Cab/Wheelhouse Design Advice

[zamgod]

Can any of you experts advise me on which cab design would look best on my boat? She is 21ft 6ins from bow to stern and 8ft beam at the widest point.

I've added a photo of the wheelhouse as she stands now, but I'm not happy with it. Kinda looks out of proportion to the rest of the hull. The height of the wheelhouse is 6ft 8in and 5ft wide, 2ft wide at the bow end.

I've attached photos of the hull without any cab, prior to building the existing one.

 

[Mr Efficiency]

"Handsome is as handsome does" goes the saying, but if it looks too tall you could try adding another horizontal stripe to the paintwork, say painting everything above the windows dark blue. Horizontal striped clothing makes people look fatter !

 

[michael pierzga]

You need to decide standing headroom or sitting.

Most work boats go standing headroom...much more comfy.

Put alot of camber in the roof so that you can lower the sides.

No deck beams in the roof to maximize interior height

Use paint to disguise its height.

 

[tom28571]

Questions: Why is there a step up into the pilothouse? It looks that way from the two people standing in the boat. Is the cockpit self draining?

I ask because the PH looks much taller than it might need to be based on height of cockpit sole. Fuel tank under the PH maybe. If so, maybe move it to saddle tanks in cockpit.

In any case, I agree that function takes first place over appearance in a work boat but there is no need to make it more awkward than need be. Around here, many have a much more awkward looking steering house right in the bow.

 

[viking north]

Here in Atlantic Canada your boats profile is typical of it's length, although your cabin does seem to be about a foot or so higher than necessary. Both Michael and Tom made some good points. Other than lowering your cabin sole as much as possible and building in cabin top camber (design tricks to build in headroom on small sailboats) you can visually lower cabin height by increasing cabin length or adding tapering washboards running aft. Simple changes like adding a little more slope to the windshield and adding an extra foot or more to the cabin aft will result in amazing results. For a quick mock up cut a silhouette of what you think would look good out of any thin sheet material. Paint it black and mount it on the boats center line. View the silhouette between you and the setting sun or a bright light at darkness. This will give you a full scale model to work with.

A yacht is not defined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner---

 

[zamgod]

Questions: Why is there a step up into the pilothouse? It looks that way from the two people standing in the boat. Is the cockpit self draining?

I ask because the PH looks much taller than it might need to be based on height of cockpit sole. Fuel tank under the PH maybe. If so, maybe move it to saddle tanks in cockpit.

In any case, I agree that function takes first place over appearance in a work boat but there is no need to make it more awkward than need be. Around here, many have a much more awkward looking steering house right in the bow.

I'm not fully conversant with the nomenclature used but here goes. The PH is placed on the deck, there is no difference in floor levels between the deck and PH floor. The guy in the PH (me) is 6ft 5ins tall, hence the reason I went for a 6ft 8ins PH. The fuel tanks are located aft of the PH, midway between the rear of cab and the transom. They are contained in a box section which also acts a seating.

Here in Atlantic Canada your boats profile is typical of it's length, although your cabin does seem to be about a foot or so higher than necessary. Both Michael and Tom made some good points. Other than lowering your cabin sole as much as possible and building in cabin top camber (design tricks to build in headroom on small sailboats) you can visually lower cabin height by increasing cabin length or adding tapering washboards running aft. Simple changes like adding a little more slope to the windshield and adding an extra foot or more to the cabin aft will result in amazing results. For a quick mock up cut a silhouette of what you think would look good out of any thin sheet material. Paint it black and mount it on the boats center line. View the silhouette between you and the setting sun or a bright light at darkness. This will give you a full scale model to work with.

I tend to agree with you, it does seem to be too tall. Maybe if I cut the height down a bit, added more of a slope to the windshield, in fact do most of what you and the other contributors have suggested....she would look a lot better. Sorry, I don't know what "tapering washboards" are!

She's more of a pleasure boat than work boat, that is, coastal fishing trips with some pals and setting a few lobster pots (personal quantities). So I might get away with the reduced height, sitting instead of standing.

Thanks to all for their contributions, I now have some ideas on how to proceed when she comes out of the water.

 

[michael pierzga]

A proper roof looks like a visor on a baseball cap. Cambered and it extents forward of the wheelhouse windows. This overhang shields you from high sun and lengthens the roof to make it look less boxy

 

[messabout]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like it the way it is.

Change the paint scheme if you must, but leave the structure as it is. Paint is simple, rebuilding the whole pilot house is a lot of work and expense and not worth the effort unless the present structure presents some hazard to operation or navigation.

 

[viking north]

In your case a sloped side panel (don't know what they are actually called) on each side of the wheelhouse in combination with the washboards (sloped/tapering) might actually improve to the look. Play with the design in silhouette, those creative juices will flow. Good Luck and Have fun.

A Yacht is not determined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner---

 

[PAR]

Getting "scale" and proportion right take time and experimentation. The easiest way is to use profiles of you hull and drop different configurations on it with a paint, drawing or photo edit software package. They'll be crude, but you'll get an ideal instantly which look better or worse, which will help narrow your focus.

 

[Mr Efficiency]

I had a feeling the OP was a "beanpole" ( 6feet 5 he says) ! That means no change out of 2 metres height above an already raised sole in a 6 metre-ish boat for the enclosed wheel house, I guess the only way out would be a crafty paint scheme, or having the floor inside lower than the outside, which would be a touch problematical too.

 

[zamgod]

"messabout"

Thanks. To have someone actually say they like it the way it is makes me wonder if I should just leave the basic structure and just add on the bits suggested by; michael pierzga, viking north and Mr Efficiency.

I think I'll use PAR's suggestion and use Photoshop to experiment with the design.

 

[PAR]

I think a simple doghouse with a nicely sheer roof would work. Forget about the notches in the profile, just a simple house. The sketch is a different design than your's but you get the idea I think.

 

[zamgod]

I think a simple doghouse with a nicely sheer roof would work. Forget about the notches in the profile, just a simple house. The sketch is a different design than your's but you get the idea I think.

Thanks.
The top drawing looks much better to me, it's in proportion to the hull.

As a matter of interest someone told me that for stability a general rule-of-thumb was 3:1 relative to length:beam. Is there a similar rule-of-thumb for the height of the superstructure to that of the hull.
The reason I ask is that the top drawing has a mast/derrick ******** which looks quite good alongside the doghouse. Maybe food for thought......

 

[PAR]

The 3:1 stability/beam thing is meaningless.

No rules of thumb on heights, in regard to stability. A stability curve is calculated and it's the only way to know what you got.

I use a mast and boom on several designs (see my gallery). The one above is a cartoon, which were suggestions for another fellow several years ago. He wanted 6' headroom on a 18' boat, to which I said it would look "wrong", so the two sketches show the difference between a proper "scale" and just making it tall enough. Now on this boat, you could raise the sheer a bit, which will hide the big box look, but now you're into more work. Working with sole heights will offer the best compromise.

Sketch up some stuff with a drawing program or PhotoShop. You'll get an idea of scale and proportion pretty quickly.