I'm thinking about replacing the bulkhead door in my Triton with a curtain. It looks like the curtain track should be curved. Any suggestions for the kind of track I should use, and the best material for a curtain?
Bill
Ganges #363
Cabin Curtain
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Ganges #363
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Tim
- Shipwright Extraordinaire
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How "highbrow" (or not) do you want to go?
Embarrassingly, we just have a length of inexpensive 1/4" metal curtain rod that fits over those cheesy brass curtain rod brackets, and we hang the curtain from that--one little bracket on each side of the door opening, on the head side. The whole thing lifts off easily in a pair of seconds if so desired, but works more than adequately as a privacy screen when needed.
I have to say this has worked really well since 2001. I don't know what the curtain is made from; it's just some inexpensive fabric from somewhere.
When not in use, which is nearly always, we tuck it off to the side behind a handy fire extinguisher.
Embarrassingly, we just have a length of inexpensive 1/4" metal curtain rod that fits over those cheesy brass curtain rod brackets, and we hang the curtain from that--one little bracket on each side of the door opening, on the head side. The whole thing lifts off easily in a pair of seconds if so desired, but works more than adequately as a privacy screen when needed.
I have to say this has worked really well since 2001. I don't know what the curtain is made from; it's just some inexpensive fabric from somewhere.
When not in use, which is nearly always, we tuck it off to the side behind a handy fire extinguisher.
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Forum Founder--No Longer Participating
That curtain seems to me like a perfect example of the concept of "Satisficing." (A combination of satisfy and suffice, coined by Herb Simon.)
From a couple of web sources:
"Satisfice: To be good enough for the real world although not perfect.
Satisfice: To accept a choice or judgment as one that is good enough, one that satisfies. Satisficing action can be contrasted with maximizing action, which seeks the biggest, or with optimizing action, which seeks the best.
A satisficing strategy may often, in fact, be (near) optimal if the costs of the decision-making process itself, such as the cost of obtaining complete information, are considered in the outcome calculus."
As an occasional (okay, frequent) perfectionist, I've been learning to get a kick out of a satisficing solution more and more often. I trick myself by saying that they're "mockups." Sometimes I do end up satisfied with them; other times they give me good information for their replacements.
Britton's Four-Hour Interior™ was the classic, though probably towards the "suffice" end of the scale.
Back to the topic at hand...
It's a bigger space, so not an exact comparison, but we removed a few doors in head/passageway/v-berth area of the W-32 when we went off cruising and I never missed them one bit. We did keep the door between the head compartment and the passageway, but that was more for containment in a seaway than for privacy. A curtain would have been fine (indeed, unless there was "company" the door was left open anyway for more elbow room).
The hanging locker got shelved, and then we took off its double doors - what a pain they were in such a limited space! They were replaced with vertical bungies/cup hooks for holding clothes on the shelves at sea (they were removed altogether for everyday use). There happened to be a horizontal bungie cord that was serving as a fiddle for the shelf that was the top of the hanging locker, so we draped one of those rectangular sarongs over that if we wanted to look tidy.
It sounds a bit rickety, but a curtain with a bungie cord in its upper hem (you can make loops at either end) and a couple of cup hooks really works well, and doesn't look half bad either.
Rachel
From a couple of web sources:
"Satisfice: To be good enough for the real world although not perfect.
Satisfice: To accept a choice or judgment as one that is good enough, one that satisfies. Satisficing action can be contrasted with maximizing action, which seeks the biggest, or with optimizing action, which seeks the best.
A satisficing strategy may often, in fact, be (near) optimal if the costs of the decision-making process itself, such as the cost of obtaining complete information, are considered in the outcome calculus."
As an occasional (okay, frequent) perfectionist, I've been learning to get a kick out of a satisficing solution more and more often. I trick myself by saying that they're "mockups." Sometimes I do end up satisfied with them; other times they give me good information for their replacements.
Britton's Four-Hour Interior™ was the classic, though probably towards the "suffice" end of the scale.
Back to the topic at hand...
It's a bigger space, so not an exact comparison, but we removed a few doors in head/passageway/v-berth area of the W-32 when we went off cruising and I never missed them one bit. We did keep the door between the head compartment and the passageway, but that was more for containment in a seaway than for privacy. A curtain would have been fine (indeed, unless there was "company" the door was left open anyway for more elbow room).
