Centre v aft cockpit?

[RupertW]

sorry haven't read all 97 replies but many seen to have been written by people who never been on a CC let alone own one so its only there option .
we had both and at the moment we own a Moody 42 cc .
my comment is if you looking at a week end / summer holiday boat leave the CC alone,
if on the other hand you want to go Cruising , you find a CC boat hard to beat .

I’ve had and sailed both and this time I will disagree with you. The ease of getting on and off stern-to can’t be beaten and most of the time the boat is at rest in marina, harbour wall, or with at anchor for swimming or getting into the dinghy.

 

[geem]

I’ve had and sailed both and this time I will disagree with you. The ease of getting on and off stern-to can’t be beaten and most of the time the boat is at rest in marina, harbour wall, or with at anchor for swimming or getting into the dinghy.

We find getting on and off a sugar scoop boat at anchor far harder than our CC boat with vertical ladder arrangement, especially when there is any swell. I have said this before. There is far better privacy n our CC cockpit than you can get from an AC boat. The galley placement in our boat means that food is easily passed up from the galley straight in to the CC via the steps or directly from the galley via a portlight. We do a lot of passage making so this is important to us. The layout of a CC boat lends itsself to two couples. Aft cabin with en-suite and front cabin with main heads. Close doors to saloon and privacy for both couples at night. Nobody needs to wander around the saloon to go for a pee. Our aft cabin has amazing ventilation. Three deck hatches and four portlights. Our transom has space for Windpilot, boarding ladder and Duogen. The liferaft sits on the aft deck so is easily accessible in an emergency. Sugar scoops dont lend themselves to wind self steering systems. On long passages we love our self steering and wouldnt want to be without it. We dont ever sit in marinas so stepping off the back just isnt a consideration. We wanted a boat to go cruising in so bought one

 

[RupertW]

We find getting on and off a sugar scoop boat at anchor far harder than our CC boat with vertical ladder arrangement, especially when there is any swell. I have said this before. There is far better privacy n our CC cockpit than you can get from an AC boat. The galley placement in our boat means that food is easily passed up from the galley straight in to the CC via the steps or directly from the galley via a portlight. We do a lot of passage making so this is important to us. The layout of a CC boat lends itsself to two couples. Aft cabin with en-suite and front cabin with main heads. Close doors to saloon and privacy for both couples at night. Nobody needs to wander around the saloon to go for a pee. Our aft cabin has amazing ventilation. Three deck hatches and four portlights. Our transom has space for Windpilot, boarding ladder and Duogen. The liferaft sits on the aft deck so is easily accessible in an emergency. Sugar scoops dont lend themselves to wind self steering systems. On long passages we love our self steering and wouldnt want to be without it. We dont ever sit in marinas so stepping off the back just isnt a consideration. We wanted a boat to go cruising in so bought one

Fair enough but many (but of course not all) of the advantages you quote exist in our aft cockpit boat.

We have front cabin with en-suite heads and aft cabins (two of course) with main heads. Plus a big bunk bed cabin which we mostly use for extra storage - all cabins lockable and aft cabins each have 3 opening ports. So fine and private for 3 couples and no heads sharing if only two.

The liferaft sits just forward of the main sliding hatch so is easily accessible from the cockpit.

We find the autohelm serves us fine and have spare parts and are eternally grateful we don’t have to adjust or maintain a vane system.

We do use marinas and harbour walls so unlike you that does matter to us, but as it’s easy to get and out of the dinghy from the sugar scoop that works too - and if the design meant it was an issue it would be the work of minutes to design a good handhold solution.

And of course our cockpit is the main living area when sailing or stopped so it’s the one place we wouldn’t compromise on size.

So as always it’s horses for courses and in cold climes or continuous rough downwind sailing I think fondly of the centre cockpit boat I once had. The other 99 percent of the time I know I’ve made the right choice for me. As I’m sure you have.

 

[Daydream believer]

But ( apparently) Aston Martin will supply an engine that runs on cheese!

Of course- But what if you wanted a non standard engine

 

[geem]

Fair enough but many (but of course not all) of the advantages you quote exist in our aft cockpit boat.

We have front cabin with en-suite heads and aft cabins (two of course) with main heads. Plus a big bunk bed cabin which we mostly use for extra storage - all cabins lockable and aft cabins each have 3 opening ports. So fine and private for 3 couples and no heads sharing if only two.

The liferaft sits just forward of the main sliding hatch so is easily accessible from the cockpit.

We find the autohelm serves us fine and have spare parts and are eternally grateful we don’t have to adjust or maintain a vane system.

We do use marinas and harbour walls so unlike you that does matter to us, but as it’s easy to get and out of the dinghy from the sugar scoop that works too - and if the design meant it was an issue it would be the work of minutes to design a good handhold solution.

And of course our cockpit is the main living area when sailing or stopped so it’s the one place we wouldn’t compromise on size.

So as always it’s horses for courses and in cold climes or continuous rough downwind sailing I think fondly of the centre cockpit boat I once had. The other 99 percent of the time I know I’ve made the right choice for me. As I’m sure you have.

We also have bunk beds but didnt think it worth mentioning. If you slant towards marina like I can see that your boat works well for you. Our more independent cruising life requires some different details that for us are better provided in a CC but it is possible some of the details are unique to our Van de Stadt and not common in other CC boats

 

[stu9000]

We bought our Westerly Seahawk because of the large aft cabin, centre cockpit and solid build.

My wife and three kids love the cc. Feels safe. It's dry. The aft deck is great for crabbing. Lots of good sized cabins to hide away read in if family life gets a bit much. I don't feel the companion way steps are particularly severe. When I'm handling the boat alone I am a bit closer to the bow which is nice.

It is true that visibility under the jib can be an issue. I'm also a bit further from the stern cleats. But it is easy enough to clamber around. I don't feel I'm on top or hemmed in at all.

Whether the higher cockpit makes for an uncomfortable motion is hard to quantify. Being close to the centre point can be a good thing. I have not found the motion at all disconcerting. corkscrewing over a stern swell in light winds can make me go a bit green. Perhaps the effect would be slightly less in a lower aft cockpit but I am not a fan of the low headroom style aft cabin where you slide into a shelf. And I suspect that in that seaway I'd be feeling green in most yachts. More modern aft cockpit designs with better headroom are surely as high as the Seahawk anyway.

To cc or not is not the only consideration but I find it works very well with kids for the feeling of safety and the aft deck to play on.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I’ve had and sailed both and this time I will disagree with you. The ease of getting on and off stern-to can’t be beaten and most of the time the boat is at rest in marina, harbour wall, or with at anchor for swimming or getting into the dinghy.

We have a sugar scoop which we use to step off if we going to a harbour wall , we can also sit on it one out of the water after a swim .
If we going stern onto a Pontoon or harbour wall and using our anchor , Christine will let X amount of chain out then return to the stern while I control the chain from the cockpit ,
She stand on the last step then set off once close enough , we very rarely we throw a rope to willing helpers unless we know them , as it can cause more problems then it help .
Agree if the wall is very higher it's can be a problem , but then everyone else will have the same problem
Ok it's only my option but I think for a cruising boat your much better off with a CC .