Fore Cabin Design Considerations

 

 

Furnishing CTQs

 

The overall design of the fore-cabin is according to the van de Stadt ( VDS)  drawing  634 11-1 ( 26-3-2003).  The only major omission from the drawing of the fore-cabin is the central furniture pillar between the head of the bed and the cabin door. The construction of this pillar is described below and is also included in the 3D rendering of the cabin.( 1,2,3)

Emergency/Safety Equipment

  1. Through hulls. There are sensor thru hulls between frames 23 and 24.
  2. Firefighting canister on top of Closet A
  3. Storm windows and collision repair sheets. Incorporated in bed construction.
  4. Handholds ( see later )
  5. Frame 23 is “water resistant” ..    ( see later)
  6. Bilge pumping ( see later )
  7. Web ladder for hatch egress.

 

General Construction

            Light weight plywood.

Finish

            Painted wood

Color scheme.

            Black, white and brushed stainless steel, are the three primary finishes that we are using inside the boat. Within that group variations in ”white”, “black” and “brushed stainless” are allowed. The final colors are yet to be decided. Basically all surfaces will be whitish with black trim. There will be a decorative trim on the floor.

 

 

Text Box:

 

 


Electrical

                The fore-cabin has one power/interface box in the cabinet at the base of the central pillar. It controls

1.      lighting in the Fore-cabin

2.      fancoil units in the Fore_cabin

3.      Black/Grey pump out pump

4.      Forward head/Shower Sump pump.

5.      Tank level control box.

6.      Keel electronics.

 

Lighting

1.      Safety/Night lighting. There is safety lighting all the way around the base of the cabin furniture ( the two closets, the two door sills, the mast cover , the bed and the central pillar ). They are under computer control

2.      Area lighting. Area lighting is provided by a 24 vdc 30W fluorescent fixture above the cabin door. It is switched from next to the cabin door. The fluorescent fixture must accept bulbs with a color temperature of 3000K. Some units required custom bulbs that do not come with a choice of color temperatures. We want to use a low ( i.e. reddish ) temperature bulb.

3.      Functional lighting. There are numerous functional lights in the forward cabin.

a.       Bed reading lights. These are incandescent lights on swivels. They have integral switches and switches operated from either side of the bed at a convenient height. ( fixture-mounted switches might be too high on the wall to be easily  reached by someone lying in bed ).

b.      Counter lights.  The counter will be used for working e.g. running a laptop, reading, hairdressing and makeup. We will equip the area with a fluorescent light  above the counter, switched from the counter area and two goosenecked  white LED work lights with integral switches.

c.       Cabinet lights. All cabinets have one or more white LED lights that operate when the cabinet is opened.

4.      All lighting connections are to be made to the control box at the base of the central pillar.

 

 

Heating and AC

 The forecabin has two fancoil units. Both of them are set up for either heating or cooling. They both drain ( AC mode ) into the forward head sump pump. One fancoil is in the central pillar. The fancoil is in the lower compartment , the inlet and exhaust are in the forward facing wall. The entire forward facing wall is an air duct. The second fancoil unit is next to the mast in the cupboard accessible from the head. The exhaust and inlet an outlet grills are in the mast cover.

 

Ventilation

There are three hatches in the roof of this cabin as well as two portholes and two doors.  In good weather the roof hatches can be used. In modest weather we can use the Dorades in the head and leave the bathroom door open. The cabin will be equipped with one or two fans than can be plugged into 24vdc outlets.

Some arrangement must be made for airflow in the bilge area of the forecabin. Perhaps we can vent out of one of the forward Dorades.

 

 

Ceiling

  The ceiling is in the same as in other parts of the boat interior. It is made of a soft whitish material with the ceiling panels running longitudinally, separated by off-white strips. There are no lights built into the ceiling.

 

Hatches and Portholes.

 

Any hatch or porthole that is designed to be opened is equipped with removable  anti-mosquito screen  and a Lexan double-walled insulator panel.

 

Floor. Floor panels must give access to equipment below and be lockable to survive a 360 roll. A proposed outline of the floor panels is given below, however we do not yet know the location of the black/grey water pump and the shower/head sump.

