Importance of standing headroom?

[ScotiaSailor]

Hello all, i am a long time reader, first time poster!

I was wonder what everyones personal opinion is towards having enough standing head room in their boats. i know there is probably a lot of folks who's boats dont have the headroom, but do you feel you are very content with good sitting headroom? Do you wish you bought a boat that has it?

I currently have a 23' Seafarer that has plenty of sitting headroom down below but i stand at 6'2" and i am wondering if i would be better suited/ more comfortable with the higher cabin.  the boat's great for weekend cruises but i am looking at doing some longer ventures.

I am going to be upgrading  to a bigger boat in the future but in order to find good headroom you almost have to be 30 foot long range.
I felt before that i would enjoy having a huge boat but after reading this site and it's "Small is simple" attitude i feel like there is no need for a large vessel.

Anywho thanks for reading.

[AdriftAtSea]

Welcome to sailfar. 

I know that for me, standing room was important.  Not everyone on this forum thinks that.  I know Norm and Cubemonkey (his better half Elizabeth) have a boat that doesn't have standing headroom, and in just the last season alone, they managed to put over 1500 NM on Averisera. 

Personally, I am glad I got a boat with standing headroom, for medical reasons.  Some of the boats that are still in the smaller size range that have standing room, do so by having a pop-top companionway or something similar, and give you standing room in only part of the cabin.  I think that having a berth that you can fully stretch out in is probably more important than having a boat with standing headroom though. :)

That said, I do believe that a smaller boat is better idea than a bigger boat, and I can't imagine getting anything bigger than the boat I have now, which is only 28' LOA. 

[CharlieJ]

When we had our 21 footer, with GOOD seated headroom, but no standing headroom, we could quite nicely go 2 weeks cruising, then we began to tire of it.

On our Meridian 25, with standing headroom in the main cabin ( for US anyway- I'm 5'8" and she's way less ;D) we can cruise for an unlimited time.

It's not really NECESSARY, but it sure makes things more pleasant. Now, we have friends who cruise PCS25s, without standing room, quite well. I just don't think it would work for us long term. 

I suppose it's more of a mind set than anything else. If you don't have it and you want to go cruising, you'll learn to live without it I'm sure.

Oh- and the Pearson Ariel at 26 feet probably has  headroom , as does the Triton at 28 feet. So there's 3 under 30 feet that DO have standing headroom ( for shorter folks anyway :D)

[Tim]

Oh- and the Pearson Ariel at 26 feet probably has  headroom , as does the Triton at 28 feet. So there's 3 under 30 feet that DO have standing headroom ( for shorter folks anyway :D)

Charlie, aren't many of the Albergs with sufficient headroom for those of us with compact stature (under 5'11") :) I just checked the Cape Dory list.
Tim

[CharlieJ]

More than likely so, but I personally don't know that, so I can't say it. I do know the Cape Dory 25 in our marina does, also the CD 27 that was there.

I'd suspect many of the older CCA era style boats did have, but again, I can't state that for sure.

[ScotiaSailor]

thanks for replays..

AdriftAtSea

I am "really" looking at building a trimaran, for my upgrade boat, how much head room do you have in your telstar. i know from looking at a lot of trimaran designs that it is even harder to find one that has the headroom i require. (unless your in the 30 foot range).

[Zen]

My old Ariel had standing headroom , one of the reason I purchased her. My islander 29 has standing room as does the islander 28, as does the Ericson 26

When we had our 21 footer, with GOOD seated headroom, but no standing headroom, we could quite nicely go 2 weeks cruising, then we began to tire of it.

On our Meridian 25, with standing headroom in the main cabin ( for US anyway- I'm 5'8" and she's way less ;D) we can cruise for an unlimited time.

It's not really NECESSARY, but it sure makes things more pleasant. Now, we have friends who cruise PCS25s, without standing room, quite well. I just don't think it would work for us long term. 

I suppose it's more of a mind set than anything else. If you don't have it and you want to go cruising, you'll learn to live without it I'm sure.

Oh- and the Pearson Ariel at 26 feet probably has  headroom , as does the Triton at 28 feet. So there's 3 under 30 feet that DO have standing headroom ( for shorter folks anyway :D)

[AdriftAtSea]

The Telstar 28 has about 6' of standing room throughout most of the cabin. Most of the guys that crew for me are 6' or so, and they don't have any issues with the standing room in the boat.. .:)  I'm only 5'4" so there's really lots of room for me.

BTW, the Corsair 28 has  much smaller cabin.  The cabin on the Corsair 28 is such that I can't stand upright in it.  The cabin on the Telstar 28 is almost the size of the cabin on the Corsair 31 trimaran.  I looked at all three boats, among others, when I was hunting for my boat a few years ago.

I've also written quite a bit about the Telstar on my blog, including some things about why I finally ended up picking the Telstar.

