The galley/dinette space opened into the main saloon with a half-height bulkhead between. This gave a very open look to the interior. The main saloon was rather plain; two settees whose backs lift up to form two more berths. The nav station was opposite the head. The V-berth cabin included a pair of hanging lockers and plenty of space.
The galley/dinette is under the coach roof (indicated by the curved line on the drawing. There is a 6-inch step down from there into the main saloon.
The PO changed the interior to make it more suitable for living aboard.
The dinette was changed to a nav station. The former nav station became a child's desk/toy box (no structural change - just a change in use).
There are a few things I don't like about the current layout. The nav station/storage area doesn't make very good use of space. The storage units are about 46" tall, with counter space on top and drawers and cupboards below. The extra storage is always nice, but a lot of the space is just air.
The main saloon is still too plain. The Pullman berths are a problem, because when an upper is pulled out, you can't sit on the settee. There is a table that folds up against the starboard forward bulkhead, and when dropped down is suspended by a pair of ropes clipped to the deckhead. It works well, but isn't as attractive as I would like.
The old nav station, now child's desk, would really only be used if a young family were living aboard. Yes, there's more storage there, but the desk surface is simply redundant, given the nav station added aft.
The galley is rather dangerous on a port tack, especially if you get knocked down. You would be thrown eight feet across the cabin, to crash into the storage units. The double sinks are fine in theory, but they are too small to put a plate in flat, wash a pot, etc. The corner outboard of the sink is just an empty space that used to be an ice box. It's not being used at all.
The head is fine -- just old. It has a shower, but the drain leads to an open gray water tray in the bilge below the main saloon. It smells. Worse, the holding tank is a small, flexible bag that holds about 5 gallons. With a couple of kids on board, it fills quickly. And it smells. Constantly, despite all the holding tank treatments known to man.
The V-berth cabin is huge -- but it's, well, a V-berth. The kids like to sleep there at anchor. I'm just not a big fan of V-berths, especially at sea. They're fine for sail bags and sundry, but not to sleep in. Actually, there's no need to use them for sail bags, because the lazarettes on the boat are enormous.
In the port lazarette, there's a shelf where a propane bottle sits. It has a shut-off solenoid controlled by a switch in the galley, but no sniffer, and no airtight enclosure for the propane bottle. I want to install an ABYC-compliant locker.
One final note on the layout. The cockpit is rather large for blue water sailing. The cockpit well is almost 8' long and 2' 6" wide. On the plus side, an 8-person liferaft could easily fit in there, and if suitably anchored and protected, might reduce the cockpit volume enough to make it safe.
Next up... my ideas for changes.
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