Sleeping on a Small Boat

Notes on Sleeping Arrangements on a small boat.

A truly small boat does not have standing headroom, and all the movement below decks is done either by crouching or by sitting and sliding along the bunks. The J-22s we learned to sail on fit this category. Fiddler has standing headroom, if you are under 5' 11" - for you tall folks, this would be a crouching situation.

Technically, that is according to the specifications, we can sleep 5 people. Now I think they may not mean 5 full size adults. The port side berth pulls out into a ‘double’ berth, but it is not quite wide enough for Dave and me. The starboard side berth (my bunk) is 5'2" long and only 22 inches wide on the wide end, narrowing to 20 inches forward. I am 5'4" tall. You can see where this becomes an interesting puzzle in fitting into a small space. Also the boat has a slight port side list as the other two crew-members sleep on the port side, so I am always rolled towards the center of the boat, which is the edge of the bunk. With the motion of waves, the passage of other crew members with gear, and having one arm hanging off into the passageway if I sleep on my back, I am grateful for the lea cloth. I have brief moments when I wonder why I do this. Because it is such fun!

by Kathy