Rain

I woke last night, just after midnight, to the sound of a thundershower.  I pulled on a jacket and ran out to close up the Nor’sea: six ports, two hatches, rear drop boards and close the main companionway doors.  The main doors actually closed shut with just a little effort, which was interesting because they had been unable to close fully since I picked up the boat last month.  Something seems to be stabilizing or un-swelling, which is good.

Deciding on the Main Cabin Layout:

I went through some photos of Plume today to get an idea how significant a redesign of the original Nor’sea interior would be, and it actually looks do-able.  If I get some basic measurements I may even be able to pull off a reasonable facsimile of the newer interior.  With some minor differences I will point out, the original interior forward of the compression post was pretty similar to the new one.  The differences are primarily forward.

Removing the Nav table that occupies the port side of the original layout:  It’s a different era of navigation, and unless you are a luddite, the time spent at the sit down chart table is pretty small. You’re more likely to be in front of a laptop, or perhaps even in the cockpit with a tablet or GPS Chartplotter.  Paper charts certainly have their place but dedicating a significant portion of the interior to one simply no longer makes sense.

Replacing the fold down V-berth extension with the dual Settee creates a much more open design.  Some cruisers are very fond of the fold-up because it lets you leave the bed in place indefinitely but there is a big difference in available space.

Going with the new design would mean

• stripping out the Nav Table (almost definitely),
• raising the sole (probably)
•  stripping out the existing bunks to relocate them (potentially – I need to do some measurements) and
• rebuilding the bunks and adding the storage cubbies beneath.
• some changes to the chain locker forward (maybe)
• Adding the overhead storage (as on Plume makes a lot of sense.)
• New cushions.  Fortunately, as the case may be, the prior owner discarded all his cushions, which had mildewed.  I was able to get a secondhand set of cushions from Dan, Marilee’s owner and these are for the more modern layout.  He does have a aft cockpit, so there may be some differences.
• Settee table will need to be redesigned.  I need to look more closely at the existing table vs. the newer one and what I can do to either adapt the existing table or something available commercially.

Cost wise it might be

• $150 for some teak and holly sole material, another
• $150 for a 4×8 sheet of teak marine plywood,
• $100 for a sheet of marine plywood for the deck and cubby lids
• $200 for teak material for the overhead storage bins
• -$1000 for being able to use the cushion set I already have

Negatives:

• Some loss in headroom. Probably 4″ or so, but I’m not that tall!
• Higher short term cost

Positives

• Better resale value
• New sole, clean and wider
• More storage, under the sole and in the overhead cubicles
• More modern, open design
• The cushions I have will fit almost perfectly.  This offsets the costs above.
• Opportunity to insulate all around during construction
• lower long term cost