Given that the builder is planning cruises of up to a month, in a climate that can be wet and cool but where one would expect to be at anchor every night. That the boat has to be the smallest and simplest boat that will do the job, what would be your absolute minimum standard of accommodation ( this is the whole boat not necessarily just the interior) that you'd tolerate and still be keen to go out again in a few months?
Have a look at Roger Barnes youtube videos, the tent and cabin layout on the SCAMP "Southern Cross", then the layout on a typical 45 ft American Trawler type cruiser such as a Grand Banks, and yes I know that calling them a "Trawler" is a bastardisation of the word. Most will be somewhere between the two, but I'd mention that both Roger and Howard seem very comfortable.
In any case, what is your minimum? Think about cooking, storage, personal hygiene etc as well as headroom ( Roger Barnes has unlimited headroom most of the time) and such.
Mine? I've come to very much enjoy open boat cruising, so want a space 650 wide, 2000 long that is flat and without too much of anything intruding in which to lie down to sleep.
I need a rowing position that has my heels 200mm below my seat, and the rowlocks 200 above the seat. I'm happy with a snap lid plastic bucket with wag bags in as a restroom, cook on a single burner Optimus white gas stove, don't normally carry ice, ( thats for the next size up boat, I built an icebox for her but this is about my minimum.
I need dry storage for bedding, clothes, charts and food, secure storage for all the boats gear, and a tent that gives me good sitting headroom above the areas in which I sit.
The seats need to have good legroom, at least some need angled backrests, and the boat needs to be stable enough to stand up and walk about when either under way or at anchor.
I can do a month like that, happily.
How about you?
John Welsford
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