My favourite Women friendly design features

[Bergalia]

I salute you Wilma. In true Naval tradition - I've been 'hoist by my own petard...'

[Wilma Ham]

I accept graciously.

[Wilma Ham]

Okay, now back to the grindstone. Features that constitutes comfort and a pleasurable long term life on a boat from a woman's perspective as I am a woman and look at boats from that point of view.

I am considering trading the saloon with all that hardly used seating in for this type of comfort.

A bed where I can get at from the sides. This is a good example on a moody 47 of how there can be made room next to the bed.
Extra room for the cabin can come off the saloon that has disappeared.
Has anyone ever seen a boat without a saloon, but good cabins and a decent pilot house that can function as a saloon?

Or instead of a settee and table, what about a small space for comfortable chairs down below, because sometimes you would like to get away from a storm and sit below.

Although a 47 is still a big boat, you could still apply this concept to a smaller 42 ft boat.

[lazeyjack]

here is centreline bed on Nimbus Wilma, and sea births each side, I will email the others, dont want to bore the thread to bits
this is all before the new owners personalised her. the joinerwork is NA white oak, but I would not advise using white oak, you needs sort through tonnes before you can get out decent timber I used BB I think it was, crowd in Henderson, they let me go in there and take my plane to the sawn stuff to check for shakes etc
the deckhead is foam backed fabric held up with velcroe, each panel can pull down exposing hyd lines etc, good idea, eh(no charge for this) priceless info you can see the big hanging lkrs for my evenin gown there is a crowd in Mt Roskil who make the custom mattress any shape, nothing worse than sleeping on foam

[lazeyjack]

you see, if you just have a centreline double, without a division, or without lee clothes, you right off the cabin when the boat is on the wind or even cracked off, I prefer, the light and airy finish, although painting to the best standards does not save money, it uses it!! as far as labout content goes
the boat you showed the centreboarder, looks kind of tender sailing on the wind she looks like she will put her rail under in a blow?

[alan white]

Nice work, LJ

[lazeyjack]

Originally Posted by alan white

Nice work, LJ

thank you Alan, I am the brains behind the alloy and engineering and all the ss work and wiring
i am no good at woodwork, my guys did this(

[alan white]

Your guys is you. It's the result I'm talking about. I'm a lousy welder but I know good welding, so I hire the best I can afford. I'm mostly a woodworker. But you've got to have a vision of the whole thing.
Our heads fit one size and shape of hat best, eh?

[Wilma Ham]

[IMG][/IMG]Wonderful pictures and what a wonderful cabin, beautiful Stuart. I never get enough of pictures, for me they say more than words.
I love that bed, no crawling and the seaberths are great too. Never seen anything like that, but they make so much sense. I love light finish. I don't like dark wood either and I know that every person has a different taste, but give me light anyday.

That industrial velcro is indeed amazing stuff, the centerboarder boat also had every panel with velcro and a few screws. So easy to take on and off.
I do agree getting behind the panels or getting at anythng is a major concern and deserves a lot of attention. We are thinking of modular fixings, easy to remove and renew. Not a lot built in, strenght can be had another way.

I will pass the question about tender sailing and railing on to the owner of the yacht, but she sails fast with her narrow hull and she is a heavy boat. Lots of steel, thick plates and strong as an ox.

Interesting that both you and Alan have opposite strength, but I do agree with Alan, you don't have to know everything yourself as long as you recognises quality.

Salthouse builds in fibre glass and wood and we seen the factory where they used carbon fibre and all the special way of using it that comes with it. A wall of water to catch the dust when painting.

I hope I have answered all the questions and yes Stuart I love more pictures, here or by email. If they are good i will post them anyway as an example.

[Wilma Ham]

[IMG][/IMG]

Access is so important, I do understand that. With good access I feel safe as things can be easily fixed.

I wish that my storage will always that accessible.

[Wilma Ham]

Stuart, I have passed the question about tender sailing and railing on to the owner of the yacht.
I have received a reply from the owner and builder of the yacht.
I also have been told many times that there is a big difference between a centerboard and a lifting keel. The boat I so like has a lifting keel as it has a lot of weight in it, so I am still learning the proper language. But here is his reply.

