Which Dinette.

[Tonyl]

Hello again,

 

its the Newby again. After some very imformative replies to my "Double Glazing or not ?" question, I cannot resist picking your expert brain's again. As mentioned previously, we are in the process of putting the finishing design touches to a new build 57' traditional style NB. The internal layout will be fairly standard, rear bedroom,seperate bathroom,galley either side,dinette and forward lounge. Based on the fact that most of the time there will only be my wife and myself and our German Shepheard dog, and the boat will be for leisure use and not live-a-aboard, could anyone offer information or advice about what style of dinette to opt for. I appreciate that it coud be very subjective to personal taste, but I am sure there are, Fors and Againsts, of the Pullman versus the L shaped dinette. Both designs offered would accomodate a double bed conversion for the odd visitors. Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

Regards

 

Tony Little.

[bottle]

Hi

 

My thoughts which you are total liberty to ignore comepletely.

 

Why bother with a dinette, we will be liveaboards and are having drop leaf table atached to the side of the boat, the folding chairs will fit behind the flap. ( just like half a 'butterfly' table).

 

All our seating will be free standing.

 

For any guests there will be an inflatable bed, we may use that and they will get our bed, depends on their age.

[Gary Peacock]

Ah the days of the caravan come flooding back!

[andy the hammer]

I must agree with Keith we are having a table incorporated in a shelf unit and having a Futon sofa which will convert when we have guests.

 

 

 

 

Regards

 

Andy

Edited January 7, 2008 by andy the hammer

[Yoda]

Trays and napkins are cheaper!!!

[bottle]

Trays and napkins are cheaper!!!

 

True but gives me indigestion, prefer to sit at table.

[Yoda]

True but gives me indigestion, prefer to sit at table.

 

I agree but I had to offer the cost effective solution.

 

A fixed dinette can be very tight for space, go for flexability.

[blackrose]

Hi

 

My thoughts which you are total liberty to ignore comepletely.

 

Why bother with a dinette, we will be liveaboards and are having drop leaf table atached to the side of the boat, the folding chairs will fit behind the flap. ( just like half a 'butterfly' table).

 

All our seating will be free standing.

 

For any guests there will be an inflatable bed, we may use that and they will get our bed, depends on their age.

 

I agree, I don't like dinettes. Personally the more open-plan you can make a boat the better in my opinion. I also have a drop leaf table but mine isn't attached to the side of the boat.

 

I'm on a widebeam and apart from a slim bureau which fits under the gunwhale and is screwed onto the wall and some cupboards which I built myself, the rest of my furniture is free-standing.

[Chertsey]

Here's another possibility - can look as much like a 'traditional' dinette as you like but much more flexible.

[wotnot]

I have going for my own design which could roughly be described as a "cross dinette".

 

Basically there is a 2' 6" wide seat and backrest facing another identical unit across the boat (i.e. one against each gunwale).

 

The table when in use will stand between the seats on a morso leg or similar and be stored behind a seat back when not in use.

 

The table top, seats and cushions will form a single bed.

 

A small chest freezer will live under one seat and DVD/Satellite under the other.

 

I have now gone under table awaiting incoming flak

[WJM]

Here is a thought on dinettes - it is the deciding factor that 'sold' my boat to me;

 

Most boats go Saloon, Dinette, Galley, then bulkhead, bathroom, bedroom. My boat goes Saloon, Galley, Bulkhead then Dinette, Bulkhead etc. the BIG BIG difference this makes is the dinette is a separate 'room' from the saloon instead of part of the same continuous space. A narrowboat can become a confined space at times and by using this layout and having two very separate spaces you can get away from each other; wife watching TV in the saloon, me quietly reading or working in the dinette. The other benefit is if you have kids. You can put them to bed in the dinette and stay up and watch TV in the saloon yourself. You could not do that with the dinette in the same space as the saloon. 'Stop looking at the TV and go to sleep!' Yeah right!

 

Sometimes lots of continuous space can make a place feel very small. Boating means living in very close proximity. It is good for your sanity to design in some personal space.

[GRPCruiserman]

I have a similar problem, but in my home which is not a boat. It is a flat.

 

I only have about 500 square feet, about the same as a 70 foot narrow boat, but as an upstairs two bedroom flat with my own front door at ground level and my own staircase.

 

I have a lot of space outside and love the area plus my 5 year old is settled at school so don't really want to move (except on to a boat but the wife won't have that!!).

 

As I have recently added to the family with a daughter now 10 months old, we have a need for extra beroom space with no prospect of expansion. I bought the place about 15 years ago and to move to a three bedroom would double my mortgage so that is a non-starter and as a flat I cannot build an extension!! Also the loft, although I have access for storage, is too small for conversion.

 

I therefore have two children, one boy and one girl, and myself and my wife to accomodate in a two bedroom flat.

 

My solution: a dinette in the lounge/dining room. We currently have a small dining table and chairs in the space and we have a touring caravan which has an appropriately sized dinette. My intension is to replicate the caravan dinette in the lounge where the dining table is to the exact same measurements and use the caravan cushions as extra seating by day and double bed for myself and my wife at night. When we want to use the caravan, the cushions would return to the caravan for use.

 

It would mean making the bed each night, but the bedding could be stored underneath as it is in the caravan, and would then provide the children with a bedroom each.

