Importance of standing headroom?

[Solace]

Welcome aboard,

I have to echo the sentiments of many above. If you intend on cruising for anything more than the occassional weekend, you will hate life pretty quickly not having standup headroom. And why?
You may have to look around to find a good headroom in a boat less than 30 ft, but they're out there. My Columbia 8.3 has 6'1" headroom (with a soft headliner) all the way to the vee berth. (8.3m = 27'2").

Fair winds

John

[Gillfowdy]

  I have a Grampian 26 and although some people think of this boat as ugly, I love the standing headroom. :)
The only time I hit my head is going from the galley to the V birth and forgetting about the lower height
through the main bulkhead.

Phil
76 Grampian 26
Irish Mist

[W Jones]

Our Laguna 26 has over 6' except in the head where its about 5'8" Sure makes putting your pants on easier :)

[Oldrig]

I'll join the chorus here: I had a wonderful boat with sitting headroom for about 16 years--a Marshall catboat. She was a dream to sail, and she "looked like a boat," to quote my nonsailing artist wife.

But sitting headroom was really uncomfortable. As we got older (we're both over 60 now), it got harder and harder to crawl around on hands and knees. And putting on long pants -- well, one of us had to sit in the cockpit while the other stretched out and got dressed.

Now that we've got a Cape Dory 25D, with 5' 11" standing headroom, cruising is much more comfortable. Alberg rules!

--Joe

[rtbates]

The Cape Dory 25D, as in diesel, has 5'11" of headroom below. The Cape Dory 25, as in outboard, has only sitting headroom.

For me, inside headroom is nice for sure, BUT it's outside headroom that I value the most.. By that, I mean I can stand bolt upright in the cockpit and the boom will never hit me in the side of the head!!.

[Tim]

One of the reasons I just purchased "Che" a "65 Ariel was for the standing room, the ability for two people to pass standing up makes for much better cruising :) Admittedly they have to be two very friendly people  ;)

[ScotiaSailor]

That is true as well, rtbates, for me to find more than 6 feet inside the cabin as well as 6 feet under a boom.. thats gonna be a big boat.

[Pappy Jack]

Hi guys,

I'd love to have standing headroom. At 6'5" I doubt that I'll ever get it :'(. When I was young(30ish), my Venture of Newport 23' was good enough. I now have(at age 58) an Ericson 25 and with  headroom of 5'6". My next boat will be in the 27-30' range and will have headroom of about 6'. Still not standing headroom but it will have to do and I'll be happy with it ;D. The good thing is, the older I become, the shorter I get. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get my standing headroom ;D.

Fair winds and full sails,

Pappy Jack

[AdriftAtSea]

I guess there are some distinct advantages to being vertically challenged. :) At 5' 4", I have a lot more choices than Pappy Jack does. :)

[oldsalt_1942]

At 6'2" you sure can't fit into a "pocket cruiser" like I did. Being 5'9" tall the 6' headroom in most of my Kaiser 26 was just fine.

But the most important thing to remember about headroom is that women don't lay down in boats they can't stand up in.

[Godot]

Hi guys,

I'd love to have standing headroom. At 6'5" I doubt that I'll ever get it :'(. When I was young(30ish), my Venture of Newport 23' was good enough. I now have(at age 58) an Ericson 25 and with  headroom of 5'6". My next boat will be in the 27-30' range and will have headroom of about 6'. Still not standing headroom but it will have to do and I'll be happy with it ;D. The good thing is, the older I become, the shorter I get. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get my standing headroom ;D.

Fair winds and full sails,

Pappy Jack

Just wondering if you had a big enough place to bunk down.  It seems to me that most small boats are built for people of around 5'8".  At 6'5" I imagine that you have a permanent crick in your neck.

[CapnK]

The good thing is, the older I become, the shorter I get. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get my standing headroom ;D.

LOL, Pappy! That's the way to look at the glass and say it's half-full!  ;D

But the most important thing to remember about headroom is that women don't lay down in boats they can't stand up in.

And another LOL.  :D

A Grog to both of you guys for the laughs. :)

[Norm]

Headroom.
We don't have it on Averisera.  Underway it is not much of a problem.  We most often notice that we miss it when trying to cook or do dishes.  The galley surfaces are very low and set up to make sitting, kneeling, or standing (bending over, legs bent isn't really standing) difficult.  The sink doesn't drain on port tack, it floods.

I sail a lot of charter boats with 6 1/2 foot head room.  Too much!

Norman

[Pappy Jack]

Adam,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner :-[. As to your question about where I sleep. Well, I took out the bulkhead between the V-berth and the head. I then put in a hinged extension and cushion over the head. The extension swings up in order to use the head or to get other stuff I've stored there. There is a gap between two flanges where the bulkhead used to be. I left about 2" of the bulkhead in that gap just for a little extra support. Will this weaken the whole boat structure? Probably a bit but then I don't plan to do any trans oceantic crossing ::). Oh, by the way I don't have a crick in my neck but I did have back surgery a few years ago but thing are better now ;). Maybe I should start thinking about a BIG OL' MULTIHULL ::)...naaa. I'll just tough it out :D.

Fair winds,

Pappy Jack

[AdriftAtSea]

Here's a photo that Norm wanted posted, so I'm posting it. :) According to Norm's e-mail:

It is a photo of a small sailboat (Vega 27) while they were both at Marina Cay (East End of Tortola, BVI).  What is remarkable is that this is the first small sailboat Norm had seen set up for voyaging since he got there in November.

[nick]

As someone who has been living in a boat without standing headroom for nearly ten months, all I can say is: It's really darn important.

I met a nutcase who had been living in his boat for nine years, and it was some 24ft French thing, and he was living on the canals in Holland. Anyway, at one stage I made a complaint about it being hard living without being able to stand up, and he said to me: "So, what do you do when you get in a boat" and I said "Oh I don't know, walk to the nearest place to sit down", and he said: "Exactly." Which is kind of true.. But standing headroom would make it much easier to cook for example. Try cutting everything and washing etc all on your knees. It's not exactly inspiring...

[Frank]

I met the young couple in Norm's pic last year in Bahamas....too funny. Even think I posted a pic 'somewhere' here during a vega 27 exchange

[mudnut]

I did notice something funny about the picture though.They are both hunching over :-\Mudnut.

[AdriftAtSea]

Yes, but both also appear to be doing tasks that being bent over slightly might make more sense than standing straight up.

[Shipscarver]

. . . or they have curvature of the spine.  ::)
Ahhhhh - sweet youth!