Headroom

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

At 6 foot 4?

I'm 2 metres even (6 foot 8) and I fit in a normal queen size bed fine - they are 2.1 metres long. I fit most cars OK. Boats are another story though, but there is a solution - build your own! I have raised the sheerline to increase headroom throughout, and increased the beam so the cross berths could be longer without intruding into the hulls too much.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/gallery...00&userid=3477

Don't know what to say.

I have long legs compared to torso length.
Every Queen size bed I have measuered is 6 feet long.
Kings are 6X6.
It has been a while though, maybe things have changed.

In many cars my left knee fills the space between the door and the steering wheel preventing my hand from staying on the wheel when turning left - not really safe.

IMO for all.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Don't know what to say.

I have long legs compared to torso length.
Every Queen size bed I have measuered is 6 feet long.
Kings are 6X6.
It has been a while though, maybe things have changed.

In many cars my left knee fills the space between the door and the steering wheel preventing my hand from staying on the wheel when turning left - not really safe.

IMO for all.

That's a worry. We're coming over to the US for a month next year, I just assumed everything would be bigger there! Is 6 foot the standard length for a queen bed? I'm pretty sure it's 2.14m here, (I know it's at least 2.1) and a king is 2.14 square.

[libellula]

Kings and queens are longer than 6 feet
I will measure mine tonight
I am 6'5"

[TabbyCat]

One solution to headroom is to keep getting older - then you start shrinking. When we started sailing I was 6' 2.5". Some 20+ years later, I am 6' 1.5" (barely).

Oh yeah, almost forgot... I'm better looking now too

Mike

[colemj]

Precious Bedding - Common Mattress Dimensions

Mark

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by colemj

Precious Bedding - Common Mattress Dimensions

Mark

Thank you.

I stand corrected on the Queen.

44'Cruisingcat..........come on over!!

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by colemj

Precious Bedding - Common Mattress Dimensions

Mark

We must have "California" size beds over here. Our queen bed is 7 foot long.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

We must have "California" size beds over here. Our queen bed is 7 foot long.

I built my bed (6X7) because I could not afford to buy one.

It seems I cannot afford the boat I want that surrounds that bed either.

Problem is, I cannot build a boat of this type. I know my limitations.

[mikereed100]

Therapy,
If you are interested in a multihull one option would be to set up a bed in the cockpit. you could make it as long as you want and it would be a simple thing to to rig a mosquito net. You could roll up a foam mattress and stow it below when sailing or even work out some way of using the the settee cushions. Just an idea.
Mike

[kevinmac]

So, Therapy was asking for a list of cats with adequate headroom. I crawled around on a few here at Strictly Sail St. Petersburg, and here are my entire subjective tall person comments. By the way, turns out I am 6' 3", I shrunk over the years I guess.

Maine Cat 30: Excellent. Cannot quite stand in hulls, but could cook by resting my butt on rear counter (sink) while facing stove, and vice versa. Head would not be good while taking a shower, as headroom seems about a foot lower (I did not measure), but it is a big room, so I could live with it. This is an open bridge deck design. The "salon" headroom is just fine (but only an inch left for me when standing) at the helm, I have to duck somewhat in other parts of the salon. This is fine for a weekend/vacation cat, would not work for living, but then I don't want to live on a 30' boat anyway. Entry and exit from the hulls was easy, no risk of bumping your head. I have decided to buy one of these boats.

Mahe 36: Excellent headroom in the hulls and salons, fine for standing everywhere. Boat I saw has a fabric bimini. This bimini is a high up as you can get it without touching the boom. It was find for standing in the cockpit, but the helm was real problem. There is a cutout in this bimini for about the helm seat, so you are always going to be in the sun and rain. For someone my height, maybe even 2 or 3 inches shorter than me, I think an accidental jibe might give a severe head injury, and the boom was a my eye level, not above the top of my head. I am told (I am not a cat sailor yet) that you only move the traveller on cats, and so an accidental jibe is not really a risk. Not qualified to know. I can second the previous comments about what look to be less stout rigging (although I am not a rigging expert), there was a Seawind 1000XL next to the Mahe, and its rigging looked to be one or two sizes larger (I am not really taking about sizes, just a metaphor).

Seawind 1000XL: Adequate headroom throughout the hulls. This design looks to be for charter and not liveaboard, they have a muzzle loading bunk in each bow and stern, and a side loading master bunk amidships in the starboard hull. The muzzle loaders looked like single person bunks. The master berth looked small for me, but I did not try laying down in it. Headroom in the salon was NOT standing headroom for me anywhere. Got a severe knot in my head exiting the port hull when I started to climb up the steps without looking, and I launched myself into the bottom of a counter (or something). I had to duck a lot to get into and out of the hulls. I also whacked myself on the head moving from the salon up the side going forward (on the hard bimini, or whatever you call it). This is not a tall person's boat, and for my use, all those single bunks are wasted space.

Seawind 1160: Good headroom in salon and hulls. I whacked myself on the head again in this boat, but I have started to suffer brain damage from all the impacts, and I can't remember where. I was startled to find how little room there was in the hulls on this boat, but since it is out of my price range, I apologize, I did not take even mental notes about it. Very nice galley as I recall.

