The preferred layout

[lustyd]

Just read an ad for a boat that starts "with the preferred three cabin accommodation option". This is a 45 foot deck saloon, and I'm sure there are more in this layout due to charters. The other option is the "owners version" with two cabins which got me thinking, if owners prefer a 2 cabin layout, surely that's the preferred layout and others are just packing in accomodation for cash.

I don't have a big family so wondering are my views skewed towards the 2 cabin? Which layout do you prefer if you're buying for yourself? My favourite boat at SIBS last year only had one head on a 42 footer, so perhaps I'm an oddball

 

[Stingo]

I'm with you on this.

Another thing, guests are like fish; they go off after three days and any form of discomfort or inconvenience is an ideal way of encouraging them to move swiftly along

 

[doug748]

Broker speak for three cabins:

"The preferred three cabin accommodation option"

Broker speak for two cabins:

"The rare and sought after two cabin layout" : - )

 

[westhinder]

Just read an ad for a boat that starts "with the preferred three cabin accommodation option". This is a 45 foot deck saloon, and I'm sure there are more in this layout due to charters. The other option is the "owners version" with two cabins which got me thinking, if owners prefer a 2 cabin layout, surely that's the preferred layout and others are just packing in accomodation for cash.

I don't have a big family so wondering are my views skewed towards the 2 cabin? Which layout do you prefer if you're buying for yourself? My favourite boat at SIBS last year only had one head on a 42 footer, so perhaps I'm an oddball

Agree, 2 cabins, 1 head. More people on a boat feels crowded and guests with whom I couldn’t share a toilet for a couple of days wouldn’t get invited

 

[lustyd]

ah so perhaps I'm not the odd one out after all!

 

[Laysula]

Ours is a 35 footer with a two cabin layout. This gives us a massive cockpit locker which the three cabin layout doesn't have. Much more useful to us. On the other hand, the two cabin has two heads and the three one. Bit pointless in my opinion

 

[Tranona]

Broker speak for three cabins:

"The preferred three cabin accommodation option"

Broker speak for two cabins:

"The rare and sought after two cabin layout" : - )

For many boats that reflects reality - the proportion built with 2 cabins as opposed to 3 is small. Certainly was with my Bav 37. I would have much preferred the 2 cabin - but 2 less berths means lower charter income. In reality though we ended up rather liking the 3 cabins when we took over the boat for our own use as we used the third cabin for storage. The family that bought it specifically wanted a 3 cabin because they had 2 teenage children so each had their own cabin. The big plus for the 2 cabin version of that model was the 2 armchairs in the saloon similar to many HRs plus a bigger loo compartment.

 

[Sandy]

Can you still sleep on the saloon floor in these three cabin vessels?

I look at these big boats with beds in them that you can walk around and scratch my head wondering how you are going to have a comfortable sleep in a 3 metre chop. Let's not even consider the funny wee windows in the hull.

 

[zoidberg]

Can you still sleep on the saloon floor in these three cabin vessels?

'When ah were a lad' we didn't get to sleep until we got where we was goin'. Then it was on wet sailbags up in't forecabin. None o' yer poncey bunks wi' plump mattresses, an' pillows, an' furrin duvets.

Now we're all snowflakes, we've even got these so sleepin' in the cockpit after a good night on the Murpheys doesn't leave an impression on yer ould bones that lasts for days.....

And the cockpit drains is reet handy!

 

[Kelpie]

The big plus for the 2 cabin version of that model was the 2 armchairs in the saloon similar to many HRs plus a bigger loo compartment.

It's all personal taste. I don't really like the armchair idea, waste of a good seaberth IMO.

 

[Daydream believer]

Now we're all snowflakes, we've even got these so sleepin' in the cockpit after a good night on the Murpheys doesn't leave an impression on yer ould bones that lasts for days.....

You kept that one quiet. Does SWMBO know?
I do not think I could survive a week of sleeping on her
Edit at my age -- Substitute -A night

 

[Daydream believer]

If one is going to have non sailing guests ( no idea why on earth one would , but hey ho) then 2 heads are a must. Simply because they are going to block one somehow, sometime. It is not going to be during the day. Most likely just before you want to get your head down; by get your head down, I do not mean down in the heads

 

[Birdseye]

I don't have a big family so wondering are my views skewed towards the 2 cabin? Which layout do you prefer if you're buying for yourself? My favourite boat at SIBS last year only had one head on a 42 footer, so perhaps I'm an oddball

42 ft implies serious distance sailing. In which case itt must be two toilets - I had a single toilet fail away from yacht chandlers and marinas and it was a real issue. Sea toilets arent totally reliable

 

[Frogmogman]

I guess I could get by with the 3 cabin version of our Sun Odyssey 349 if I had no kite, no code 0, no working job, no beaching legs, no dinghy, no outboard etc.

The 2 cabin version also has the advantage of a palatial heads compartment with separate shower stall/wet locker which would put most 40 footers to shame.

I really wouldn’t want to. How many people do you really want on what is in truth a 33 footer ?

 

[Stemar]

You kept that one quiet. Does SWMBO know?
I do not think I could survive a week of sleeping on her
Edit at my age -- Substitute -A night

But what a way to go

 

[Laysula]

Can you still sleep on the saloon floor in these three cabin vessels?

I look at these big boats with beds in them that you can walk around and scratch my head wondering how you are going to have a comfortable sleep in a 3 metre chop. Let's not even consider the funny wee windows in the hull.

Not quite sure even I could sleep anywhere in a three metre chop. Don't think that the windows in the hull are for weeing out of, surely it's easier to use the heads

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I guess I could get by with the 3 cabin version of our Sun Odyssey 349 if I had no kite, no code 0, no working job, no beaching legs, no dinghy, no outboard etc.

The 2 cabin version also has the advantage of a palatial heads compartment with separate shower stall/wet locker which would put most 40 footers to shame.

I really wouldn’t want to. How many people do you really want on what is in truth a 33 footer ?

I would like to see what you could get away with if you had a working job. (-;

 

[lustyd]

42 ft implies serious distance sailing. In which case itt must be two toilets - I had a single toilet fail away from yacht chandlers and marinas and it was a real issue. Sea toilets arent totally reliable

Just because they're not installed doesn't mean you can't have two toilets on board. At the very least I carry a full spare pump unit plus a few joker valves etc. and if cruising further would probably carry a full spare toilet. I also have many buckets on board should the worst happen. Biggest toilet failure so far was a fish in the intake. Most problems easily solved, as long as your pipes aren't full of deposits.

 

[Tranona]

It's all personal taste. I don't really like the armchair idea, waste of a good seaberth IMO.

Preferences tend to reflect how one intends using the boat. With 2 people and rarely undertaking long overnight passages and a boat that already has 2 usable seaberths a pair of armchairs for relaxing in the evening are well worth having. If you look at the boats that offer this feature they are mostly aimed at people who use their boat in that way. If you have a different pattern of usage, choose a boat that reflect that.

 

[Roberto]

I prefer the three cabins for family reasons. When daughters were (very) young they had their own cabins, filled with all kind of personal parafernalia from teddy bears to schoolbooks, though they both slept in the dinette bunks while underway.
Now they are teenagers and increasingly living their own life, the only way to have them aboard for a couple of weeks a year is allowing them to bring along 1-2-3 of their friends, so the third cabin is very purposeful. When no one is there the additional cabin becomes storage. One often reads: when your children leave home, always keep their rooms otherwise you will never see them again, I am doing doing the same with the boat, even if I'd prefer a smaller one with just one cabin