Nav Station Design Ideas

[Driftwoods]

The only thing I can say about cubbies is one good roll and you empty them. We have a cubbie in the galley that has what looks like a drawer front on on it so it can close and looks good. I really like that approach.

In the master stateroom, we have open shelves. We opted to use wicker baskets that fit in there just right instead of making cabinet doors or something like that. Way cheaper, easy to reconfigure and looks nice. The ever present fiddles on my boat keep them from spilling out.

[Delancey]

Ha, we actually gave a passing thought to putting a washer dryer in there! We have been living aboard for a couple years and hoping to go cruising down the road a bit.

Our boat is a production boat from the eighties that came with a stand-up icebox nav station instead of the standard desk version. I have gutted the icebox to reveal a curved seat that was molded into the pan for the standard version but am starting from basically scratch with fore and aft bulkheads and the hull side as my limiting factors.

The goal is to make a nav station that will function as a computer work station for doing computer work, at as well as a practical nav station for navigating while underway.

[Mycroft]

Re: drawers - I have a standard nav station on my 30 year old cutter. It has two drawers under the seat. I use one for supplies like pens, pencils, etc. and the other for small deck equipment like winch handles and key wrenches to various covers/lids. With the drawers out, excellent access to nav station/panel wiring is provided.

[Delancey]

I have seen various bungie or fabric zipper panels on cubbies. Probably having a door is a better option, plus you don't have to see the contents.

Another thought I have had is to put some kind of pull-out garbage on the inboard side of the nav station where it might be easier to access than say, under the sink in the galley.

Redoing the galley comes after the nav station.....

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by hogHunter

The feature that I like best about our nav station is the quick-clip for the tablet that we use Navionics on for backup navigation. The clip was only about $20 at Sears and it makes it easy to clip in or out the tablet.

Mounted on the bulkhead?

[a64pilot]

RE: fiddles
Easy if you don't mind metal ones to put an L shaped slot in them for the mounting screw and have them be retractable

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I keep tools in mine, makes them handy, the Admiral hasn't complained except for suggesting that I clean it regularly.

Interesting thought. I have a cubby beneath the bridgedeck of my companionway where I keep my tools in a bag. Unfortunately I keep a bunch of other crap like winch handles, flashlights, snatch blocks, and sunscreen so whenever I try to retrieve the tool bag it's a struggle.

I am fairly tall and have an ergonomic issue with knee clearance as relates to seat height and work surface height and was considering eliminating the typical lift-up top in favor of a fixed top with more knee room and the simplified construction that would result.

However, a space that was even only 1" or 1-1/4" deep would probably hold most tools including a hammer, hacksaw, and wrenches without impinging on the legs too much. Have to think about that one some more.

[dohenyboy]

I would buy one of those ultra slim desktops, like the ones Acer makes, smaller than a mac mini..if you really need dvd player buy an external drive.. Mount the monitor on the wall and use a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. Mount the cpu underneath the table. Its what i use. Only thing that you have to stow when you are not using it is the keyboard.entire thing less than $500. I bought from Tiger direct.

[Terra Nova]

On TN, in order to provide space for large chart and file drawers, as well as a large, easily accessed machinery space below, I designed it to be most comfortable when standing right in the narrow fore-aft passage between the table and engine box/double-sink island. And plan to provide a small, flip-out "seat"/perch. The table's height places it virtually at the widest part of the hull, making the top an enormous, flat surface handy to the galley, the companionway, and pilot seat/1/4-berth. Above the long, outboard edge is a lockable cabinet which is flanked by tall, deep, open bookshelves. This is all on one level under the small bubble-shaped house.

Adjacent, the pilot seat faces the radio stack, below which I plan a pull-out laptop table, only big enough for that, or writing, in a comfy seat. Electrical panels and controls are within reach. But the radar display will be mounted hanging from the overhead, directly over the engine, where it is central to all and visible from the cockpit, where I spend my watch mostly under the dodger.

So you see, it is not a traditional nav station, clustered with electronics, but a completely bare table which alternately serves as galley prep, drafting board, workbench, buffet,...

A sit-down chart table is shown in the literature.

[SaltyMonkey]

[markpierce]

Having a starboard helm, displays/controls on the left side of the panel are those most interesting to a lookout. Chart table is also to the left of the helm.

[SaltyMonkey]

Mark every time I see that boat of yours I drool +1

[Andrew Troup]

One thing that it often not thought about in nav stations was lightly hinted at in the OP's post #6: the implications of heel.

I've often found that using the nav station when hard pressed is akin to using a self-torture (gym) machine, wrongly.

On one tack you're exercising muscles hitherto unperceived, so as not to accidentally rub against the electrical panel and switch random parts of the boat on or off (not great when running in a gale and you switch off the autopilot)

And on the other you're looking down at the galley from some height, twisting every vertebra as you scrabble for traction with your leeward foot on the wet sole, and hoping not to end up being part of dinner.

A hollow seat is a grand idea, but in truly nasty conditions something better is needed, because it's not just gravity, it's impacts, possibly even knockdowns.

So can I put in a plea for (if applicable) some nifty solution to the first problem, perhaps a perspex standoff over the switchboard (with holes for reaching the switches)?

and for problem 2, on the other tack: ideally a 'cooks belt' for the navigator/typist/clerk, or at LEAST some anchor points in strategic locations so they can at least hook up one or more harness tethers?

[SaltyMonkey]

I like what Chichester put in gypsy moth. A gibled chair and table with a beer tap.

It adjusted with heel.

Also saw a v shaped table in another racing note running port to starboard which compensated for heel. Chair also could be moved on curved track port to starboard as needed to compensate for heel.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Mark every time I see that boat of yours I drool +1

The builder was very cooperative, using my suggestions to design the helm's layout.