Hi Wilma,
First, the boat is not really a centreboarder. You would class it as a lift keel yacht as the keel weighs 4.5 tonnes. The bottom plate is 25mm or 1 inch thick and weighs 2.8 tonnes and you could say that at least 2 tonnes of that is really just ballast. However that thick plate has all sorts of other advantages. Crusoe has a lot of designed stability in hullshape and with a motor and gearbox that weighs just short of a tonne, stability has never been a problem. In our last ocean passage from Sydney, Australia to Opua in New Zealand we had a couple of days of up to 40 knots at times and a very confused sea. The rail gets close in those conditions and breaking seas will wash down the deck but it certainly does not put the rail under unless you over canvas. I have found the odd time that I have done that the lady navigator, my wife, has something to say. John, Builder of Crusoe

I must say stability and feeling safe in a strong boat is another woman friendly feature. I do understand that a yacht is not a car and will move about and I have noticed that if I start to understand the working of a yacht I am less anxious when the boat hangs on one side. I am getting a sense of that is what the boat is supposed to do.
But I needed to be educated about heeling, otherwise I was still scared that the boat would fall over.

However on Steadfast I did enjoy the heel after going slowish for a few days, as the boat finally showed some speed and went through the water beautifully with a bit of wind and water rushing over the side.
And you do appreciate railings and being tucked in. On Steadfast, the french pilot cutter ,I have been flying all over the place and that was not nice.

How do you hold on and carry a cup of coffee? I had trouble with a heel like this on this boat. This is John showing how it is when heeling and he did need both hands to hold on. They probably didn;t drink while on duty in the old days!

[lazeyjack]

very nice pics and a fair enough answer, all very neat and tidy that plumbing etc, and gas struts great idea
I don't know if you want to digress into keels here, maybe not
However the worst thing for a Woman and a man, is a boat that sails on her ear So form stabilty and ballest ratios are important But in my opinion a healthy ballast ration is very important and I will be looking for 45% Wilma in your new boat you MUST,and here there is no option, have a stabilty curve, It is the law in Eu now, USA refuses to go along with it, but there USED to be quite a few capsizes that ended in Disaster before the rulkes came in, I,m not sure of the exact angle, but I think its avs of about 132 degrees for Syd/Hobart. Guilermo will pick up on this Nimbus is 138 at departure and 134 roughly at arrival(full tanks , empty tanks)(8 tonnes lead)
For inst. little Kate, the yacht that sailed around the Horn, has such form stabilty that in anchorages she was the only boat that did not roll, most anchorages in the Pacific are roly poly, so this is a very big consideration- form stabilty, Your 2 chine yachts can have this feature more easily, and become really stable as the second chine starts to dip

[Wilma Ham]

I do agree that stability adds to the comfort,and interesting that it is now law.

John and I are going away kayaking up North in New Zealand looking for interesting boats. We are armed with our camera and our curiosity. To look it up on google earth, we are going to the area of Bay of Islands.

I will be back after the 10th June.

Wilma

[Wilma Ham]

We had a fabulous time away. The best thing that happened was finding the DeRidders who built Magic Dragon - a boat with ideas far before its time. We were real lucky to get a tour of their still fantastic boat. It is amazing how some boats hardly age.
That it is a good boat shows, they have been living on her for 43 years, sailing extensively and loving it. The boat is great because of Michel's own clever design ideas with input from Jane. And it is obvious that they both love their comfort.

FOR ANYBODY WHO IS INTERESTED THIS MAGIC BOAT IS FOR SALE, ONLY TO THE PERSON WHO WILL DO HER JUSTICE.

Here are some features designed by Michel DeRidder which are women friendly.

These gimbled seats in the cockpit are amazing. As the heel on passage making is very constant Michel and Jane adjust these seats so you are level and can sit comfortably in the very well sheltered cockpit for longer periods of time.
When in port these chairs can be used as a table or be folded out of the way flat against the wall.
The whole system is geniously put together.
More detail can be found on www.setsail.com where DeRidders write about their designs, travels and favourite cruising spots.
The cockpit windows can be folded down when cruising in good weather and look how classy Jane is sitting on these chairs. They also provide fantastic visibility as they are high. Feet rest comfortably on the overhang of companionway.
The only other gimbled seat I have seen so far is this one in Crusoe's pilot house.

[Wilma Ham]

To make things easier here is the link to DeRidders

http://www.setsail.com/s_logs/deridder/dragon.html

http://www.setsail.com/s_logs/deridder/dragon20.html