There are two types of panels propose in the outline: (a) panels that can be opened with relative ease and (b) those that would take more time. The easier ones are hatched in red and are so because they are over known tank fittings and are more likely to be used than the other panels ( outlined in black ). The outline suggests panel edges meet over frames, if that is a bad procedure then we will change it.

Of all the floor panels, Panel G is thought to be the one most frequently opened.

 

Text Box:

 

 

 

 


Hull.  Where the hull would be exposed, ( primarily on the starboard side of the bed )  it is covered in strip planking.

 

Handholds

There should be handholds built into the central pillar and the mast cover, both at waist height. The fiddle in the port-side counter also acts as a handhold. The retaining wall of the bed has two handholds

 

Furniture

  1. Frame 23. This frame is to be water resistant. That means that the cabin space on either side of the door, but primarily the forecabin, can fill with water to a depth of 1 meter, the other side of the frame being dry, and the frame will not collapse under the pressure of the water nor will it leak to the degree that a Rule 26D bilge pump cannot handle the flow.

This means that all pipes and cables through the frame must be sealed and that the door must  open into the forecabin ( as in the VDS drawings ), have a watertight seal and a substantial lock. In the VDS drawing frame 23 is shown with a double walled construction. Advantage should be taken of this to include some thermal and acoustic isolation panels into the construction.

  1. Saloon/Cabin Door

This door is water resistant. It is shown in the VDS drawings with oval tops and bottoms. This is probably an advantage for a water resistant door. It is the only wooden door in the boat for which this is necessary. All other doors can be essentially rectangular with radius-ed corners.

The cabin side of this door is one big mirror ( not glass, plastic film )

 

  1. Closet A .   . Once some experience has been gained on how, in practice, closet space it being used then it may be necessary to rearrange the closets. This needs to be kept in mind when the internal structures of the closet are being built. The closet will not have drawers. It can have shelves.  It will be built around commercially available plastic containers. .( Storage containers )  A mixture of Rubbermaid models 4603,2282 and 2281 seem possible here  The present plan calls for a column of containers against the right hand wall of the closet from floor to ceiling. Additional containers attached to the inner wall of the closet, of such a size and position that the door can still be opened, and the remaining space on the left hand side of the closet given over to free hanging clothes.  The supporting frame inside the closet must prevent the containers falling out when the door is opened. The floor of the closet is removable. ( We do not expect to do this often. The floor can be screwed down, not necessary to latch it ).  VDS has chosen not to bring the closet to the full height of the cabin. I will go along with their superior experience. The top of the closet must be fiddled and on top of this closet we intend to locate a fire extinguisher. The height of the closet/fiddle must be adjusted to gain access to this device.

In the VDC drawing the door has square corners. They are to be radiused at 25 mm and edged in black.

 

 

  1. Closet B… This closet will be designed around  commercially available storage containers. A mixture of Rubbermaid models 4603,2282 and 2281 seem possible here. There will be a column of containers on the right hand side of the closet and free hanging clothes on the left side.  However care must be taken to make sure that the containers can be extracted through the door. The supporting frame inside the closet must prevent the containers falling out when the door is opened. The floor of the closet is removable.( Screwed down is acceptable ).

This door in the VDS drawings has square cirners. They are radiused to 25 mm and edged in black.

 

 

 

  1. Counter  and stool

The counter has an associated stool ( round padded bar stool type ).  The stool is supported by a swinging arm attached to the closet sidewall and the framing of the hull. If this proves to be mechanically unsound then we would consider a simple chair . The chair and floor would be constructed so that the chair can be bolted in place during sailing. The counter has drawers.

  1. Door to Head. The VDS drawings show the door into the head with nearly oval tops and bottom. There is no need, at this location, for such a door it can be much more rectangular. There should still be the sill between the head and the cabin, as shown in the VDS drawings,  to enable a waterproof ”pan” to be used in the head floor.
  2. Mast cover. The mast cover hides the rotating mast from the interior of the cabin. Access to the mast is from a full height water-resistant door in the forward head. The mast cover is vertical and takes no account of the inclination angle of the mast. Alternative mast cover design

The mast cover also forms part of the lightning protection system. The only conductor attached to the mast is the specialized lightning conductor. In the event of a strike this will ( ? ) conduct the current to the hull and into the water. During the passage of the current and intense magnetic field surrounding the lightning conductor could induce damaging voltages in the boat’s wiring and electronics. To reduce this field we are attempting to convert the boat’s hull into a Faraday cage. This requires that all the lightning conductors be topologically outside the hull. To achieve this we will line the Mast cover with thin aluminum sheet ( <= 1 mm thickness ) and make good electrical connections between this sheet and the deck and keel aluminum. A plan for these connections should be created before construction of the Mast Cover is started.