The hanging locker got shelved, and then we took off its double doors - what a pain they were in such a limited space! They were replaced with vertical bungies/cup hooks for holding clothes on the shelves at sea (they were removed altogether for everyday use). There happened to be a horizontal bungie cord that was serving as a fiddle for the shelf that was the top of the hanging locker, so we draped one of those rectangular sarongs over that if we wanted to look tidy.
It sounds a bit rickety, but a curtain with a bungie cord in its upper hem (you can make loops at either end) and a couple of cup hooks really works well, and doesn't look half bad either.
Rachel
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CharlieJ
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On my trimaran, I had a wooden dowel slid into a set of eye screws that fit it. We sewed a sleeve into one end of a nice beach towel (had a lion centered on it), and used that.
On one boat we redid the interior on for someone, Laura made a set of curtains to close off the fore cabin from sunbrella, with regular curtain track and slides, available from SailRite.
On our current boat, we do something like what Tim has, only we use a bungee cord instead of a curtain rod, and just clip the hooks onto something handy.
Rachel- I'll have to file that "satisficing" term away for later use. Seems to make a LOT of sense-grin.
On one boat we redid the interior on for someone, Laura made a set of curtains to close off the fore cabin from sunbrella, with regular curtain track and slides, available from SailRite.
On our current boat, we do something like what Tim has, only we use a bungee cord instead of a curtain rod, and just clip the hooks onto something handy.
Rachel- I'll have to file that "satisficing" term away for later use. Seems to make a LOT of sense-grin.
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Hirilondë
- Master of the Arcane
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- Boat Type: 1967 Pearson Renegade
- Location: Charlestown, RI
Concordias use lift off hinges for the forward cabin door. 5 out of the 6 at the yard have decided lifting the door off works really well and their doors are now stored in basements and such. On my Renegade the head door swings 120 degrees to then seal off the forward cabin instead of the head. It works great for changing clothes as the head is so small one can barely close the door, never mind change in there. There comes a time when satisficing solutions are called for. Some kind of bar/cord/bungee that is removable would seem most pragmatic as there are likely times when losing the whole thing for a while might be called for. A curtain can be stored almost anywhere on board, doors end up in basements. Someone, I think it was Tim, fairly recently said there is only the illusion of privacy as there are no secrets on a small boat. A curtain provides as good an illusion as a door.
Dave Finnegan
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
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Gresham’s Law of information: Bad information drives out good. No matter how long ago a correction for a particular error may have appeared in print or online, it never seems to catch up with the ever-widening distribution of the error.
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
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Gresham’s Law of information: Bad information drives out good. No matter how long ago a correction for a particular error may have appeared in print or online, it never seems to catch up with the ever-widening distribution of the error.
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Ganges #363
- Rough Carpentry Apprentice
- Posts: 55
- Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:59 pm
Cabin Curtain
Thanks for the ideas. The bungee cord system looks good...a rod would attract my forehead like a magnet.
A curtain is probably better than the door for keeping heat in the saloon. It can reach down to the floor and stop drafts.
I wonder if anyone has installed one of those bead curtains?
Bill
Ganges #363
A curtain is probably better than the door for keeping heat in the saloon. It can reach down to the floor and stop drafts.
I wonder if anyone has installed one of those bead curtains?
Bill
Ganges #363
Ganges, when we used bungie for things like that we used a length of "raw" bungie cord (which can be purchased in bulk off of a roll), then made loops in either end, secured with "hog rings." If we wanted to get fancy we put some heat-shrink tubing over the joint. Then there were stainless cup hooks on the bulkhead (or whatever) at either end (or they fit around some already existing part of the boat).
Of course a regular bungie cord (with the hooks on the end of it) could work; we happened to already have the aforementioned materials aboard. I did like the fact that there were no potential "someone could loose an eye" hooks on the ends of the stretchy bit.
Of course a regular bungie cord (with the hooks on the end of it) could work; we happened to already have the aforementioned materials aboard. I did like the fact that there were no potential "someone could loose an eye" hooks on the ends of the stretchy bit.