16' Cockpit Design Assistance

[dogeconomics]

Hello!

Work is progressing on my mystery 16' sailboat. While working on replacing a few frames and shoring up the keel timber, I'm starting to think about how to build the cockpit. There isn't enough depth for a bench, and I'm scratching my head on how to proceed. Ideally the floorboards could be removed for cleaning/maintenance and re-secured without unscrewing each one. An aft locker would be great, but I'd like to boards to run all the way up to the first frame in the bow. Found an amazing (and amazingly inexpensive) pile of teak online from someone who tore out a sauna. So that'll be the material.

Welcome your feedback!

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[Woxbox]

Just what is the depth from the top of the frames to the top edge of the coaming? Because it looks from the photo as though a traditional slatted side-benches would work.

Here's a GP14, for example:

[Benson Gray]

The plans and pictures at http://www.stroudwater.biz/Alden/ may give you some ideas from a similar design done by John Alden in 1931. Good luck,

Benson

[dogeconomics]

She's 13" aft, 20" forward. Don't want to push the center of gravity too high either.

[dogeconomics]

The plans and pictures at http://www.stroudwater.biz/Alden/ may give you some ideas from a similar design done by John Alden in 1931. Good luck,

Benson

Oh, nice. Thanks.

[TerryLL]

You might consider reducing the height of the coaming so you can sit comfortably on the side decks.

[Woxbox]

Another approach is to simply sit on the floorboards on a cushion. I usually do this in my Whisp even although it has thwarts to sit on. With the depth of the frames on your boat, a cushion wouldn't even get wet most of the time.

The boards do need to be easily removable in two or three sections. The traditional way to hold them down is with toggles.

Here's a nice example. See this WB thread for details.

[Autonomous]

Beanbags? Edit: Woxbox posted the cushion idea while I was dithering.
I'd vote for side benches but those wide decks really reduce the cockpit width.
With you providing material and labor it's easy for me to suggest trimming the decks and adding benches.

[dogeconomics]

Thanks guys. I measured out how much space benches would take up... it would be pretty tight and cramped. The cockpit itself is about 4' beam x 7.5' length x 13"-20" depth, 1.25" high coamings. She's designed as a racer, so I'm a little hesitant to trim the decks. They're 1' wide right now.

The bottom frames are sloped. Do you think I should try to make a flat sole, or follow the contour of the frames? Would leaving a bevel be a nuisance or benefit to comfort/seaworthiness/etc? I'll get some fiberboard and do a test build before I cut into the teak.

[Garret]

Whether you go for floorboards or benches, may I suggest making up a couple of "seats" that hook over the coamings & allow you to sit on the deck? IOW - the outer portion is the height of the coamings & then a thin board on top that attaches to another board inside the coamings to hold it in place. When not being used, they could be stowed out if the way.

[johngsandusky]

My 19' dory would heel to windward in a light breeze if I sat on the side decks. I built a low simple bench to fit in the bottom. It consisted of a 2x8 screwed to two sections of 4x4. Cheap, simple, easy to shift around and a little more comfortable than sitting on the floorboards. I think I put rubber on the bottom of the "legs" to keep it in place.

[dogeconomics]

Whether you go for floorboards or benches, may I suggest making up a couple of "seats" that hook over the coamings & allow you to sit on the deck? IOW - the outer portion is the height of the coamings & then a thin board on top that attaches to another board inside the coamings to hold it in place. When not being used, they could be stowed out if the way.

There's an idea. Think I get what you're saying. Any chance you have an image of some sort?

[Garret]

There's an idea. Think I get what you're saying. Any chance you have an image of some sort?

Nope - I was thinking while typing, but here's a Q&D little sketch. Red is deck/coaming, black is the "seat"

Seat.jpg

[dogeconomics]

Ahhh. Got it. Thank you.

[dogeconomics]

Love this forum.

More pictures. "Nemo" had rot at the bow and in the frames at the centerboard. New frames are Sapele, fashioning a new rubrail from Massaranduba. The mast snapped in half from rot behind a fiberglass sheath, so that repair is coming up soon. It's actually a rig off a Hampton One, so a bit oversized. Calculated the COE and CLR and they pretty much align, so I'll have to be mindful. Have new wire rope I'll fit for shrouds, new rigging all around. Had a new centerboard fabricated, the old one was rusted out and warped. The 1/4 ply hull needed some patching and a good bit of faring. All in all, she's shaping up. Using this as a stepping stone to building my own. Lots of learning, lots of rework, but lots of rewarding.

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[AndanteEd]

Perhaps you could install a reasonably wide thwart at the back of the centreboard casing and use that if you want to sit inboard?

My Wayfarer dinghy has side seats and I never really use them (photo of a similar boat below).

Wayfarer.jpg

I'm either sitting on the side, or in light winds I'll tend to perch on the thwart. For some reason the seats are really not that comfortable. To stay on them you end up sitting quite upright, at 90 degrees to the boat and you are so low down that you end up having to stretch your legs out straight in front of you with little to brace your feet against. The thwart is more comfortable than the seats, it keeps my weight in the right place and it's easier to move about if there's a sudden gust.

I suspect that if you fit a toestrap you won't notice the coaming when you are sitting out.

I'd try and go for flat floorboards if you can, if not then when the boat is heeled over the windward floorboards will be at quite a steep angle which can make moving about a little more challenging.