Chartering with children

bbg

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I need some advice from anyone who has cruised or chartered with children.

We are planning to charter a 33 foot boat in the Med this June. We have two children ages 4 years and 18 months. My first concern is where the younger one will sleep. If we put her in a berth in one of the cabins, she might fall off in her sleep (and the two kids will be rolling all over each other in their sleep). If we put her on the floor in the saloon, she might wake up and start climbing around while we are still asleep.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to deal with this? And any other useful advice on chartering for a week with small kids.
 

cozy

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I wouldn't have thought it would be too much of a problem. If the boat has lee cloths on saloon berths one of those would be ideal. Otherwise some kind of heath robinson affair using cushions etc to create a secure berth (I'm assuming in this reply that each night will be spent in a sheltered port as opposed to crashing around at sea). Perhaps the bigger consideration will be heat, although June shouldn't be too bad.
 

cozy

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PS I haven't actually cruised with children, but did cruise last year in the Med with my wife and in-laws, all of whom needed close supervision at times, especially ashore.........
 
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I cruised quite a bit with children - also chartered in Thailand with 3 children aged from 1 to 6. Sleeping wasn't a problem - the 6 year old slept in the cockpit, the younger two down below, I slept on the side deck /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Very comfy, but I was more concerned about me turning over in the night than them /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Well, the two down below (aged 1 and 3) just slept on one of the double berths - there was nowhere for them to fall off except off the top. This was an improvement on the arrangement at home where they slept on a normal bed where they could fall off either side. Mind you, they only did that a couple of times before they learnt to sleep without rolling over too much.

If you're worried about it, stick them in any old berth and shove a sail on the floor next to them so that they have a soft landing!
 

tcm

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if not sleeping with you, i wd put small kids on the floor in knock-down cot, or dismantle the saloon seating to make a mattress and er barricades. also on the floor. The intense med light wakes them up early, so anything you can do to cut out early morning light will let you sleep a little longer. I would also get some sleep while they sleep as well. Generally, latin types love kids so you shd definitely eat out with them at restaurants, and encourage the three year old to "seehow fast s/he can run over there and backl" to wear them out too! Otherwise, it is amazing (or part of our natural abilities?) that most humans don't generally roll over and suffocate the kids if all sleeping in the same bed.

Other than this, you have to keepem out of the sun between 1 and 4pm when it's super-hot, and consider the alllover swim gear. A small bouncy ball is very interesting to throw about in a sailing boat and doesn't cause too much damage. Also, making a lot of racket with pans and a wooden spoon is excelent fun, and the kids quite like it too. O)ne of the parents has to be deicated towars looking after the kids pretty much all the time, tho you can swap, of course. This means that an autopilot is very handy indeed.
 

bbg

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Thanks for the tips. I have assumed that a charter boat won't have lee cloths, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I think the sailbag on the floor technique will probably work fine, but might be a problem with an inward opening cabin door. I am sure with these tips we will scrape by without too much damage to either of the kids.

Thanks to all.
 

Salty

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We used to solve the problem with a standard travel cot which fitted neatly into our 35-footer's forepeak. Not only did it give our nipper somewhere secure to go to bed, but also a secure place when parents were coming in or out of the mooring, or other stressful maneouver. It was a tight squeeze though, and it would be aggravating to lug it with you only to find it didn't fit.

Other than that, just the obvious advice about keeping them out of the sun and keeping an eye on them at all times. It's scary how quiet they are when they fall into water accidently...
 
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