Cabin Bulkhead Angle

[wolfgang]

Hi everybody,
my name is Wolfgang, new to the group. I´m a german sailor living in Florianopolis, South Brazil and very close to purchase the Pocketship plans, but first I´d like to get rid of one major doubt with the help of your swarm intelligence.
What bothers me is the angled forward cabin bulkhead. Looks nice at first sight but carries several disadvantages:
1) The cabin volume is way smaller than with a classic vertical bulkhead.
2) Seems to be impossible to mount a shelf or two for the stuff you want handy while sailing like GPS, charts, a knife etc.
3) Whenever you seek shelter in the cabin during rain you have to close the cabin completly, not just the hatch or it rains straight into the cabin.
I´m quite sure one would not encounter structural problems changing to a vertical bulkhead...just like to be sure and maybe Grandmaster John could say something about this matter.
I´ll try to attach a sketch showing the looks of it. I also attached a second attachment of a different sailplan I sketchupped yesterday night. It shows Pocketship with the original jib, a Goat Island Skiff lugsail and a small mizzen of about two square meter. Reason is, i read a post of Tatoo´s owner telling in a post that it´s difficult to let go of the tiller even for a short time without the boat changing course. Thats exactly the kind of reason why mizzens, also called The poor man´s self steering, exist. It´s not a sail to enhance propulsion, it´s more like an aerodynamic rudder to deliver course stability and easy heaving whenever you have to leave the tiller like reefing the main for example. In strong winds you can put down the mainsail and go on with jib and mizzen. At anchor it will keep the bow into the wind, preventing the boat sailing around the anchor. In my opinion these ara highly desirable features, but again I would welcome your opinions and hope for a lively discussion.
Fair Winds, Wolfgang

[John C. Harris]

>>>>>
1) The cabin volume is way smaller than with a classic vertical bulkhead.
2) Seems to be impossible to mount a shelf or two for the stuff you want handy while sailing like GPS, charts, a knife etc.
3) Whenever you seek shelter in the cabin during rain you have to close the cabin completly, not just the hatch or it rains straight into the cabin.
>>>>

My comments are 1) The "lost volume" is less than you might think; 2) Yes, that is true; and 3) This is absolutely correct. I always cruise with a boom tent, however. The couple of rainstorms I've waited out aboard PocketShip without a boom tent (but with the drop boards in) weren't bad because the Dorade vents work so well.

My only issue with that mod is that it will add weight to the highest point on the boat. You should increase ballast if you do that.

The reason I angled that bulkhead, by the way, was to save weight but mostly because the most wonderful seat on the boat, either under way or at anchor, is sitting in the cockpit reclined against the cabin.

>>>>>>>>>
I´ll try to attach a sketch showing the looks of it. I also attached a second attachment of a different sailplan I sketchupped yesterday night. It shows Pocketship with the original jib, a Goat Island Skiff lugsail and a small mizzen of about two square meter. Reason is, i read a post of Tatoo´s owner telling in a post that it´s difficult to let go of the tiller even for a short time without the boat changing course. Thats exactly the kind of reason why mizzens, also called The poor man´s self steering, exist.
>>>>>

I'm a fan of yawls. I've owned a few in this size and weight class. It's nice for anchoring and maneuvering. I think their value in self-steering is overstated. A boat with a 13'6" waterline is going to be furiously difficult to set up for self-steering just because wave action will knock the boat off course. Self-steering with sails is also slow in almost any boat---even when set up perfectly there's a lot of luffing. The slower you go, the less effective your self-steering rig, so more correction is needed, so you go even slower, and so on in regression.

The current generation of electronic tiller-operated autopilots are so good that the weight, windage, expense, and bother of adding a mizzen doesn't add up. Little yawls ARE pretty, so maybe that's reason enough, but it doesn't hold up on technical merit.

I still think my drawing of the PocketShip lugger is fetching, but so far no takers.

[tattoo]

Gentlemen: I agree with John's reply with additional comments. Yes, the extra volume is minimal and where it would hardly ever be useful [inside the cabin]. And as far as the cockpit side of the bulkhead being useful for shelving -- there are better uses for that surface. The photo of Tattoo's bulkhead shows six "Handi-Hangers" for neat control of three halyards, the jib furling line, and two jib sheets. On the starboard side is the am/fm radio antenna in stowed position [on Tattoo's cruises the radio signal strength is such that it has never needed to be set in the deployed position]. Just below the cabin hatch sill are two brackets that securely stow her boathook where it's conveniently available to skipper or crew. Below the boathook is the ship's compass which has lighting switched on with the cruising lights. There's a "snap-on" plastic cover for UV protection.

Tattoo's cabin bulkhead.jpg (53.15 KiB) Viewed 4844 times

The cabin-hatch sill is also useful for a removable seat and/or surface for Tattoo's small galley. Refer to “tattoo’s” posting of 1/15/2012 on “Crew comfort . .” showing the seat deployed on the sill. The other posting of 1/15/2012 on “Cruising convenience . .” shows inside shelving that I’ve found essential for overnight trips in Tattoo.

On the web page I couldn’t see [all of] John’s “… drawing of the PocketShip lugger …” It only showed a tiny hint of a mizzen … However, when I did Ctrl-P, it showed the complete drawing with the mizzen mast mounted on the transom. The attached drawing shows how the ferruled m’sail may be stowed on the gallows and tabernacle. On a separate posting I’ll discuss a rig modification for Tattoo.

PocketShip Lug with mizzen.jpg (41.84 KiB) Viewed 4908 times