How to design modifications for your boat

Yacht designer lan Nicolson explains how to make changes to living space on board

- lan Nicolson

Whenever making changes to any boat, it's a good idea to write down as much as possible about the idea. Sometimes this is called a mission statement. Let's take a typical situation and use it as an example of how to achieve a change in the cabin.

The yacht is a 40ft/12.5m cruiser with a couple living on board. Plenty of time is spent in harbour and as these two are competent, they do not need friends on board to help when at sea.

In harbour, they sleep on the two forward berths which are made into a double by a triangular plywood insert at the aft end of the berths. At sea, one person is on watch at night and the other sleeps in the quarter berth where it is impossible to be thrown out in rough weather. All this means that the two settees in the saloon are never needed for sleeping.

The trouble with these settees is that they are uncomfortable to sit on while watching TV. The set is secured to the top of the forward bulkhead in the saloon. The settees face inboard whereas the crew want comfortable seats facing more or less forward towards the TV set.

If the aft ends of the saloon settees are turned into correctly angled armchairs, the forward ends are still available for meals. All that has to be done is for the settees to be chopped in half and the cut-away aft lengths replaced by forward-facing seats. Naturally, these new chairs have to be extra comfortable with thick, soft cushions and armrests.

Get the costings right

The first requirements are a set of plans and a specification of the work and materials. These are essential for pricing and ordering everything needed to complete the job. There is the plywood and 'tree' wood, the fastenings, glue, sandpaper, paint and varnish, thinners and brush cleaning fluids, paint brushes and Jenny brushes, and finally the cushions. This is a chance to make sure that the whole project is affordable.