Debunking the boat

While Maura was at school having her little head crammed full of knowledge, Kitty and I went to the boat to give her a bit of a wash and ponder the sleeping arrangements. We scrubbed her down quickly enough- and by we I mean me with baby on my back- and spent a good hour measuring berths, cabins and wondering how exactly to make this work. I don't know that we've made much progress but I think I've come up with the only reasonable solution.

 My first thought was to spit the aft cabin so each girl would have her own space. Then I measured it out and realized each girl would have a tiny, narrow berth. Then there is the issue of the cockpit seat which gives the cabin top over the berth an awkward shape guaranteed to cause head injury on a daily basis.

 My next thought was to block off the pilot berth for the baby. At anchor, there won't be enough ventilation and that electrical panel would prove far too tempting for little fingers. If put the cloth far enough back to prevent little fingers from flipping switches, Kitty would be essentially sleeping in a drawer. A dark, noisy, unventilated drawer.

I briefly considered giving the girls the fore cabin. It is wide enough to split down the middle, then add a cloth enclosure to keep Kitty in her bunk. Then I remembered the one time that Mark and I slept in the aft cabin and how that didn't work. I admit to being a bit of a princess with a pea when it comes to sleeping accomodations. I slept much better in the fore cabin, even with the extra motion.

The only workable solution is to give the girls the aft cabin with no divider down the middle. I told Maura I was really sorry, but she would have to share. I reminded her that they have solo bunks at Ursuline Academy*. She felt that she would be ok sharing with her little sister, so long as she was allowed to use the pilot berth should she so choose from time to time. I assured her this was fine.

Now all I've got to do is figure out how to enclose the end of the berth to keep the little one in. The berth has a shelf and storage area which means the cloth "gate" will have to have an odd shape and multiple attachment points to keep her safely contained. I've got a bit more thinking to do on that...

You can see the shelf area on the left, otherwise
known as "baby escape hatch"

*(Ursuline Academy is the convent boarding school Maura gets threatened with when she doesn't like my rules. I remind her that I love her, but the nuns don't!)