There
are several troubling aspects about a high deckhouse, besides the aesthetic
shock. It creates wind resistance, for a start, which is particularly
disadvantageous when you’re sailing against the wind. It’s also more prone to
damage by large waves.
Furthermore,
it’s dangerous to work at the base of the mast when handling the mainsail
because you’re poised comparatively high over the water for the width of the
boat. If she’s sharply heeled you could fall overboard without touching the
lifelines.
Heavy-displacement
boats can get away with lower, sleeker cabin trunks because their cabin soles
extend farther below the waterline, but there is no alternative on a
light-displacement hull (if full headroom is required) than to build upward.
But you
really only need standing headroom when you’re not sailing. Under way, you
spend your time mostly sitting down or lying down. And, as Uffa Fox famously
pointed out, you can always go on deck. Plenty of headroom up there.
Incidentally,
good sitting headroom is 4 feet 9
inches. Anything between that and full standing headroom is truly a pain in the
neck.
Today’s Thought
Most of
the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to
the elevation of mankind.
— H. D.
Thoreau, Walden
Tailpiece
A friend
says he never realized how short of living space the world has become until he
arrived home early one evening and found a strange man living in his wife’s
wardrobe.
(Drop by every Monday,
Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
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