Unfortunately, at the moment, my last upgrade of Wordpress has done something funky, and I'm trying to get the bugs out. :)

thanks for replays..

AdriftAtSea

I am "really" looking at building a trimaran, for my upgrade boat, how much head room do you have in your telstar. i know from looking at a lot of trimaran designs that it is even harder to find one that has the headroom i require. (unless your in the 30 foot range).

[CapnK]

Welcome aboard, Scotia, and Grog to ya! :)

Having had both standing and non-standing headroom in boats I lived on, for me, if you are going to be living aboard, I *much* prefer standing headroom - to the point of calling it a necessity. :)

Now, if you didn't have any other choice, than no standing headroom vs not having a boat, well, you could get by without it... ;) But otherwise, it sure is nice!

At 6' 2", you would *almost* have standing headroom in an Ariel. I'm 5' 9", and I think that the 5' 11" number would be the max. However - it would be a pretty easy modification to pull the cabin sole, make it a bit narrower, and drop it back in for full 6'2" headroom.

In my v-berth, headroom is probably 5' 6". I did the above, cut out the sole, and dropped it about 5", and voila - I can stand under the hatch.

[Tim]

According yo a Triton owner who I guess chooses to remain anonymous  :) headroom is 6'2"

[Auspicious]

The importance of headroom varies a good bit from person to person. I didn't mind the not-quite-standing-height  in a Catalina 22 I sailed years ago with a girlfriend (her boat btw). Of course I was younger and -- well -- distracted.

I have full standing height below, but under the cockpit extension* I have only about 5' and find that moving around and getting in and out of the boat has become quite difficult on my very fragile back. I don't think I could manage anymore without standing room.

*The Swedes outfit my boat with what they call a cockpit extension. It folds forward from the back of the cockpit to directly meet the dodger. There is a picture here. It has much less windage than a typical American enclosure and takes less storage to stow. Also unlike American enclosures it is independent of the bimini (stowed forward of the windscreen in the blue vinyl cover in the photo). I think the concept would scale very nicely to smaller boats.

Regardless of my canvas, I think anyone with back troubles should be cautious about less than standing headroom.

[CapnK]

The cockpit extension idea would work well with a boom gallows, and I think I've seen people who have done just that. Would also save the weight of a bimini frame, back there in the end of the boat...

Although it makes CJ and some Ariel purists cringe, I am still considering a cockpit arch/boom gallows for my boat. Could mount the solar panel/windgen/spare VHF antenna/etc there, and use it with the above idea in order to not have a bimini frame.

[Lynx]

I had thought of that as I am 6' 4". However the fact is that hter are not any boats out there with that much headroom in my price range. Most of the time below is not standing. the only time standing is washing dishes or moving stuff around. The MacGreagor has about 6' but I can do the dishes and cook with the hatch open. Sliding galley sure helps.

A nice bunk is quite important more than headroom in my opinon.

[AdriftAtSea]

One article I read pointed out that if you want standing room, get a boat with real standing room.  If you get one that almost has standing room, you're going to spend a lot of time hunched over and whack your head a lot. :)  If you get a boat that only has sitting head room, you'll be far less tempted to stand upright, and probably whack your head a lot less.

[maxiSwede]

One article I read pointed out that if you want standing room, get a boat with real standing room.  If you get one that almost has standing room, you're going to spend a lot of time hunched over and whack your head a lot. :)  If you get a boat that only has sitting head room, you'll be far less tempted to stand upright, and probably whack your head a lot less.

So true! The main reason I purchased my (32') boat was to get standing headroom. The reason for this is pretty  severe lower back problems since 20 years. My back feels a lot better when I no longer have to move around 'twofolded' in the cabin. A hardhat (helmet) would come in handy though, I 'just about' have standing headroom at 1.84. ; keep bouncing my head into those odd nuts and bulkheads all the time.

[Auspicious]

I have found that when you have "near standing room" that ball caps are bad news. The bill seems to block the sight line to the thing you are about to bash your head on. I have learned to take my cap off and leave it behind the windscreen before going below.

[AdriftAtSea]

The other problem with ball caps is the little button in the center of the top... it hurts like heck when you stand up and hit that against the overhead, and it leaves a dent in your skull.

[CharlieJ]

Not only dents- SCARS!! And not always in the same place.

But the part about the bill blocking your sight line is for sure a truth. You should get Laura to tell you about the time I almost cold cocked myself on a 2 x 6 beam - I have a good scar from that- THROUGH the cap!! I did knock myself to my knees.

[Tim]

But what worse, for those of us follicley challenged, is that without hair to sense how close you are, ones head is ALWAYS in contact with something. >:( I now wear a stocking knit hat whenever in the cabin.

[ScotiaSailor]

Thanks for the input folks. It is all i can do but talk about sailing till the ice melts and it gets warm enough to sail in a snow suit.