So, take all that with a lot of grains of salt, I am inexperienced with cats, and was not trying to right a review of each boat, just passing on some impressions.

Kevin

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by kevinmac

So, Therapy was asking for a list of cats with adequate headroom. I crawled around on a few here at Strictly Sail St. Petersburg, and here are my entire subjective tall person comments. By the way, turns out I am 6' 3", I shrunk over the years I guess.

Maine Cat 30: Excellent. Cannot quite stand in hulls, but could cook by resting my butt on rear counter (sink) while facing stove, and vice versa. Head would not be good while taking a shower, as headroom seems about a foot lower (I did not measure), but it is a big room, so I could live with it. This is an open bridge deck design. The "salon" headroom is just fine (but only an inch left for me when standing) at the helm, I have to duck somewhat in other parts of the salon. This is fine for a weekend/vacation cat, would not work for living, but then I don't want to live on a 30' boat anyway. Entry and exit from the hulls was easy, no risk of bumping your head. I have decided to buy one of these boats.

Mahe 36: Excellent headroom in the hulls and salons, fine for standing everywhere. Boat I saw has a fabric bimini. This bimini is a high up as you can get it without touching the boom. It was find for standing in the cockpit, but the helm was real problem. There is a cutout in this bimini for about the helm seat, so you are always going to be in the sun and rain. For someone my height, maybe even 2 or 3 inches shorter than me, I think an accidental jibe might give a severe head injury, and the boom was a my eye level, not above the top of my head. I am told (I am not a cat sailor yet) that you only move the traveller on cats, and so an accidental jibe is not really a risk. Not qualified to know. I can second the previous comments about what look to be less stout rigging (although I am not a rigging expert), there was a Seawind 1000XL next to the Mahe, and its rigging looked to be one or two sizes larger (I am not really taking about sizes, just a metaphor).

Seawind 1000XL: Adequate headroom throughout the hulls. This design looks to be for charter and not live-aboard, they have a muzzle loading bunk in each bow and stern, and a side loading master bunk amidships in the starboard hull. The muzzle loaders looked like single person bunks. The master berth looked small for me, but I did not try laying down in it. Headroom in the salon was NOT standing headroom for me anywhere. Got a severe knot in my head exiting the port hull when I started to climb up the steps without looking, and I launched myself into the bottom of a counter (or something). I had to duck a lot to get into and out of the hulls. I also whacked myself on the head moving from the salon up the side going forward (on the hard bimini, or whatever you call it). This is not a tall person's boat, and for my use, all those single bunks are wasted space.

Seawind 1160: Good headroom in salon and hulls. I whacked myself on the head again in this boat, but I have started to suffer brain damage from all the impacts, and I can't remember where. I was startled to find how little room there was in the hulls on this boat, but since it is out of my price range, I apologize, I did not take even mental notes about it. Very nice galley as I recall.

So, take all that with a lot of grains of salt, I am inexperienced with cats, and was not trying to right a review of each boat, just passing on some impressions.

Kevin

I was there also on Thursday..........and I went back on Sat.

I agree with above except I did not see a Maine Cat and the Mahe is out.
How could I have missed the Maine Cat?

The Mahe with the after market bimini is too low. Also, there is VERY little ventilation available in the boat. Zero in the salon. Zero up forward. If you have A/C and the genny, and use it, then fine. I would not want to. The broker took me to the starboard hull forward which was the head and opened the escape hatch to show me the ventilation there. It is less than 2ft. above the water line and he said, in response to my question about ventilation in a little chop, that the nice soft chines will keep any waves out of the boat.

I was aboard the Gemini a lot since it is more in the price range for me.

It is definitely the most bang for the buck. I can manage in it. I bumped my head in two places - getting ready to sit at the salon and entering the cockpit. I visited the Gemini on 5 occasions in the two days and hit only once in each place. I could sleep in the master berth.

I could go on a lot about it but won't, except to say that cruising part time in Florida and the Bahamas (at least for the first year or two) makes the swing keels of the Gemini worth their weight in gold. I sailed a swing keel in the Tampa Bay area many years ago and it is like getting air conditioning in a car for the first time (lived in FL 30+ years - A/C in cars 15+ years). Once you have experienced it you just don't want to do without it.

A Gemini it will be next year some time unless I win the lotto or something else equally big (heart attack, etc) happens.

PS
I have opinons on a lot of things I saw at the boat show.

Should I find the related threads and add comments or should I start new threads.

[senormechanico]

No one has thought of another angle.

Buy a relatively cheap cat or tri and spend some money at a hospital getting your legs shortened a bit!

<sarc>



Steve B.

[fastcat435]

Both the FastCat 435 and 525 have a headroom thruout the boat of well over 6ft 8 inches and in the kitchen , hulls and shower areas even 7 ft

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by fastcat435

Both the FastCat 435 and 525 have a headroom thruout the boat of well over 6ft 8 inches and in the kitchen , hulls and shower areas even 7 ft

But the 435 is taken till some time in 2010, right?

May I borrow one till mine would be ready?

[kevinmac]

Therapy, Maine Cat was not at the show. I looked at a used one that is for sale in St. Pete.

Kevin