Forward Head

In this shot we were evaluating the shape of the frameless glass for the shower enclosure. We are using frameless glass shower sides to open up the feeling of the heads and make the room feel larger. We had to decide how it would butt into the starbard hull side and the detail to interface between it and the vanity. We were designing the lip around the bottom to keep the water going down the drain in a boat that can roll. (No we didn't select the purple wallpaper.)

Bird's Eye of Master Head

This first rendering we saw of the master head. While we were working on the frameless glass interface in the forward head we did the same in here. Notice the portion of wall coming from the starboard hull side. You'll see this change in coming shots. In this shot you can see the plenum that runs around the top of the cabinets. This is used as an A/C and heat air plenum with a slotted treatment of the panels to let the air flow into the room almost transparently.

Master Head Looking Aft

This shot gives a seated on the can view of the room and since that is when you have the most time to contemplate your mistakes, its a great viewpoint to observe. In this view, we didn't like the way the bulkhead projected to the glass from the hull side. The two thin lines running through the picture are a tiling detail that runs around the perimeter of the room.

Master Head w/ Modified Bulkhead

In the prior shot, we felt the side wall projected to far into the room and became too much of a focus. Peter took this to heart, and in this next design, it is completely hidden from that vantage point. By looking at the lines along the headliner, you can see that he had built a false wall on the vanity side and minimized the bulkhead to the minimum neede to have a straight surface to attach the shower glass.

Master Head Revealing Bulkhead Detail

This view gives the detail of how the bulkhead winds up looking from inside the shower. It also shows a little detail of how the curved glass joins into the curved wall with a small section that allows room for the door to swing open.

Forward Head With Reduced Bulkhead

Once we figured out how we wanted the wall between the vanity and the shower to work in the master head, we copied it in the forward head. At this point we started working on how to put a seat in the shower. On a ship, it is really great to have a place to sit down if the ship decides to roll or if the water is rough when you're trying to shower. This seat takes advantage of the hull curvature and will be stable in any situation.

Forward Head Upper Vanity

With the reduced bulkhead, we were faced with the problem of how to clean the glass beside the upper vanity. We solved this by making the cabinet a little shorter and making it feel separate from the shower wall. We also used this picture to get comfortable with the size of the sink in the forward head.

Master Head Stair Encroachment

An important design tool we utilized to make all the rooms feel bigger was to do our best to hide any encroachments into the rooms or hull curvature within furniture. This creates the illusion that the room is bigger because we are all used to the furniture consuming the space. In this drawing we were figuring out how to hide the stair well encroachment in the master head without having it show. In this picture a small portion of the stairs still shows. The final version brought the upper cabinet aft a couple more inches to hide this completely.

Ship's Office

One of the most dramatic changes we made in the design was to shift to open railings and opening the office up from the closed room it was in the prior design. This was the first rendering we saw that confirmed for us that we had achieved our goal. This drawing shows another example of hiding the stair encroachment in a cabinet. Although the office will be tight we feel it will have enough space for us to do our work - one at a time. The lower inboard cabinet is actually a printer drawer.

Lower Landing and Office

We get a good view of the reverse side of the office. We broke the wall into two sections to emphasize the feel of an office separate from the lower landing. We'll put a granite shelf on the landing and use this as an art niche. The cabinets in the office will contain electrical and telecommunications panels above, and a built in lateral file lower. This was also the first shot of the continuous curved stainless steel railing that extends all the way from the stairs to the flybridge.

Master Head Shower

We needed a quick view of how the curved doors would work in the master head and confirmation of the location of the shower seat.

Master Head Vanity

We designed the upper vanity to recess into the wall several inches to get some additional space that was created by the false wall we used to meet up with the frameless shower walls. This is a good view of Sherry's vessel sink and the funky water spout that she selected for our head.

Master Head Bird's Eye View

As we are wrapping up the master head, we got the feeling that the frameless shower doors would be successful at making the room feel even larger than it is. For a judge of scale, the round portion of the shower is 4' diameter. The beam dimension on the shower is about 5 feet.

Master Shower

From this angle the wall looks like it is in the sight line, but in reality, we'll have a clear view of the shower from in the head. This angle shows how the upper vanity and the false bulkhead along the hull makes the transition into the shower clean and smooth.

