The album of Ariel #422

[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.

[CapnK]

Mike - I have seen it recommended that to keep head odors down, *everyone* should sit down when using the head aboard a boat, whatever they are doing. Makes sense, because it ensures that all 'materials' wind up where they are supposed to be, with no inadvertent 'spillage'.

I originally had the PP sitting a bit higher, but found that unwieldy - it's too hard to pull pants down/up (or do, erm, anything else...) when you are scrunched over, half-crouched. Headroom in the head is a necessary component.

I think I am establishing the guidelines for "recommended minimum head dimensions".

As you pointed out, there is good storage space both behind the PP, as well as under the sidedecks. I think that this will be a most convenient place for storage of tools and maintenance/cleaning supplies - a good utility room.

Ebb - Aye, everything is indeed a compromise. It'll be snug in my WC, so easy bracing won't be a problem. It might even serve as a good resting spot, for that exact reason.

Yesterday:

I pulled out my v-bunk and remade it approx. 3" lower. The top of the boards (not including the cushion) are 7" above the original vberth height. Before, I had it up at 10", but that was too high. To climb in was a big step up from the sole (I actually put a step on the bulkhead for that reason), and then when in the bunk, there was not enough height for anything other than a scrunched-over turnaround to get into a lying-down position. Dropping the height 3" made a big difference, both in access and comfort. It's funny what a difference a few inches make, here and there...

I mounted two vertical posts to 'frame' in the doorway of the WC, like in the 2nd pic above - a full-size trial version of that setup. Works great, and I tested another idea I'd had, too: Instead of curtains for the small areas at the top of the walls, have pieces of wood there, hinged to fold up/down, one on each wall. Up for privacy when the head is in use, down they'd lie flat, to act as counter space and keep the 'openness' of the cabin. The sizes needed for them to lay flat when down (and not strike against the cabin trunk side) would leave a small 3"-ish gap at the top when up, for ventilation. Don't know if I will wind up using this or not, but it is a possibility...

I'll also be dropping my dinette seat height 4-6". At the present height (same as the original counter height), my shoulder rests against the cabin trunk side, just below the deadlight. Dropping the seat a few inches will make for more shoulder room, more comfort, and I'll still be able to see out the deadlight when seated. Still planning to have it convertible for bunk space, too.

Last, after months of deliberation, I've decided to go with a 2-pole mast support. The poles will sit at the same approximate location as the original oak supports, will be mechanically joined to each other at the top, and will sit in a recess designed into the cross-cabin support beam. I will most likely be using steel as the material, which I don't see as optimal because it can corrode, but I think that if I take the proper steps before mounting it, it will not be an insurmountable problem - I plan to treat them the same way a steel hull is treated. I think that that will be sufficient for the purpose, with enough of an 'overkill' factor to please that part of me which enjoys the thought of something being at least a bit better than it needs to be.