Center Cockpits: pros and cons

[Clivevon]

Originally Posted by Rohan

For center cockpits, the most unusual one I have seen is the Island Packet SP Cruiser. You could argue there's two cockpits, actually, but the main one for socializing and dining is forward, yet it's totally disconnected from the helmstation, which is inside a pilothouse. I don't know whether I would love this design or hate it.

Interesting. Certainly different. Great for certain kinds of sailing - not so great for others. All boats are a compromise but that one moves the dial well over. I dont expect to see too many of these around the UK. Thanks for posting.

[dominig]

CC boat are mostly from Northern Europe an area where the sea can be cold.
This is where lies the biggest advantage of CC. You are further from the water and so you are less wet and so less cold. You are also in the middle of the boat where it moves less.

CC layout is less efficient in space usage and so tend to be better suited to larger boats. An HR 38" provides similar space than a 35" with an aft steering.
This say, the fashion of double steering is also good to loose space and add complexity.

If you spend a lot of time in your boat the comfort of the aft cabin in a CC is unbeatable because you have enough headroom to stand. As the cockpit is over the engine, you tend to have a technical room in that area what is nice when it come to maintenance. Access to the water is further away what can be good or bad depending of what you are doing.

I sail a Southerly 420 (built by Northshore) which is now built by Discovery under the name of Southerly 435.
You ware welcome to look at the brochure it may help to understand the compromise done on the boat layout.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14sy...ew?usp=sharing
Perfection does not exist, a boat design is only a serie of compromises.

[capnorv]

Wow, if I read all this, I'd never look at a center cockpit boat. That said, we've had one for a dozen years, and it's quite comfortable. It is by far the easiest boat to load/unload heavy stores I've ever been around. It was very easy for me to change engine and transmission last Spring, and 8 D batteries are a piece of cake. Deck space is quite roomie, the walk-through head very handy and large windows in salon and galley remove any thought of living in a cave. The walk around engine room with 6 access doors make maintenance a breeze. Room for stores is phenomenal! If I was to come up with the main drawback, it would be the many deck levels down below, more like the ferries I used to work on than a pleasurecraft, but then are smaller spaces a detriment really when underway?
I like mine, but really, it comes down to personal taste and budget. I still look back at Alice B. and smile when I leave her, that's the true measure of a good boat. She's good for us.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Stu, I might not be reading this right but when you say the "aft" end of the dock I think you mean the end of the finger, which is the first cleat you would encounter on the dock as you enter the slip, right?

In a center cockpit boat you typically can lasso the cleat from the cockpit, or step out to lasso the cleat, or step off the boat from a closer point than if you were in an aft cockpit.

For example, we often dock our 47 foot boat at a 30 foot guest dock, and when docking the midships dock line goes on the first cleat we encounter, which is the outboard (aft?) end of the finger. Being a center cockpit boat requires simply stepping over the coaming to do this (with great visibility, I might add) instead of having to leave the helm and run forward half the boat length to do so.

Enhanced visibility and easier access to anywhere on the boat is an advantage of a center cockpit over an aft cockpit boat.

Yes, that is correct.
My operation from my aft cockpit is similar, but i simply do it from just aft of the cabintop, by stepping outside the cockpit on my wide side deck. The springline is attached to the boat on a cleat at the forward end of my jib fairlead track and run aft under the lifelines.
Because almost everywhere I've been has the finger piers equal or longer than the length of my boat, I just do what you described, because by the time the boat is secure, the finger pier cleat is about even with my transom and I run the springline from the aft horn of the cleat back up to my jib sheet winch.
No more or less equal to your method.
By this time the helm would be doing nothing, because the boat is essentially stopped. "Leaving the helm" is a meaningless distraction, to me. It is right by me, and all I have to do is turn around and it's there.



