The Church says: The body is a sin.
Science says: The body is a
machine.
Advertising says: The body is a
business.
The Body says: I am a fiesta!
-
Eduardo Galeano
Ergonomics
is the art and science of fitting things to the human body. Tools, toys and the
spaces we inhabit.
The science
bit revolves around the facts of the human frame. About yeah tall; so wide;
jointed here and there; bends this way, not that way.
Bunk
lengths, seat and counter width, heights, depths and overhangs, lumbar curves
(to backrests), headrooms – standing, seated or kneeling – all have generated
more or less standard numbers, averaging human norms. Consider, however that
plenty of folks don’t fit those norms, AND the norms change over time (we’re
getting taller and wider!).
You can read
this book
or visit this thread for more info, but the best way
to get the numbers is to measure furnishings and spaces that you and yours find comfortable, then
mock them up to work out the deets.
The art is
harder to grasp. This is subjective, and a matter of abstracting the principles
behind the kind of spaces that make you feel the way you wish to feel.
Art is
complicated by compromise with other considerations. Love that rustic, raw wood look? Hard to clean. Stucco? Ditto. Porous surfaces can
become mildew havens. Natural fibers go musty. Some of us prefer center
cockpits dividing off a private, aft cabin… which must be heated, complicates
steering arrangements and may require a dash through weather to reach head or
galley. We all walk a line, balancing our tastes against the limits to how far
we’d go to indulge them.
Here are
some of the things I like and tend toward:
Contiguous, Open Space -- I personally like an open, expansive feel to my home environment.
Physical
space allowances (legroom, elbow room, etc.) that don’t have one person
violating the ‘personal space’ of the other call for long, hard thought.
Seating should be amply wide, to accept however many persons sitting
side-by-side. Opposed seats should be sufficiently far apart that footsie is voluntary. ‘Course, when I
say should I mean do what you can.
Airspace
(from the waist up) is important to me, and can offset a certain degree of
physical constriction. To avoid that walls-closing-in feeling that many
interiors produce, I avoid incursions and cut openings in barriers (such as
bulkheads). Privacy can always be reestablished, if necessary, by curtains or
other removable means.
Windows open the interior into the wider
world and pierce the close embrace of the hull. I avoid center- or daggerboard
trunks, which can divide the cabin spaces longitudinally. Likewise, I prefer
not to have masts pierce the cabin spaces (split, cat rigs are arranged at the
cabin ends). I like big cutouts in bulkheads, creating social spaces that join
galley, salon and bunk areas. I tend to avoid enclosed spaces (head, pantry,
wet locker, etc.) which break up the contiguous, open areas. If such things are
included, they huddle at the extreme ends.
Galley at the Heart – A well fed crew is happy, warm,
energetic and good to go. When guests are aboard, who wants to choose between
cooking and visiting? The Galley, I believe, is best located between Cockpit and
Salon (seating area), with good lines of sight between them. Handy to the
cockpit for a mug-up; part of the party below-decks. We heat and cook with
wood… a large cut-out in the Galley/Salon bulkhead permits radiant heat from
the stove and further opens the space.
Pleasures of the Bunk – The Bunk isn’t just a hole to
crawl into and collapse. It can extend the lounging/social space, and is often
the scene of extended bouts of reading. It should be well ventilated, light,
comfortable and airy as any other. It’s often a hotbed of sexuality… will it
accommodate your passions or cramp your style? Can it be curtained off for
privacy, when necessary? Does it have adequate and handy storage for clothing
and personals? Can you sit up at night and check your anchor bearings without
leaving covers’ warmth? Can you tumble out on short notice when the fewmets hit
the windmill?
The Head, et al – Hmm. I’m a fan of Hereschoff’s
cedar bucket – practical, compact, sanitary. But I acknowledge that the
intimacy involved is not for everyone, and that at least token privacy is often
preferred.
Okay. Our
compromise (to be tried out in a future boat) is a semi-enclosed space in one
corner of the galley. A section of counter spans the space when not in use,
then flips up to join a partial bulkhead to wall off the forward face. A
curtain may be drawn across the longitudinal opening for full privacy.
Meanwhile, the outboard wall (outboard of the flip-up counter edge) accepts
deck- and raingear, doubling as a wet-locker. This maintains good counter
space, view from Galley windows and doesn’t crowd the airspace when not in use.
Multiple Function – It’s often possible to design
components for multiple use, whether separately or together. A counter may
double as workbench. Dinettes and setees may be made down into bunks.
A trick we
used in LUNA (and will repeat in the next boat) was to make the adjacent Salon
seat and Bunk heights at one level. With the dinette made down, a Salon
soleboard could be raised to seat height, spanning the gangway and creating a
large, level, workspace.
There is a caveat… we can get too clever for our
own good! Finnicky transformations, or rickety results; a single contraption
for simultaneous necessities; accommodating trivial or unnecessary functions…
all of these can lead to frustration and clutter. Keep it Simple, Sailor!
So here’s a
look at one of our preferred layouts, incorporating these
ideas:
And here's how LUNA's interior looked:
 |
| View Aft from Salon to Galley |
 |
| View Fwd from Salon to Bunk |
*****
Interiors
are very personal things. Your design will, at best, accommodate the way you
live – your needs, patterns, tastes and social dynamics.They seldom
can be considered to be entirely finished. Like us, they evolve over time.