Forward Head

By now you see that we were working through both heads at the same time and incorporating the ideas into each of them. as we wrap up the forward head, this shows how we used the vanity (and the shower seat) to hide the hull curvature in the forward areas. Now we are starting work on the cabinet over the toilet. This was an addition - can't leave space like that unused.

Forward Head Vanity

All togehter we wind up with a good sized upper cabinet and a good amount of countertop. We sized the sink to match the sinks in our house. We want to feel like we have a real home and aren't using miniatures. Sherry thinks properly sized sinks are important for this feel.

Forward Head Toilet Cabinet

From the prior picture to this one, you can notice that the rounded sides were extended to both sides. Jane caught this. We wouldn't have noticed, but the cabinet feels much more balanced without being returned straight into the inside bulkhead.

Master Head Upper Cabinets

These show that the balanced rounding of the upper cabinets was carried through to the master head, as it was done in the forward head. Notice that the edge details are different in each of the heads. The forward head has rounded top and bottom panels and the master cabinets have a bit more formal, sqared off edges.

Pilot House Rough Draft

In order to start work on the pilot house, Peter built this basic model. Our original design was for a circular settee in the corner. Unfortunately there just wasn't room. We did a couple of mock-ups and we just couldn't find room for our feet. We raised the seating several inches higher than the Cape Horn norm to get better views from the settee. This will be a wonderful place to enjoy the views and the trip when underway.

Pilot House Rough Draft

In this design we have room for three people and a kid to sit around the seating area. Since we couldn't fit the circular settee, we worked to find a way to get the 'L' shaped settee. This way several people can sit there and maintain a conversation. The helm chair can be rotated while at anchor to join in the conversation. This is a great room with a view and we expect to use it heavily as a quieter conversation retreat or a place to go curl up with a book.

Pilot House Base Layout

Counter tops and map tables aren't shown above the cabinet fronts in this rendering. There is a great deal of space above the helm cabinets for instruments and map work. We'll be waiting till we take delivery to determine our final helm chair configuration to be sure we have enough room to get around.

Pilot House with Dual Helm Chair

It looks like we can fit a two person chair at the helm and still get around. Unfortunately, that would eliminate the rotating cabability for the seat. We'll see how we go with this after we take delivery.

Galley First Draft

With the pilot house basics understood, the yard could do their pipe runs and now they wanted the galley basics firmed up. This first shot confirms the location of the Jennair 3-bay modular grill, the refrigerator, dishwasher, freezer, and sink. We asked for drawers under the range for pans and will install a convection oven above the range for our baking needs. The "U" frame in the foreground is where the island will be placed.

Jennair Grill Exhaust Fan

The upside/downside of the Jennair grill is the massive, high volume exhaust fan. We found out it took a lot of space. But, with our placement, we could dedicate one of the drawer locations to the fan and still have full use of the other three.

Galley A/C

This was why the yard wanted to know the layout. A/C air handlers must be all plumbed and wired. Each stateroom has its own air handler and there are two in the galley/saloon area. This one takes advantage of the corner cabinet area.

Jennair Exhaust Pipes

Now that the range is in place, where do we duct the vents? It's a ship, can't just go out through the wall, it would let water in. The solution is to run the pipes up to the roof and bring them out behind the protection of the pilot house. We checked with Jennair to be sure the corners, distances, and lift all met their specs. Now take just a small section out of the corner and we are in business. This also shows the initial work on the upper cabinets to come.

Galley Forward and Port

All the cabinets are in place. Time to discuss the height above the counter, setback from counter front, door swings, etc. The left-most drawers in the picture are the freezer, then the dishwasher, storage under the sink and range, then the refrigerator/freezer. We are going to really appreciate the big window looking out over the sink.

Galley Range View

Above the range we've installed a convection microwave oven. We'll use this for any baking we do. We ran some experimental recipies at a friend's house who has one and came to the conclusion it will do a good job baking the cakes, pies, cookies, casseroles, and roasts that we typically cook. The Jennair has modular grill and burners inserts. We'll typically set one up with burners, one griddle, and one grill. Then we can reconfigure if a meal needs more of a particular type burner.

