Building Out The Fo'c's'le - A Cabin For MAYAN's Small Crew

MAYAN's smaller crew is growing - we have one grand child and one more on the way.  Hopefully, these two will be joined by many others in the coming years.  As you know, MAYAN's mission is to take our family cruising with the occasional classic boat race tossed in.  A key piece of this mission is bringing along the next generation of sailors in the proper manner.  That means a proper cabin with the smell of tarred marlin, slightly damp anchor rode, kerosene lanterns, and the chuckle of waves under the forefoot.

Cutter SOL STRAALE - 23' LOD

In Beau's childhood he had the wonderful good fortune to spend many evenings in the small cramped fo'c's'le of the SOL STRAALE, sharing the tiny space with his younger brother, Tom.  It left a life-long impression.   

When we bought her, MAYAN's fo'c's'le was filled with lines, sails, an inflatable dinghy, an outboard, and various shelves and drawers filled with spare parts and tools.  Basically, it was serving as a typical domestic garage ashore in California; holding everything other than a car.  While it's a little handy to have such a space aboard, there wasn't anything stored there that couldn't be stored elsewhere or more efficiently.  

Small Door

Combining the needs of our growing extended family and the desire to sort out this pile of "stuff" in the fo'c's'le, we have re-designed the layout of the space to accommodate our needs.  

When John Alden designed MAYAN, this space was the the home to two paid deck crew.  With a settee below and two pipe berths above, a head far forward between the berths, and two hanging lockers aft. The fo'c's'le was accessed from the passageway aft, which contained the Captain's Cabin and the Galley, through the small door on the right.  The diminutive door is only about 20" wide and 4' 3" high, clearly perfect for our small and growing crew members.  The fo'c's'le was traditionally occupied during the summer sailing season by two young men working the months between college terms or by young sailors working their way up.  We will be returning the fo'c's'le to something much more like what John Alden had originally designed.

Two full sized fixed berths will run aft on either side from the newly built door to the chain locker.  They will meet forward where a cushion at the same level will provide a full width seating area and padded play space for the smaller crew members.  On either side, above the berths, pipe berths will be suspended from the deck beams and hinged at their outboard edge.  While the pipe berths will primarily serve to hold the Gollywobbler, Fisherman, Advance, Yankee and Genoa, those sails can be move on deck and two more crew can take their place.  Just aft of the berths we will be building a hanging locker to starboard, with drawers below, and a cupboard to port with additional drawers below.

Port Forward End of The Fo'c's'le

Demolition of the relatively modern shelves and cupboards in the fo'c's'le has been completed.  With only 4'6" of headroom under the foredeck beams, it will be the perfect private place for all the grandchildren.  The next step will be to strip the ancient paint, some of it appears that it could date back many decades, and refinish the ceiling. For those who aren't sailors, the "ceiling" on a boat is the horizontally planked surface that runs along the inside of the frames (ribs) and provides both a smooth surface to the interior and keeps gear and equipment from falling against the inside of the planking.

The varnished platform shown to the left will be extended to make the berths and the common space between them. We'll add mahogany doors over the chain locker entrance shown and a ladder that folds up to hang from the overhead when not in use. The ladder will be designed to double as a boarding/swim ladder.  Storing the boarding/swim ladder has always driven me nuts, the Wayne made the wonderful suggestion that we could dual-purpose the fo'c's'le ladder.  

Port Aft End of The Fo'c's'le

In the picture to the right, the broad space aft in the fo'c's'le will accommodate the hanging lockers and drawers.  We'll extend the top of the lower section of the drawers to provide a desk space.  

The hanging knee shown is part of the structure to support the foremast rigging.  The bulkhead runs across the boat just forward of the foremast.  Like all the structural wood in MAYAN these knees, the clamp, even the ceiling is substantially stronger than modern boat designs; this is probably why MAYAN is still here, after 67 years and tens of thousands of sea miles.

During the rebuilding process, it has become painfully clear that the wood working is the quickest and easiest of tasks.  It has been the plumbing, electrical and mechanical tasks that have taken the bulk of the time.  Or, as Wayne puts it: "If someone gives you a complete hull, deck and interior, you've only got about a third of a boat."  We're looking forward to building out the fo'c's'le in short order.