Dinette

[solodare]

So my Dinette was dismantled when I got my boat (venture 22), Does any one have any pictures of how the table mounts to the hull?  I was thinking I could find an old table at the goodwill and modify it to the right size.

maybe i could modify a door hinge to mount to the hull for converting the dinette to a double berth. Using the hinge pin as a release pin?  Any ideas or tips?

I have given up on finding original parts.

[Godot]

I've never seen a Venture 22 so can't comment on how it was done.

Is it a "dinette" style table along one side of the hull with two small seats facing each other, or is it a table that actually folds down from the bulkhead? If it just folds down from the bulkhead you can just attach it with some kind of hinge (I'd probably think about a piano hinge) with a folding leg at the other side. You will have to engineer some kind of latch to keep it up in place when you want it folded away (should be simple enough).

I had a dinette on my Seafarer 24 with fore and aft seating along the port side (the galley took up the entire starboard side of the main cabin) and a table that had a removable pole in the center that slotted into a fitting on the cabin sole. It worked OK. I did re-engineer the thing later on to work better and provide more storage. In the end I mostly left the table down with the dinette in the "double bunk" mode, though.

I wonder if the table is really worth it. Once upon a time boat builders did all they could to squeeze big boat features into very small boats. It all looked great on paper; but the reality was sometimes less than completely successful. Twenty two feet is a pretty small boat. You might find that the table gets in the way. I imagine that is why the previous owner got rid of it. The utility to annoyance ratio might be skewed the wrong way.

[solodare]

Godot,
thanks, Its the same as your set up.
You make a great point. I will probably drop it down to the bottom of the to do list. But in the end the option to have it if ever needed doesn't hurt much. It can always be stowed away and left as a settee, or double birth what ever its called.

It is a very small space.....

[CharlieJ]

I have a 25 footer, and my table lives under the foredeck in slides. Seldom set up. I really don't care for dinettes in small sailboats. Leg room in the outboard seat usually sux.


Oh, and for a bed on board, the word is berth


Here's 3 pics. Table set up, tale stowed, and a closer look at the stowed table

[Jim_ME]

That's a beautiful table Charlie. I'm a little surprised to read that it is seldom setup. I think that I'd use that all the time.  :)

One boat that I have attaches the table using a couple deep strips bonded to the hull to form a slot. There are two vertical holes (maybe 3/8" or 1/2") drilled through the strips and the outboard edge of the table (in the slot). The table is held in place with a couple of metal (stainless steel, I think) pins placed in the holes. The inboard side of the table has a hinged leg with a foot board that rests in a slot on the raised dinette sole, to hold the leg in place.

I like the dinettes that Westerly has in several of its small (22-foot) boats. Their hulls are fairly tall, so they have more space for dinette legroom than some of the boats with more wineglass shaped sections. Still, while generous for two, might be a bit cramped for 4 (unless the additional 2 are children?)

Here are some photos of the dinette. Since these layouts have a separate quarter berth and a V-berth forward, so it seems like with a couple (or 3) it should be possible to leave the dinette table up much of the time. Especially at anchor when a sea berth isn't required.

I find that I really like having the dinette with a table off to the side, always ready to be used--for dining, reading, or as a chart table.

[Tim]

On my Ariel, I have a small table the drops down from the door into the V-Berth area. The perspective is a little off in this shot, it does serve well for two and totally out of the way when not in use.

[Jim_ME]

Charlie, I'm curious about the detail/method you used to connect the board to the bulkhead on either side of the opening, and to the table itself. I see that there is a board that acts as a ledge above the anchor rode locker bulkhead. I'm assuming that this ledge board stays there and you use another at the opening to support the forward end of the table?

Also was wondering, Tim, if you had considered using such a board to support the forward end of your table from the partial bulkheads at the aft end of your cabinets, so that your table would then be located farther aft where the settees are, similar to the arrangement on Tehani?

Nice to see those swans neck hand holds at the companionway again. Pretty cool. :)

[SeaHusky]

If you exuse a slight deviation, those grab handles on either side of the entrance look interesting. What are they?

On my Ariel, I have a small table the drops down from the door into the V-Berth area. The perspective is a little off in this shot, it does serve well for two and totally out of the way when not in use.

[Tim]

Grab handles made from an old chair.

Jim, I wanted the table to be out of the way when not in use, it folds onto the V-Berth door, and would not fit if any larger. The photo is perspective deceptive, it actually extends enough that you can sit with your legs under the table.

[CharlieJ]

That board across above the anchor lockers part of the table itself. The stainless hooks you see slide into the receivers on each side of the opening to the Vee berth area.

There is a wooden piece on the left of this picture that holds the table up- the right side has two turnbuttons, which you can see pretty clearly here. Undo the turn buttons, and the table drops out on that side, then I slide it out, drop the leg ( also held with turnbuttons) and slip it into the receivers on the bulkhead shown in the pic without the table

[Jim_ME]

It's a beautiful setup, Charlie.

Have you ever thought of also having an alternative place to set up the table? I had seen on a CD 25, a table supported by a single pipe post, that could be placed between the settee berths (as yours is), but which could also be rotated on its post to a position athwart one of the settees, like a dinette. Of course, there is no footwell for this "dinette", so you had to sit side-saddle beside the table, but it did provide a place to keep the table setup that was out of the way of moving around the main cabin and to the forward cabin/head.

Was thinking that if you had another set of receivers mounted behind you settee berth, you could do the same thing, if you liked.

[CharlieJ]

What I'm REALLY trying to work out, is how to mount the table out in the cockpit. On my old necessity, the table worked both places.

Still studying that.