I can still see the bow of my boat from my aft cockpit. /s

[GinoDelG]

We love our Brewer 44 and it has an aft swim platform. Another advantage is that you’re much closer to the bow. Makes communicating with deck crew when anchoring, docking or mooring much easier. Also once you get into bluewater I’d say the majority of +40 boats are center cockpits.

[Wayne Gilham]

One key detail to look for: how high off-water the center cockpit's sole (and thus seating) is. If too high, the motion in a seaway is rather disturbing. I looked long and hard for a cc boat with inside passageway to the aft stateroom, that DID have a low cockpit - my 1985 Irwin 43 fills that niche as few others do.

[Carlisle Spirit]

I love my centre cockpit Tayana 58!

[Tetepare]

The OI41 certainly works as a CC. The Beneteau 36CC, not so much.

[MWGDVC]

When searching for a cruising boat, centre cockpit was one of a list of desirable features for us.
I had owned a succession of 4 aft cockpit sailboats prior to buying our Pearson 385, 18 months ago.
I had confined my search to walk over centre cockpit boats since we wanted to stay below 40’ LOA, thinking at the time that this was the only way a CC worked below 45’. I learned I was mistaken when I set foot on this boat.
The walk thru requires only a slight head dip (we are both 5’10”), and the roof slope is gradual, no head banging overhead beams. The rest of the boat varies from 6’ to 6’4” head room.
The cockpit will allow anyone under 8’ tall to stretch out lying on the seats. Room to lay down in the cockpit was on our list.
Settee sleeping space is a little more cramped at 6’2” each side.
Galley is U shaped, and the cook isn’t trapped in front of the stove, an important safety feature, I feel.
13 opening port holes and 4 hatches total, 5 portholes in the aft cabin, with 1 overhead hatch, so ventilation is pretty good in the aft cabin, and the rest of the boat as well. I spent over two weeks mostly anchored out on board in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee in August and September. I slept in the aft cabin exclusively on this trip.
Another plus is the rectangular, standard size mattress in the aft cabin, so no crazy expensive fitted bedding.
The machinery space is much easier to access, like opening a cabinet door. This means you have no excuse for not checking fluids before every engine start.
No lazaret in cockpit, but a 2’x4’x3’ deep aft deck storage and seat make up for this somewhat.
The coamings are a bit low in the cockpit, to reduce the wedding cake effect. This also reduces comfort , so backrest cushions and stadium seats help there.
I haven’t experienced any big seas in this boat yet. I was in 4’-5’ choppy waves in the Gulf, running from an approaching hurricane, and found the motion at the helm to be very gentle. In an aft helm boat the helmsman is lifted and dropped by the wave motion, where in the centre the motion is a fore and aft rocking motion. My mate is prone to sea sickness, so this helps greatly.
The access to the side decks from the cockpit does suck, particularly if using the enclosure, but even without, the bimini frame gets in the way. That being said, I was able to single hand her through the Tenn-Tom waterway and Tennessee rivers (13 locks) it just takes developing a plan to handle her.
One perceptional difference I observed was with an aft helm, manoeuvring off of a lock wall or dock, the opposite stern swing seems less apparent. I forgot how much boat was behind me once or twice…
The boom is high, damn high, about 7’ above the cockpit sole, which is great until you need to access the top of the stack pack. This feature also moves the centre of effort higher, so that’s a negative.
Obviously I love this boat, and I think Shaw did a fantastic job of balancing the compromises of the form for the size.

[WilliamT]

During my circumnavigation (late 1980s) I kept meeting up from Tonga to Seychelles with a Sea Runner 40 , a trimaran, being sailed around the globe, by a one legged Scotsman. I enjoyed a few day trips on the SR40 (design by John Maples) with centre cockpit answered all my dreams. Unfortunately 30 years later it is still a dream, I did post a thread a couple of years ago as to where the last SR40 was built and by whom but i have not acted upon it. I am in Australia and to cruise the Great Barrier Reef for a couple of years in a SR40 still remains my first preference.