Cutting the Cake

Post #05

How to apportion the deck space and cabin space available to make the most effective use of the floor area available? There are three critical functions to cater for; working spaces, lounging and socializing, and the more functional requirements of cooking, sleeping and bathrooms.

If we're concerned about performance we want to maintain a good balance between the superstructure and the hulls in order to avoid one or more of the outcomes addressed in the previous post. That puts a limit on the amount of space to play with in catering for these requirements.

Clearly the more separate spaces we allocate to these requirements, the more divisions we have, the smaller the spaces are going to be and the greater the restrictions we have on the geometry we have have to work with in designing these spaces.

The working spaces come first in the design process because they are non negotiable. They include easy boarding, access to the helm, the winches and other sail controls, clear side decks for access forward, secure deck space for deployment and stowage of sails, and deck space for anchoring, deployment of fenders and fending off. Good vision from the helm is another critical consideration.

The human spaces for cooking, sleeping and bathrooms come next and then the spaces for relaxing and socializing. The more versatile we can make each of these spaces by making them multifunctional, the better we can optimize the available space, especially on a small boat.

The failure to successfully integrate these spaces and make the best possible use of the floor space and deck space available to the designer is the single biggest reason why the superstructure gets pushed beyond reasonable limits and so often ends up out of balance with the hulls, resulting in the outcomes mentioned in the previous post.