Galley Oven

Since the Jennair houses the vent, we moved the oven to the righ to allow us to put a decent sized cabinet door to the left of the oven. We also get a couple of useful cabinets above the oven, since it doesn't require venting.

Breakfast Bar/ Island

The first thing Peter said is he'd have to figure out how to support the Granite breakfast counter in this picture. His first concept drawing was pretty good.

Galley Island

One of the great additions to modern kitchens has been the island vegetable sink. It became an immediate requirement, once the island came into the design. We figure that this kitchen allows three people to work without getting in each others way. One at the island, one at the stove, and one at the port sink and adjacent counter. The island also houses the trash compactor - minimizing trash runs and trash storage on a ship is a good thing. The upper cabinet has a small microwave to warm up leftovers and to augment the main microwave. We also get some additional important storage and drawers.

Galley Island

We spent a number of calls discussing the size of drawers, their locations, and where we'd put the cabinets. We think this island will be a huge work area and the breakfast bar will serve as our dining table whenever we aren't entertaining.

Island Upper Cabinet

We went through a number of iterations before we determined how tall to make the upper cabinet. Sherry wants it to be big enough to be useful. Wray wants to be able to see people sitting in the saloon without having to bend down to look under the cabinet. We made cut outs and did a number of experiments and reached a compromise that should work most of the time. This shot also shows the start of the drawer pulls being shown. The support for the breakfast bar is also showing in this angle.

Breakfast Bar

In order to ensure a solid support for the granite breakfast counter, Peter is designing a torsion box that is integral to the island cabinet to support the counter. It creates the platform shown in this picture under the counter.

Refreshment Center

This cabinet is to the starboard side of the island. Underneath is a dedicated ice maker (you need lots of ice when you are cruising) and a wine refrigerator (wine stores may be a long way between stops). The center cabinet underneath can store beverages and we'll store glassware above. To the right of the counter is the end table and cabinet at the end of the settee. More on that later. Notice the hull jog in the middle of the area under the cabinet. This is where the sliding exterior door slides. The next picture addresses the jog.

Refreshment Center with False Back

Peter built a false back to the upper cabinets in order to hide the wall jog. The cabinets on the right will be deeper than the ones on the left, but the countertop depth will be even.

Upper Cabinet Detail

Peter wanted us to see how the cabinets have a false bottom to house some down-lights. The latch needs to be a little higher than may seem intuitive in order to have a plate to grab.

Glassware Cabinet Interior

We can see the false bottom more clearly here. We can also see how Peter plans to build around the wall jog.

Glassware Cabinet

This shows the detail prior to the adjustments for the wall jog.

Galley Cabinet Pulls

Peter went back and made sure the pulls were consistent on all the galley cabinets.

Island Cabinet Pulls

And he changed them on the island cabinets, as well.

Island Cabinet Pulls

He sent us a front picture, too.

Standard Saloon

Before we got started on the saloon layout, Peter sent us the standard layout to see if we could use that dining table layout. We discussed making the table slide in and out and other options. In the end we still felt it was too small for a dining table and too big for a coffee table.

Saloon Port Side

The saloon sure looks big without the island in the picture. We think it will be comfortable with the island in place. The two chairs, here, are Lazy Boy rocker/recliners. Forward of the chairs is the stereo cabinet with room for CD, DVD, and book storage. The corner cabinet aft is a false front to the air intake handlers for the engine room. Notice the plenum around the tops of the cabinets and over the windows. This will provide output for the A/C air handler under the galley counter.

Table Storage

The cabinet behind the lounge chairs provides storage fo a large table top that rests on top of the coffee tables to turn the settee into a dining booth for large groups.

Remove False Upper Doors

We decided that we want a clean wall in each of the aft corners to use as a frame for some art. Here we show the false doors replaced with a single frame.

Settee in Coffee Table Mode

The seating area here is spacious and comfortable. With easy access to all the seating and convienient coffee tables and end tables, we think people will use more than just the two ends of this settee. When there is a smaller group, the couch is about 8 feet long. There's lots of room to stretch out or nestle into the corner and relax. The forward cabinet has lots of storage for books, games, and other activities for the saloon.

