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Enclosing forward deck

Neil Coker

By Neil Coker
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Neil Coker Contributor

Neil Coker

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At the risk of being shot down for asking what may be a daft question. Has anyone seen any examples of someone permanently enclosing the front deck area in either steel of wood? Now I've bought FIONN all sorts of ideas are coming to the fore and one is to extend the cabin forward and utilise the space for either storage or (as the girlfriend wants) a nice little en-suite! The general idea is to have the double bed up front in the main cabin so it would be very handy having that extra space accessible. FIONN is being stripped out in the new year for a compete refit so am open to suggestions/advise.

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Bee Veteran

Bee

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First thoughts are that it would look clumsy and horrible but also that you wouldn't gain a lot of space, under the front deck is a good place for water tanks and gas bottles and also I personally would feel claustrophobic and trapped if there was no way out from the front. The usual way of building with a front deck, a well deck of varying length and a pair of doors at the front with a bit of a cratch and a cover works well and gives somewhere to put muddy boots, hang dripping wet stuff and also to work the boat from with lines, poles and stuff.

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

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There was a boat at Braunston (for sale for ages and ages - dont know if it has sold yet) that had the bow complately closed in - almost all glass - like a greenhouse.

 

Looked awful.

 

If you do do it follow the existing profile of the cabin - you dont want corners sticking out to hit bridges, tunnels etc.

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Up-Side-Down Rising Star

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Posted
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At the risk of being shot down for asking what may be a daft question. Has anyone seen any examples of someone permanently enclosing the front deck area in either steel of wood? Now I've bought FIONN all sorts of ideas are coming to the fore and one is to extend the cabin forward and utilise the space for either storage or (as the girlfriend wants) a nice little en-suite! The general idea is to have the double bed up front in the main cabin so it would be very handy having that extra space accessible. FIONN is being stripped out in the new year for a compete refit so am open to suggestions/advise.

 

Charter Hotel Boat Willow - currently plying the Lowland Canals of Scotland - has a permanently enclosed front deck constructed by the owners' son. See http://www.hotelnarrowboat.com/willow.html for photos (click on the plan). Contact Nick and Irene Scott for further details.

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David Schweizer Veteran II

David Schweizer

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I am pretty certain that the BSS regulations require each boat to have two means of escape from a boat, so unless you already have a side hatch, you will need to incorporate one into the enclosed structure, with reasonable access from inside the boat.

Edited by David Schweizer
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FadeToScarlet Veteran

FadeToScarlet

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There's five boats just here in Cambridge that have done this. A couple have gone for the expensive, extend the cabin in steel approach, one has it glazed like a large conservatory, and two have built insulated wooden structures, under a PVC cover.

 

The problem, I think, is height; there's probably already a water tank under the well deck floor, so a couple of these conversions have hp raised the cabin too at the front to compensate- which I think looks awful- or the rooms created have only about 4'6"-5' headroom.

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Neil Coker Contributor

Neil Coker

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Charter Hotel Boat Willow - currently plying the Lowland Canals of Scotland - has a permanently enclosed front deck constructed by the owners' son. See http://www.hotelnarrowboat.com/willow.html for photos (click on the plan). Contact Nick and Irene Scott for further details.

Thanks for the link, I will take a look

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Gordias Community Regular

Gordias

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Could the "personal toilet space" requirement be met by redesigning the bathroom?

 

IMO the standard designs miss a lot of opportunities for increased comfort, space, and privacy - they all seem to be miniature versions of standard bathrooms rather than optimized for a narrow boat. Example: a washbasin is necessary, but isn't used much. It could be rotated into/out of its normal usage position (could even be rotated in two axes, so it could sometimes be stowed with the "top side" against a wall)). Robust water lines in flexible metal-encased hoses are standard products, and e.g. the "arms" can you buy to hold a TV to a wall would be candidates for supporting the basin.

 

Similarly, the first time I saw a "walk-through" bathroom I started thinking about multi-purpose doors on double hinges, so they can close off a corridor (for "toilet privacy"), or close across the corridor to make a larger space (for showering/drying off etc).

 

FWIW I think narrow boat kitchens are great space-wasters too. An extreme example of the options (with implied (but not shown)) water lines of the kind I mentioned above:

https://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/the-2-foot-by-2-foot-kitchen-191324748.html

 

In the (sadly unlikely) event I ever get the combination of a nice vessel and a few thousand pounds left to spend in minor internal rework, I think I can save 3 to 5 feet between the bathroom and kitchen, and get an effectively larger and better bathroom, and functionally equivalent kitchen, including storage.

Edited by Gordias
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Gordias Community Regular

Gordias

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Hmm ....

 

How long is the boat? I've seen small dedicated toilets on plans of larger boats (70' (ex-)hire boats often have them). On a 50' boat with two people living aboard it could be a problem.

 

I considered a way to move the tanks at the front of a boat, but have no idea if it could be made to work (basically steel ballast to free up under-floor space, and put the tanks there instead).

 

If you recover the under-deck space at the bow normally used for tanks, you could make a tiny loo right at the front, with a gap, or extend the well deck all the way to the bow, extend the main cabin 3 feet, with an exit (or storage of some kind) on one side (off-center) and a loo on the other. Safety-wise there are plenty of options - for example if the front exit is limited to one side, make it opposite a side-door that's set up as an effective exit even in an emergency: e.g. fold-down steps and a relatively deep hatch.

Edited by Gordias
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Neil Coker Contributor

Neil Coker

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I'm not having FIONN refurbished with a view to sell. This is intended to be a one-off purchase so I'm trying to make sure my other half is happy with her. Ultimately, there has to be compromises and she will have to make them in the same way we all must.

so she wants a boat toilet 3 foot from your bed?

hmmm...

She doesn't want to have to go past sleeping family when she needs the loo in the middle of the night. The proximity of the loo to the bed is irrelevant considering I've seen numerous examples where bedrooms and bathroom are merely separated by a simple bulkhead.
  • Greenie 1
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Gordias Community Regular

Gordias

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FIONN is currently 53' but one of the options I'm considering is lengthening to 60' whilst everything is stripped out and sandblasted. Waiting for the quotes for the work at the moment.

 

Can you link a plan of the boat? Failing that: does it have the saloon at the front? If yes, is the solid-fuel stove at the front, or somewhere nearer the middle of the boat?

The first "low impact" solution that comes to mind if to take some space out of the front of the saloon. Disadvantages: it adds corridor space, and would make it much harder to get larger objects (like kitchen appliances) onto the boat. IMO that can be solved too, with a decent-sized side door and hatch, but I can imagine people disliking that.

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Neil Coker Contributor

Neil Coker

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The whole interior is being ripped out and start again. Currently the stove is in the middle of the boat on the starboard side. The more I'm thinking about it the more I'm starting to favour lengthening the boat to 60' and maintaining a layout with the main bathroom at the rear left, then open plan kitchen and living space with L-shaped couch (convertible to bed) going into bunk bed cabin with beds against the right hand (4' at the bottom and 2'6" at the top) and into the main bedroom area with a 4' bed pushed to the right. If my measurements are correct then by lengthening I can have an additional 6' space to do something with.

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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Several of the live-aboard boats local to us have their front well built over since original manufacture.

 

This one is in another thread, because it achieved certain notoriety by being reported stolen, and subsequently found not to be.

 

It gives an idea what a boat where this has been done can look like.

 

This one has forward opening doors to the front, hence meeting the requirement for an emergency exit.

 

[brokers image, but in a forum members Photobucket]

 

dantian_zpsaccc2fba.jpg

Edited by alan_fincher
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