Interior drawings via GIMP

[ebb]

Capt Kurt,
Aside from your wonderful artwork, really impressive tool, your interior is absolutely right on. Might I ask what you intend for the portside you've left low in what looks like the original settee height and position? Perhaps the galley?

Being a large person, I've found it nearly impossible to find enough length to plan in for sleeping. Or enough width for two, should that be an option. Even thought of an athwartship layout. Need 7 feet! I can 'see' a pullout from the highside to make the double - unless it is the low side you'ld pull out for that purpose?

I'm going to work in a 1/2 dinette or chart table also in the 6" UP because for night time sailing being able to lean on something and look out the windows is imperitive. Like counting lighthouse becons along a pitch black coast. I feel more comfortable being able to look out the window sailing or not! And I'ld rather sit than stoop. Raising the horizontals makes for important stowage, too. Your design does that and keeps the interior of the Ariel from looking stuffed. Can easily see that in your drawing. Course we'll see when all the carpentry, cushions, and gear are in!

You (and the Gimp) have also opened another hatch (of opportunity) for a new owner or someone new out there thinking of buying an Ariel to imagine how to renovate these exceptional older boats. You're making it more certain that the A/Cs will continue to sail on into another four decades.

Please give us s'more! Especially your aft view!

Just visited Peter Baumgartner's Cape Dory 27 site http://www.pbaumgartner.com
It is an extensive restoration that generated a book from Capt. P. The site opens with a rear view of the boat as found. I am jealous of the extra volume that the CD27 has - but still and forever, Ariel's butt looks like Marilyn's next to the Mae West or Monika of the CD27! M m m m m m!

[commanderpete]

He almost makes it sound easy

Oy

[CapnK]

C'pete -

You almost have your camouflage scheme complete, but I can still tell that there is a boat there.

[CapnK]

Howdy mr ebb -

Thank you for the compliments on my rudimentary illustrations. I see what you mean - the drawing does give the impression or port being a bit lower, I think due to the lower cabinet I drew there. I plan, though, to have both sides at the same height, and above the waterline. The cabinetry I've sketched in is just a rough idea of what it will look like, for my brain to grasp in an attempt to see if what I *think* might actually be a possibility. Because I know what I was thinking when I drew it, it's easy to see how it might look different to someone not having my warped and addled mind. I do hope that what I've done might help and/or inspire someone else to renovate and rebuild one of these grand ladies. Just like TonyG's foundation picture and the inspirational work of people like you and Aussie Geoff have helped me.

Keeping in mind that I'm a singlehander, and in the last 3 years on my Com-Pac I had overnighters stay belowdecks maybe 3 times, my thinking on the interior is completely self-serving. Although I will be able to have a guest if the occasion arises, what I'm planning is with that as a far secondary consideration. If it ever happens, well, where there's a will, there's a way. If a guest became a long-term guest, sleeping athwartships at anchor is a very viable possibility. At sea, only one person would be sleeping at a time, so hot-bunking would suffice. I think c_amos sleeps athwartships with his Admiral, maybe he'll toss in some discussion and experience on that. OK, on to explaining design thoughts a little better -

The cabinets hung under the sidedecks will be more or less identical on both sides. The cabinets below them will differ. Starboard I plan to use that as my primary bunk, so there the lower cabinets will be farther outboard (and necessarily smaller). To port, the settee will be just a sitty, a small place for a visitor (should I have one) to plop their buns. I can put in a larger cabinet behind in that position because of that.

I intend to go long distances, so I want (need) stowage, stowage, and more stowage, because (yep) - I'll need to carry lots of stores. The Com-Pac taught me that being able to organize and access said in an easy manner makes shipboard life much better. After 3 years on her, and with her default design, I was just getting to a point where I had a system that worked well with her arrangement. The stowage on that CP23 was all below-berth (newer models have additional cabinets above), and while that is OK, it is far from being efficient. I'm thinking that this will be more of a 2-tier arrangement, with the seldom used things (tools, spares, out of season clothing, backups) all going belowberth, and having plenty of space above that is easily accessible for things used daily or weekly, and for food. I don't plan to have every square inch of her stuffed with supplies, just lots of separate areas to put what I will have.