Dining Table

By raising the two coffee tables and latching on the table stored behind the lounge chairs, this seating area can seat about eight people for a large dinner. We feel that the inconvienience of having to attach the table top is easily compensated by having a great sitting area in coffee table mode and great dining table in dining mode.

Valence Aft

In the prior picture we noticed that the aft window didn't look balanced with out a valence like over the other window. The starboard valence provides the output plenum for the saloon A/C. It also houses the head for the mini blinds and drapes. This version balanced the top, but we still needed the next picture.

Aft Window Frame

All the other mini-blinds are framed on both sides. They are even held in recesses created by the frames.We added a similar frame aft to complete the construction detail throughout.

Pilot House Setee

When Peter returened to work on the pilot house, the first thing he did was to add an arm on the forward seat side to help keep the passengers in place.

Pilot House Settee

This picture helped point out that the large center cabinet blocked the view to starboard and closed in the area. The lower locker is for wet gear. The upper is for books. We have some other book storage so we sought to see how this locker could be reduced to open up the sight lines

Pilot House Without Bookcase

We liked this approach. It give a place to set food or books while sitting on the settee and opens up the room dramatically.

Fly Bridge Access

With the railings to the flybridge door drawn in, the complete picture creates the openness we have been working for throughout the ship. Note, the access to the fly bridge is through a watertight door at the top of the stairs, then another short set of stairs to the fly bridge located on top of the pilot house. We think we'll spend a lot of time on the upper decks and wanted this easy access via full stairs. No narrow ladders to the upper decks.

Pilot House Access and Watch Berth

The area up behind the settee is a 7 foot long watch berth for a back-up person to sleep during passages. We also noticed an area here, where we could recover some of the space lost by shrinking the locker. Notice the space next to the upward stairs, then see the next picture.

Radio Station

When ever I have been on other ships, I notice the map table cluttered with handheld radio and cell phone chargers and the like. The plan for this cabinet is to build in the chargers for the VHF radios, cell phones, and the like in the top of this cabinet. The lower spaces extend into the stair hollow and can be used for reference books, regulations, etc. This location makes it easy to grab the radio or phone when heading out and to put it back when returning.

Railing and Bookshelf

We used this pickture to see how the railing interacted with the book shelf, but you really need the scale drawings to accurately plan it. Peter did that and adjusted the shelf in the next picture.

Final Pilot House Bookshelf

In this picture the rail lines up with the shelf in the bookshelf. Although it is asymetrical, the sizes work out that we can put binders in the top shelf and guide books in the lower shelf. The symetrical design would not have accomodated the binders.

Projection TV mounting

Until recently, our plan had been to use a projection TV and electric screen as shown in this picture. When the final measurements were available, the result was that with the width of the breakfast bar and the matte allowances for the screen, the result would have been about the same as the new 60" plasma flat panels. We like a big picture. With that in mind, our thought is that a flat plasma panel will be more reliable and will be easier to secure in the down position in such a way as not to move when the ship rocks. At this point we will wait another year, let the plasma's mature a little more and plan on that for a future addition.

Forward Stateroom Mirror

The drawings from Jane represented a mirror covering the entire forward bulkhead. We all agread that would be dramatic, but the reality of the shape of mirror that would be required and the difficulty to replace if it ever broke lead us to compromise on the rectangular shape, above.

Saloon Air Handler

We've talked about how we've hidden the air out flow in the soffits above the furnitre. The air returns are generally located in the cabinet kick plates. However is some locations this has been dificult to get the recommended square inches of return air inlet in this area. Since we want the A/C and heat to do a great job, we have been diligent not to skimp these specs. In the saloon we couldn't get room in the kick for air to the starboard air handler. This was a picture that Peter sent us to let us see the problem. We needed something like 10"x14" of return. It just wasn't to be found. Our solution is in the next picture.

Saloon Air Handler

Our solution to get air to the air handler is along the lines of the picture here. With this air handler, it took all the kick space under the settee and the louvered front of th cabinet to get the required air flow.

Starboard Air Handler

With this picture, we didn't like that it looked like a grill. Our final remedy is to make this into a door that is louvered. We'll mirror this on the other side. This worked well on the other side, because the sub-woofer is going in that cabinet. The louvers will let it breathe a bit.