 

We slept on a dinette in the last boat we had, the Dawncraft 25 and also in the caravan, and all is well when we do, so I don't see any problems. My beleif is that GRP Cruisers are much better designed generally when it comes to use of space and storage, and I am backed up in this by many of my friends who have changed from GRP to Narrow Boats and found less storage for nick nacks. In my 16 foot Yeoman it accomodated the then three of use for 2 weeks or so with no problems, and the Dawncraft always had several empty lockers even on two or two and a half week trips, and we always took all non perishable food for the whole fortnight right from the start to avoid shopping.

 

I'd definately have a dinette on any narrow boat I had, and bench seats cruiser style as well, both for storage and sleeping accomodation.

 

If the Dinette works in my flat, I may continue the theme throughout the whole room, as storage would be great, and with plenty pf varnish, it would have a 'boaty' feel about it. Built in furniture - the way forward.

[WJM]

And by day the dinette can be a quiet kids homework station too.

[RichardH]

Hello again,

 

its the Newby again. After some very imformative replies to my "Double Glazing or not ?" question, I cannot resist picking your expert brain's again. As mentioned previously, we are in the process of putting the finishing design touches to a new build 57' traditional style NB. The internal layout will be fairly standard, rear bedroom,seperate bathroom,galley either side,dinette and forward lounge. Based on the fact that most of the time there will only be my wife and myself and our German Shepheard dog, and the boat will be for leisure use and not live-a-aboard, could anyone offer information or advice about what style of dinette to opt for. I appreciate that it coud be very subjective to personal taste, but I am sure there are, Fors and Againsts, of the Pullman versus the L shaped dinette. Both designs offered would accomodate a double bed conversion for the odd visitors. Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

Regards

 

Tony Little.

 

 

Don't do it ! Go for the table and chairs which gives you more seating area. They are a pain to squeeze in and out of.

 

It was our no.1 requirement for the new boat that we had comfy chairs and a free standing table.

[WJM]

Another place where the dinette really 'scores' over freestanding furniture is with storage. I have hoover, powerwasher, tv aerial, lifejackets, and all the bedding under mine. Where is all that going to go if I changed to freestanding? (dont say a box on the roof - please!)

[Chertsey]

Go for freestanding by all means - but think very very carefully before shelling out for those bloody reclining chairs that people unaccountably seem to like. They may be comfortable, but that is so outweighed by their disadvantages - being round in a rectangular space they waste so much space, they're difficult to move (especially if the reclining/swivelling variety); they always seem to come with preposterous footstools to waste even more space (if you want to put your feet up why not on a box you can actually keep things in); you can't store anything in them, they intrude into the space in a way which is oppressive if not downright inconvenient, they look like something out of the eighties if not earlier, they are UGLY!!!!! and sometimes they're not even all that comfy. On top of all that they're ridiculously expensive.

 

As so many people have them I expect a spirited defence. But I tried the two that came with our boat and I stand by every word. Indeed, would love to hear why oh why oh why anyone thinks they're a Good Thing.

 

Licence dodgers, funding cuts, firms going under ... yes, let's have a rant about chairs.

[Orphiel]

I am glad that someone shares my pet hate about those awful chairs. Whenever I browse pictures of boats for design ideas (and some if I won the lottery dreaming) they mar the view something rotten.

 

PS actually on topic, if you get a freestanding futon sofa with a dropleaf table, you can get ones that have storage underneath, like this: http://www.funkyfuton.co.uk/#4229X0

 

My sofa at the minute doesn't have any kind of attached storage, but I can fit huge amounts of stuff under there in those really low boxes that you can slide out from underneath. I do find dinette sofas really uncomfortable to sit on, they're generally too narrow for sitting on in a normal position, and too upright for my back.

 

Having said that, I've just noticed you're going to have a separate lounge, so I guess it won't be your main sofa. In this case, I'd go for the Pullman so as to use a dinette for the only purpose I can see it being suitable for, sitting up and eating, or writing on a table.

 

Meg

[BlueStringPudding]

Licence dodgers, funding cuts, firms going under ... yes, let's have a rant about chairs.

 

 

I agree - ish. They are very comfy but they certainly aren't an efficient use of space on a narrowboat.

 

I'd rather have the extra storage of a more boxed-in piece of furniture, be it an L-shape seating area or a 50's diner style.

[WJM]

Those are not foot stools - they are little seats for the kids to sit on when you kick them off the chair!

 

A box with storage is a great idea though.

[carlt]

Another place where the dinette really 'scores' over freestanding furniture is with storage. I have hoover, powerwasher, tv aerial, lifejackets, and all the bedding under mine. Where is all that going to go if I changed to freestanding? (dont say a box on the roof - please!)

Is this a good time to start the engine room debate?

[WJM]

"Is this a good time to start the engine room debate?"

 

 

Depends on how much you like engines - engines should be heard but not seen! :-)

[wotnot]

Is this a good time to start the engine room debatepost

 

This getting silly and off topic.

 

By the way I looking for storage ideas. Does anyone know if a cheap trailer from halfords will float and will Beta 43 in 58ft NB be able to tow it OK with a stabilizer on the hitch?

Edited January 8, 2008 by wotnot

[WJM]

Yes - they are called Wilderness Trailboats!

 

Ha!

[carlt]

This getting silly and off topic.

 

By the way I looking for storage ideas. Does anyone know if a cheap trailer from halfords will float and will Beta 43 in 58ft NB be able to tow it OK with a stabilizer on the hitch?

 

You're so right!

[Tonyl]

Is this a good time to start the engine room debate?

 

 

Not just yet, I have a few more topics before I start on engines.

 

Thanks folkes, it is a great help reading your comments. I have gathered some really good info.

 

Regards

 

Tony