 

  1. Cabinets in Forward wall.

Some of the cabinets in this wall can be accessed  from the “head” side and some form the “cabin” side. The arrangement is according to the VDS drawings with one change. On the cabin side it appears to me that there is inaccessible space below the two cabinets. Access to this space is restricted by the mattress. I propose ( and it is shown in the 3D drawings ) an additional door, hinged along the bottom that allows access to this space. It is understood that access will not be convenient.

  1. Bed. The bed is designed to sleep two people. The bed structure needs to include support for lee clothes as well as a lee-board to divide the bed into two bunks. This lee-board will not normally be installed. The bed platform must be removable to give access to the space below. Normal access to some of the space under the bed is through four doors in the side wall of the bed platform. These doors give access to four Rubbermaid ( or other manufacturer ) underbed plastic containers (  105 x 51 x 18 cm ). In the bed structure I also want to hide plywood storm windows for the three largest pilothouse windows. The bed structure must survive a 360 roll. The doors for the four boxes are positioned so that there is access to the floor and, through the floor, to the water tanks, without removing the structure holding the boxes.
  2. Bed shelf. This is attached to the hull above the bed. It is designed to carry books. It terminates at frame 27 to allow cupboard doors to be opened .
  3. Bed back board. ( this is the bed-side face of Frame 23 ) This is upholstered to a height of  XX cm above the mattress and above that supports 2 bed reading lights.
  4. Central pillar.

The central pillar is designed to be accessed from either the bed-side or the cabin side. At the bottom of the pillar the access is from the cabin side and is a hinged door with access to electrical  and other technical equipment. The floor at the base of the compartment is removable. The top of this enclosure is level with the top of the mattress on the bed. At this level a shelf with fiddle is accessible form the bed-side of the pillar. This shelf is designed to contain small stuff that might be needed at bedside e.g. watch, glasses, flashlight, handkerchief etc. It is ~10 cm high. Above that is a taller compartment, also accessible from the bedside that is to contain electronics such as an LCD display, CD player and speaker..This is ~20 cm high. Above that is a second compartment, accessible from the bed-side, to contain small books.  It should be around 30 cm tall.

Finally, above the inside book shelf, are two shelves accessible from the cabin-side. The first one is 30 cm tall, the upper one continues to the ceiling. The upper one will contain the ( as yet undefined ) device to connect to the electronics in the keel bulb.

The forward facing side of the column contains the ductwork for one of the fan coil units. The fancoil unit itself is in the lower cabinet of the central pillar. The ductwork leads to two grills, one neat the ceiling the other near the floor. Both grills are equipped with directional louvers.

13.  Furniture and Floor Hardware. The doors and drawers are fitted with push-pull hardware and the hinges are hidden. The floor panels are either screwed in place or locked down. Southco hardware (http://www.southco.com/products/html/new_products.htm) is of the type considered here.

 

 

Bilge Pumping.

    

There is a bilge pump connection to the fore cabin. The pipe penetrates Frame 23 at about the center line. It can pump out the space between Frame 23 and the fresh water tanks. We expect that the deck-seal around the mast will leak. Water will flow down the mast and off onto the top of the tanks. From there the water should drain over the tops of the tanks into the space between frames 23 and 24. Because this bilge pump is the big 750watt unit I do not expect to use it often, more often I hope to use a handheld wet/dry vacuum cleaner.

 

 

 

Network and interfaces.

 

            There are USB and Ethernet  ( U&E) cables to the control box in the central pillar.  There are U&E cables to the bed-side on the central pillar, the mast cover area  ( for connection to the mast ) and the counter top ( or desk ).

 

Electrical

            In addition to the network cables there is a 24 vdc outlet in the central pillar adjacent to the bed, one on the other side of the bed, two more higher up on either side of the bed for additional fans and/or lights. There is a 230 vac receptacle at the counter top, and another 24 vdc connector.