Couple Cruisers

[Hunky Dory]

From the boats that I have seen, Most are designed for alot of people on board. I have not seen many smaller boats in the say 30- 40-45 ft range. They might have more buyers if more were more orentated for a couple.Why are the interiors so dark with dark woods? It does make for more expense and maintence.

[gonzo]

Few people cruise boat of that size as a couple. Those who do just get less people in them. I don't see how dark woods create more maintenance than light woods though.

[CatBuilder]

Just look for boats in the 30-45 range (HUGE range you are specifying there) that have all lines lead to the cockpit. What you are looking for is a boat that is easy to single hand. This means you need to be able to control the whole boat from a central place.

My boat, for instance, is (going to be) 45' long and 25' wide with a country acre of sail area. However, I can single hand it because the rigging is set up properly. That's all you have to do. Set it up so it can be sailed from the helm.

Dark woods? That's just the color of teak. The light woods you see on the modern boats are usually just a cheap veneer. The older ones you see with the dark wood is solid teak joinery. Very different world. The old ones look old, but are usually of higher quality.

Also, monohulls tend to be dark unless they are a deck salon model or something like that. It's the nature of the beast.

[Ike]

If you want boats with light interiors look for boats with less bare wood and more painted surfaces.

[eyschulman]

I think it's called a Hershoff interior white paint panel with wood trim varnished or oiled. I owned a few of those it works well. For some reason back in the 70s and 80s the mass marketing of boats esp. sail boats turned toward more wood often thin veniers down below and the asian built boats with all their teak did likewise.

[gonzo]

Herreshoff preferred dark interiors. When he used light color wood, he usually did a rubbed oil finish.

[eyschulman]

Gonzo I don't know what Herreshoff prefered but the white panel with teak or mahogany trimed common interior is almost univerally called a" Herreshoff interior". Just google that name and see what you come up with.