DandV

In reply to Peanut. The fine boat is the restored 1894 built 58ft ondeck gaff rigged cutter Waitangi. One of the about 20 restored 19th and very early 20th century, racing gaffers, regularily racing on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Most like Waitangi are now owned by charitable trusts or syndicates. Like most of the fleet the crew contribute most of the very considerable costs and labour in keeping them race worthy with additional support from other charities, mainly pokie machines, and some generous benefactors for major items. Our racing and social program is year round about 25 days with about 4 overnights. In fact she is returning from a race yesterday, and the Classic Yacht Christmas bbq on Waiheke Island with about 10 onboard over night. I opted out, I am now less compatible the combination of alcohol, a derated bladder, and no ensuite!! htps://classicyachtcharitabletrust.org.nz

The beauty of extended cruising is that it you are only rarely subject to any time pressures to actually untie and move. Normally you can just tie up and sit out inclement weather snug inside. It is actually rare that the whole day is foul. Often there is a window after daybreak before forecast bad weather arrives, or the bad weather passes later in the day.

Cruiser sterns come into their own in fine weather, particularly on urban moorings with high intensive tow path use. Sitting comfortably outside but onboard, in those camping folding arm chairs, supping wine, under the alcohol prohibition notice, people watching. Gas Street Basin, Paddington Basin, and in the middle of Chester come to mind. Great spots.

Aesthetically both are awful. But, there were times, not many, I would have really appreciated having a pram cover for shelter, over our cruiser stern, when making a time sensitive navigation on one of your big rivers. A time when just trying up and letting the rain/sleet pass was not an option. Now for the cratch cover. When we were aboard, we were aboard, continuously for months, with no possible runs home, or anywhere else to escape bad weather, or do the all important laundry. Here drying clothes and sheets under the cratch cover was infinitely preferable to accomplishing all the drying by hanging them all in the saloon. By dropping the weather side of the cratch cover, drying could even be accomplished here in the abundant marginal weather. Our regime is that we would move clothes from the cratch into the saloon at bed time, to hasten the drying though, and back outside when we got up. If you are accomplishing all your laundry onboard your knicker bunting has to be flown somewhere, remarkably often. Outside in the cratch with a cover immediately available to shield it from rain, or excessive wind, is far far better then cluttering already limited living space.

We have friends who commisioned a new build after extensive reaearch. Premium hull builder and a competant boat bulder. They had the boat for seven seasons, doing 500 engine hours a year, cruising the network. But they did have a list of things that had to get fixed or replaced. A multitude of battery problems. A new calorifier, a new toilet, both after irrepairable leaks. A stern tube that required replacement to stem leakage. And a replacement bowthruster. They even had to have it repainted after premature paint failure over mill scale. We bought a seven year old boat that we had for five years, again cruising the network for 500 engine hours a year. But it needed nothing more then routine servicing , or repairs that I could accomplish myself. The only thing that required replacement in our time, were the deckboards above the engine. A local boatyard cut them to size and we picked them up as we cruised past. The paint was still gleaming when we sold. But they were the very same boat. We bought it after it had been very thoroughly debugged.

Endorse the wet cupboard adjacent to the stern companionway. Minimal time needed to retrieve a raincoat, when the threat of rain quickly materialises to actual rain. Ours was heated by the eberspecher, mounted on the opposite side of the bulkhead, and the heating pipes passing through at low level. We had a conventional layout and did enjoy the immediacy of access to outside space from the saloon to the well deck. The Ultimate in indoor outdoor flow. And sitting there was reminiscent of being in a dinghy, sharing your life with the water life. Sitting outside on the cruiser deck, and you shared your life with those ashore. So different spaces with different outlooks. We would not be keen on a walk through bathroom if you ever have somebody on board, that bathroom time is a time consuming ritual. Thus obstructing access from one end of the boat to the other. For reverse layout a Galley midships or adjacent to the access way? Midships facilitates the indoor outdoor flow between the saloon and the outdoors, but adjacent to the access way is central to catering in both directions. The previous owners, and designers of our boat spent at least a couple of weeks a year hiring for a few years whilst they refined their specification. Hence the Wyvern Shipping bin lockers for mooring hardware , that doubled as seats on the cruiser stern. Not so much for seating while underway, one person each side could sit forward of the tiller swing, but really most times they were too low to sit while steering. But they provided both seating and bench space when moored up. A good feature on our boat was the deck house was extended back over engine bay about 400mm either side of the central companioway to provide a locker each side. One side the paint locker, and the other storage for those cheap, but comfortable folding camping arm chairs.

It seems to me that layout preference is very dependent on the intended type of boating. Solo, or just the two of you, or family boating? This dictates the space and arrangements for bedding, And this heavily influences the required bathroom, galley, and dining area, size and configuration. Heavily summer season dominated? Don't need a stove, oil fired central heating will suffice. But easy access and provision of outside spaces becomes very advantageous for a high proportion of outside living time. Outside time in well deck or cruiser stern or both? Intended extended stays? Then laundry arrangements become a consideration. Washing machine? And drying arrangements, both indoors, and perhaps outdoors in a covered cratch. Intended 12 months a year on board? Then heating and heat retention, and fuel storage are very major considerations. Solid fuel stove, where in the boat? Differening layouts provide differing advantages to the intended modes of boat use. Our boat was designed by the previous owner for six months continuous summer season on board, and six months winter lay up for 2, plus occasional 5 days max for an additional two people. We had exactly the same use regime and it worked extremly well. But this was a comparatively narrow operating regime. It may also have worked, as a year round liveaboard, provided in winter it was on shore power, when electric heaters could provide the necessary, considerable heating.

Canal sides, and river banks seem to be ideal habitats and feeding grounds for vermin. It actually amazed us, how little they seemed to venture on, and into moored boats seeing how accessible they must be to them. Given they still manage to get onboard dockside ships via mooring lines.

As a historic wooden boat enthusiast I wish them well in their endeavours to restore this boat, that has done so much work in it's life, carried so many people, and partook in such an internationally significant event. Restoring the boat though is only half the battle, as it's sad history after it's last restoration attests. So what next? To remain viable she needs a continuing purpose in her life, the more the better. Just being old is far from sufficient. And a context. In this she's blessed already, but her value requires in keeping her story being told. And an appropriate form ownership structure. The more durable the better. A structure that enables, and encourages an ongoing continuation of people to love her, and more importantly, provide the frightening amount of care, and money she will actually require. Overall Britain seems to accomplish these things well, testament the many historic watercraft turning up to the many organised historic boat festivals, and being quayside in so many picturesque locations. Seeing all of those historic watercraft afloat, and doing something, was an important facit of our visits to Britain. They are both an intrinsic part of your historic landscape, and your social heritage. Too good to loose through neglect. Good luck

We had to screw our cat door closed. It was one with a very stiff sliding mechanism to select, locked, outwards only, inwards only or fully open. The male sibling was fine, but his sister worked out that the settings could be changed to suit her, and was prepared to spend the time clawing at the setting lever, and the multitude of mechanisms we devised to lock the setting lever in place, and the obstructions we placed in front of the cat door to effect an escape. Could not manage a screwdriver though. Now the alternative access is through the upstairs bathroom window via the pergola, and the outside unit of the heat pump.

If the OP is a self learning AI bot, then the replies on this thread will provide an interesting iterative learning experience for the bot. Perhaps commissioned by the RCR as a first step towards them RCR replacing their human variable diagnosis abilities, with a more consistent AI diagnosis ability? Uniformly hopeless, instead of being sometimes hopeless. But at least more consistent.