Midships Owner's Cabin - Most valued "extra" features. Opinions welcome

jfm said:
Your updown ceiling feels much more random (= ugly) than others, more random if less intrusive than even the phantom 48. In particular the chunk of low ceiling that is formed by the corridor above will look very bad imho, seriously ugly I mean, and should be designed out. I'd be looking at offset staircase, eg Squadron 52 and the beneteau above, but it's hard to comment obviously based just on your sketch.
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although I shouldn't be allowed to comment as a 43ft mobo owner who converted the 70ies two cabin layout to a 3cabin (15yo son, 14yo daughter...) and crammed a master bedroom on the bow (1side access and 1.3X2m mattress) I sincerely feel that the ceiling will be the biggest problem in your setup.

tbh, I was also worried about lack of any perspectives or 3D views that would help you (and us!) realise and feel the space.
I'm sure you can "dress" the layout so it looks attractive, but as JFM says the randomness of the ups and downs and the squareness of the bulkheads in plan are an important issue to address. Speaking as a designer, I often avoid right angles either in plan or section, creating interesting spaces, accesses and lines of view. Matching that with the right colouring scheme you can easily cover limitations and turn them into features. Assuming you're also a designer, you're well aware of that and don't need lectures on the topic, just didn't see any threading on these paths on the admittedly crude sketch you posted. I understand you may not want to post your work on an open forum, so be it.

All of course imho and without knowing the overall concept, other than understanding we're talking about a 3cabin 42-43footer, probably sterndrive.

Closing, I hope your market research is right in identifying a market for a smallish boat that can receive and sleep many as this concept is working on sailboats (with much smaller internal volume, no-existant privace, et al) but doesn't seem to be addressed in mobos. I assume this is for a reason (which I don't know).
Volos port fe, has around 40 sailboats on charter, and I think 2mobos. June to mid Oct all sailboats are away most weeks, the two mobos are there gathering barnacles...

cheers

V.
 
I've been looking at pics and layouts this morning to try and become a little more knowledgeable about cabins and bed accessibility standards. Interesting to see an increasing number of new boats with 2 cabins where neither can be considered superior to the other. Prestige openly state they consider the 2 cabins on their 450 model equal and they do look comparable in size, comfort and amenities. Something similar is the case down market with e.g. Sealine S330, where the 2 cabins are also very comparable albeit different in concept...... neither offers direct access to the head nor a walk around double bed BTW.

And then there is Jeanneau Leader 40 - a 2014 introduction - which really stands out in many ways - not all for the better, IMHO. What would normally be considered the Master Cabin (because it has a double bed and direct access to the head) in the bow is actually smaller than the midships cabin. Furthermore it has an extendable double bed (to provide more daytime floor space), which is only accessible from the foot end. Certainly no walk around...... very far from in fact. Even I could become a bit miffy over the restricted access, given the bed is quite high. See pic.
Assumingly the French experts know what they are doing. The reviewer from BoatTEST didn't seem to believe its an issue either.

Jeanneau-Leader-40b.jpg

The midships cabin is no less interesting and very relevant to yesterday's comments, because the layout is very comparable to what I have described. It has the very same much disliked multi-level ceiling (due to a similar corridor on the deck above)..... however the headroom over the mattress is much less on this boat than what I plan for. Only 76-90 cm headroom at the lowest level according to BoatTEST whereas I aim for at least 120 cm everywhere except along the right side where there will be a minor intrusion.

leader40a.jpg
jeanneau-leader-40-12.jpg

I honestly don't think the appearance of the ceiling is as problematic as described by jfm and vas...... but before we get into an endless discussion about the visual impression of ceilings let me add that I have decided to simply make the ceiling over the bed(s) level at ~120 cm above the mattresses, which is more than enough. This settles the issue, probably simplifies production and frees up much needed volume for extra storage on the deck above. A solution I'm more than happy to adopt.:)
 
vas said:
All of course imho and without knowing the overall concept, other than understanding we're talking about a 3cabin 42-43footer, probably sterndrive.
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Heh heh, you're in for a surprise..... but you'll have to wait a few days. Sticking to convention is a circular movement bringing us to where we were yesteryear. Think outside the box :)
 
I was going to suggest twins where one bed slides to nake up a double. If people are that precious about not disturbing a partner then they can configure as two singles with a gap between them. This was the layout on a Targa 30.

Incidentally, the T34 has an offset double and I've never heard anyone complain that they had to climb over a partner to get out the bed. I guess I'm fortunate that I very rarely need a wee in the night (unless I've drunk a keg ;)) so it wouldn't be an issue for me / SWMBO (who could sleep on the outside).

I guess these luxuries are ones that once you've experienced them, there's no going back (like flat beds on planes).
 
Plenty of storage with one of these Tempura beds and the mattresses are good. They cost around £2.5k when we bought one.

TempurMilanoBed1_zpsmxw710eu.jpg
 
It becomes much cheaper then, as the platform is only 2 gas struts. Don't tell SWMBO though, she regrets it and would kil me if she knew there was a cheaper way of doing it.
 
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