28 CB Cat Ketch Accommodations Question??

[johngraham]

Hi all,

First post by a non owner. I'm looking for the retirement boat right now, and there is a lovely looking 28 centreboard ketch for sale, but she's a 5 or 6 hour drive away, hence my question here. Mostly it would be just me and my wife aboard, but the sticky requirement is that very occasionally it would be good to have all 5 of the family aboard for an overnight or two night cruise - maybe two or three times a year. I'm looking at a Nonsuch 30 right now that's a pretty good deal, but It's a big boat at a ton and a half more than the 28 and quite a bit more money. Also, I'm a shoal draft guy who likes to poke into out of the way spots and that's out with the 5 foot draft of the Nonsuch. Frankly, I'm leery about spending the extra effort and money on what will be too much boat for us most of the time.

So I'm wondering if anyone has ever found a way to shoehorn a fifth berth into a 28 cat ketch. The simplest idea is to do an extension off one settee out to the centreboard trunk, but from the pics I've see there may not be enough breadth to make a usable double (the people in it would be skinny though). Or maybe I can do a Root berth over one of the existing berths?

any thoughts, or if an owner could run a tape measure over their boat regarding the double berth idea, it would be much appreciated.

Regards

John.

[CrazyRU]

John. It is possible to extend one setee to centerboard trank. The birth will be big enough for two very close people.
I have never had 5 persons on board, but i slept many times in cockpit or in hammock between masts. Just look for camping hummock ( it is cross between tent and hammock, it has mosquito net and rain fly

edit. Just measured settee area. with leaf table top removed and without back cushions (from hard surface of shells on side of the boat to hard cover of centerboard trunk) it is 43 inches wide at head, 31 inch wide at feet and 80 inches long

[johngraham]

Thanks so much for measuring your boat. It does sound like a pretty tight fit. I'll mock it up later and see what the family say. I'm thinking it's worth a trip to see the boat for sale, especially as she's only 3 and 1/2 hours away not 5 hours as I first thought. Thants an excellent tip about he camping hammock too.

cheers

John.

[hotstonp]

Hi John

A non Freedom boat I had a few years ago had a stretcher like berth that could be rigged above the normal settee berth in the main cabin. It was a sheet of canvas secured on the outboard side but had a pole that was then moved out to a pair of wooden cup brackets on the inboard side. This then created a very stable berth and made the single settee berth into an effective if low height bunk bed.

It did work very well, though it attracted various references to food and wind.

I think there was a diagram of how to rig one in the UK's Practical Boat Owner Magazine - I will see if I can scan it and post it once I get home.

[johngraham]

Thanks Hotstonp,

I'm pretty sure what you're describing is a Root Berth, which I think is called that cause a guy called Root in the UK came up with it, and that certainly seems the most elegant way of adding a berth, as opposed to having to unship the table leaf and carrying around a plywood panel thing to make the settee into a double. Mind you there are things you can do in a double that you can't do in a Root berth.

boat hunting is on hold cause I've caught cold, so stuck in the house for a bit.

regards

John.