Layout Solutions: Make Room for Grandchildren

There is at least one member of the BoatTEST staff that is old enough to remember how “cabin cruisers” were laid out in the 1950s and ’60s.  Back then, the idea was to build a boat where all members of the family could have a comfortable bunk to sleep in.  Typically, the forward cabin had two single berths in the bow, port and starboard. And some even had three or four single bunks in the forward cabin. Everyone seemed to be quite happy with this arrangement.

Birth of the Island Berth

The folks at Bertram decided sometime in the 1970s to introduce the concept of an island berth in the forward cabin. To gauge the reaction of the buying public, at a boat show they put a tape recorder in the cabin to record reactions — or, at least, that’s how the story goes.

But, whether it was a tape recorder or eavesdropping salesmen (yup, they were all men in those days, at least at Bertram), the result was not in question. Virtually all the women who made a remark about the forward cabin loved the island berth. Even then, it was well-known that the wife had to sign-off on the boat purchase. So, Bertram started putting island berths in the forward cabin of their larger boats — even though most were sold to die-hard fishermen.

The Beginning of a Trend

Bertram and Hatteras were two of the top brands in those days and it wasn’t long until virtually all the other boat builders were following suit. For the last 30 years or so, we could count on one hand the number of forward cabins we have seen at boat shows — on any size boat.

The island-berth layout also serves other purposes: it creates a huge space for mechanical equipment under the bed, is an ideal place to mount a bow thruster and have easy access, and makes it less costly to build the VIP — all are advantages for the builder. Plus, women love it. A win-win for all concerned.

The trouble is that this arrangement is a remarkable waste of space, to say nothing of its limited utility. Consider the following:

• What if your guests were both men or women who didn’t want to sleep together?
• What would you do with teen children of different sexes?
• What if one of the partners was a restless sleeper?
• What if one of the partners was older with nature calling several times a night?
• Where do you put men and women guests who are not lovers?

The answer to all these questions is that boat owners either need a third cabin, or don’t go out for overnight cruises or put someone on the sofa or on a blow-up mattress on the deck. Perhaps this is another reason why day boats are becoming so popular.

The fact is that there is probably nothing that has limited the utility of any boat — more than the island berth.

Forward Stateroom with Function

The forward stateroom that we saw in the Nordic Tug 49 we tested years ago remains one of the most practical we have ever seen in this size boat. It came about because the boat buyer had four grandchildren by two of their children (2 and 2) and planned to bring them all cruising — one family at a time.

The owner asked Nordic Tugs to abandon the standard queen and build in a 4-berth bunk room. These four beds are all about standard twin size, allowing off-the-shelf linens to be used. (Each berth has a brass plate with each grandchild’s name.) The result is a remarkably functional cabin with more deck space, storage and comfortable single bunks than we have seen on any recreational cruiser shorter than 80’ (24.38 m).