I've only begun thinking on the arrangement for the after part of the cabin, and my thoughts there tend towards "wait and see", because experience teaches best. Right now, I don't think I'll be changing it much. Perhaps drawers under the port side for galley supplies. No fancy arrangements for cooking - I'm fairly "primitive" when it comes to my food needs, I think coffee qualifies as it's own food group. Although I *really* enjoyed '53 Lafite Rothschild when I had it (it was a bit better than the '53 Margeaux), I won't be carrying that sort of beverage nor preparing the kinds of meals it deserves. My sailing food habits reflect my backpacking and kayaking food habits - quick, easy to prepare, but tasty is just fine. So there will be a spice rack, at least.

Single burner stove (probably a backpacking multi-fuel version, mounted), with a Bakepacker oven if I want to get fancy and make some bread or a cake. I'll also have a gimballed setup for cooking while at sea. No reefer or cold-plate, I don't think - I'll use ice while it lasts, and plan accordingly for when it's gone. I may install a Peltier-type cooling system on the icebox to extend storage time, but which can run off of solar. If I do that, it will be on the top, on it's own removeable piece of lid, with an identically shaped piece of plain insulated lid, so that I can keep the box as efficient as possible if it is not in use.

As far as water, current thoughts run towards 3 tanks with a total of 75 gallons or so. I could live lavishly for a month+ on that amount. One tank each side under the settees, hard up against the inner wall, and maybe a third small tank just forward of the main bulkhead, raising the sole under the forward hatch. I need to do some calculating on sizes etc to see how that will work out, but my objective is to keep the weight low and in as far as possible, as close to the CG as possible. If possible, I'm going to avoid having any thru-hulls below waterline. I'd like to have seawater at the sink for dishwashing, but may accomplish that with a small tank that gets pumped into every few days via a hose dropped over the side.

[ebb]

Excellent, excellent. Keep us apprised. There are a certain number here who want to go a'roaming and there are others who will be inspired. Dialog will help keep me, for sure, from 'reinventing the wheel.' And seeing an error befor it gets cast in epoxy.


All well and good: the waterline at anchor -
but where is highwater mark when on your ear at sea?

[CapnK]

Waterline is much higher when sailing, for sure. I doubt the compartments will make the boat unsinkable, but they should at least make it slow-sinkable. If a breach occurs above water level on one side, you'd do much as you would in any other boat - tack, and fast. This in an effort to bring your hull-hole out of the water in order to slow any flooding, and eventually make it possible to effect some type of repair. The watertight compartments inside the boat are to keep her from going down too fast. If the boat can't be saved, then at least maybe one would have more time to make an effective abandonment.

I'm still pondering the interior rubber skin or double-hull ideas. At least in the area forward of the main bulkhead.

Rereading Griffith's Bluewater last night, came across a place where he stated something along the lines that "one cannot head out to sea without taking aboard potential danger as a passenger". True. But you can only hope that this is a passenger who will cause no trouble while you are "out there", and do as much as possible to negate the effects if they do. The only way to avoid that is to stay in port. To that, I say No thanks.

Like another great sage said "I'd rather die while I'm living, than live while I'm dead.

[ebb]

Griffiths (?)
It was Maurice Griffiths ( english yacht designer and 'Yachting Monthly' ed) that got it started too many years ago, for me. "Dream Ships" it was called. Still have a 1952 copy of "The Magic of the Swatchways" Probably aren't any of them swatchways left. I believe he began designing shallow water sailboats from Chapell. 'Bluewater' ??

[CapnK]

Bob and Nancy Griffith, book title "Bluewater", 1979, ISBN 0-914814-19-2

Their boat(s) were named Awahnee, they'd done 3 circumnavigations and 200,000 some odd miles at the time the book was published, including a cruise around Antarticta. Really good book, the guy was incredibly self reliant. Lots of food for thought.

Haven't heard of Maurice, though - will see if I can find one of those. Thanks!

[CapnK]

After ripping the old icebox out the other day, I wanted to have a simple B&W drawing to play with before putting any ideas into wood. Here is a line drawing of the Ariel cabin w/out an icebox, viewed facing aft. Thought I'd post it here in case anyone else ever feels the urge to doodle on something that has proper perspective. This one is 600x450 pix. A 1024x768 version is here.