the same outline shape as the current, original frames. By doing that, when viewed from outside the Lexan will have the same overall proportions as the original deadlights w/frames. In this, I will be preserving the original look, while making for a much more substantial and seaworthy mount. Do dat make sense?

Ebb - the 'sideways steps' idea is good, but it my case would encroach on the access to the forward part of the under-cockpit-sole area, which I do plan to have easily accessible for stowage (tho' I am not sure exactly how, just yet...). Still, you may have given me the genesis of an idea to increase that flat floor space, by rotating the direction of the porta potti to athwartships instead of fore-and-aft. Hmm...

[mbd]

Is it too 'unmanly' to force sitting down when using the head? You could set it up like your dinette, so there's a step up to the business part of the head - throne-like, you might say. Then you could see out the dead light while taking care of business if you were so inclined. You might be able to recoup some of that storage under the head. On second thought, maybe you don't want anything under the head except a holding tank.

That would leave the after area accessible for storage or a hanging locker as well as the area under the deadlight against the hull...

[ebb]

Fore-n-aft or a-thwart-ship is an endless controversy.
Which ever way in an Ariel - you'll have to brace yourself.

Whether you are an inboard or an outboard, hard dinghy
or soft dinghy, aft facing or side facing kind of skipper -
in the Ariel it'll be a real compromise. I believe I can brace
myself better with my arms rather than the back of my head
and my knees. But each to his own.

As has been said about the portopotti: "Truth lies in a well and we
may justly say that logic does supply us with steps,
whereby we may go down to reach the water." Dr. I. Watts

And remember it was Boris Pasternak who observed,
"What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace
the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup."

Whatever you do, remember to fillet your corners.