Since our dream of full-time cruising on a sailboat we've been wondering just how comfortable sleeping on our sailboat would be. We've only just begun to start exploring our sailboat and have only taken it out a few times, but not yet overnight. So, this past Friday night we slept in our sailboat, in our backyard. It wasn't bad! In fact, we slept pretty good.
After dinner, we grabbed some sheets and pillows and crawled inside our sailboat. The Catalina 30 has a v-berth and large aft cabin, but we decided to sleep in the salon. The salon has a settee on either side of the boat, with one side opening up into a full-sized bed by pulling down the dining table and adding cushions on top that are stored in the aft cabin. We turned on the CD player and laid back, while looking around and thinking that this would eventually be our new home. We didn't feel cramped and imagined when we'd have our built-in flat screen tv with a DVD player that we could watch while hanging out on the settee/bed. At this time we're thinking that we'll use the v-berth for storage when we're full-time cruising, and have the settee/bed as well as the aft cabin for sleeping. Even in our house we don't sit at the table to eat very often, so we invision keeping the bed in the salon set up and using it as a sofa and bed. Here we can eat, sleep, watch movies, play games, etc. When we have the pleasure of company, we can take apart the bed and have a dining and sitting area in addition to the settee on the other side of the sailboat.
We did determine that the cushions are a little firm for sleeping, so we'll probably have to add a foam mattress of some sort. Any ideas? Other than that, we had no complaints. Well, maybe one - that we were in our backyard instead of the blue waters of the Caribbean. We can't wait until we get our house sold and have the money to really get moving with our plan. It can't come fast enough! Until then, we'll keep preparing and dreaming. Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-life Cruising!
Monday, April 5, 2010
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8 comments:
Memory foam is what some folks use. I know of several boaters that use memory foam. I've not used it, but they swear by it. Here's a link (one of many) that you can check out:
Memory Foam
As for loading your boat once you move on the boat you need to think less is more. We go to the bay each fall and our boat is a 34 foot Sea Ray Sundancer. We tend to unload it for this trip so we don't have any clutter. Every nook and cranny is carefully evaluated for what we will stow there. It works wonderfully, but you have to really figure out how to keep the clutter down. Trust me here.
Hubby and I and our 85 pound dog travel to the bay and back each year without any problem at all. It's only 12 days, but you can go stark raving mad if you don't plan well.
Have a terrific day. :)
Thanks Sandee!
Memory foam sounds like a great idea! We need just a little something extra. We agree about not packing the boat down too much. We like to have a place for everything, and everything in its place - we hate clutter. Not a lot in the v-berth, but a place for the few extras, and hope to build shelving, etc. for those things. We don't want the v-berth to be one big junk closet. Thanks again for the info!
We sleep in the v-berth of our C30. We really like keeping the salon clear as it makes our little home away from home feel so much more spacious, but lots of people do choose to sleep in the salon. We only pull the table down for a project work area or when it's raining or really cold out and we have to eat inside. The quarter-berth is our primary storage area, and we've added Rubbermaid bins, plastic drawers for spares, towels, linens, and rags (we use a LOT of rags on the boat!) One thing you probably don't realize how much you'll need of yet is TOOLS! We have three toolboxes full. Boats are full of tinkering and maintenance opportunities! Oh, we added a thin (2") foam mattress topper to our v-berth, and it helps a lot!
Thanks Emily!
Is your foam mattress memory foam, or just regular foam? My husband definitely wants a place for his tools. Maybe the quarter-berth (aft cabin) may be a better spot for storage. I do wonder about taking up unnecessary space in the salon. We'll try sleeping in the v-berth next time!
We have a "real" mattress in the cabin we sleep in, one of those custom made to fit the area, specifically for a boat jobbies and it makes SUCH a difference. We did foam (not memory foam) over the catalina stock cushions on our last boat and it just does NOT compare to a "real" mattress, in my book. I have slept on a memory foam topper before and don't find it particularly comfortable. A friend with a catalina 34 got this plastic deal that goes under the mattress-it is interlocking pieces that add give. He LOVES it and it has enhanced his comfort tremendously. YMMV so definitely check out different solutions before sinking a lot of money into it! We all know how fast the boat bucks spend!
Pineapple Girl,
A "real" mattress sounds great, but expensive. Was it costly, and was it custom made? Also, you mentioned interlocking plastic pieces. We'd love to know more about that option as well, as we're not familiar with that. Thanks for the advice.
My memories = bunks comfy on dry land - bunks not comfy in rolling seas!
Kay,
We haven't actually slept on a sailboat in rolling seas yet. We were thinking that sleeping in our sailboat in the backyard isn't quite the same, but we can't wait to find out.
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