When building a custom or semi-custom sailboat, it makes indeed a lot of sense to look at the rich product palette readily available already. Sometimes it´s even the best choice to think outside the box, as I will show in this article: We´ll delve into the decisions connected to finding the right salon table for the boat and what in the end leads me to go for a product solution that has initially been developed for camping and caravaning.
As many of you commented on my last work-in-progress article about finding a solution for the Omega 42 salon table, I´m publishing today yet another one. Other than promised, it´s not finished yet, but we´ve made a crucial decision that will surely have a huge impact on the later atmosphere of the salon and shape the overall looks. To start with, we´ve scrapped the initial idea of custom-building a new table from scratch.
Playing around with the mock-up
We originally wanted to fit large diameter two stainless steel tubes – black anodized of painted – to the GRP-superstructure of the hull with a secondary mount to the floor boards. On top I wished for a Bamboo-tabletop that would be foldable to starboard side, but fully fixed to portside. After consideration and calculation, my shipyard refrained from doing so because working hours and therefore the building costs would have been staggeringly high – compared to the alternative they´d presented.
What´s important about sailboat dinner tables?
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The biggest concern when planning a table – and it doesn´t really matter where you put it in the end, be it your home, on your terrace or in your yacht – is primarily the question of its size. But other than in your land-based villa, most boats have a fairly restricted amount of space under deck. Mostly, the dinette, that´s the area where the salon´s dinner table is located, is a balance of inviting comfort and free space for crew and guests and the necessity to save valuable volume. Of course, the larger the dinette, the smaller other adjoining areas can be made. It really comes down to the question: How many people will sit around the yacht´s dinner table?
Tabletop size is of prime importance
When you buy a yacht, usually, this question has already been answered by the interior designer. According to the shipyard´s brief, most cruising yacht dinner tables are sufficient enough to offer a comfortable amount of table top area for four, six or eight people. Some have integrated extensions if a surprise-party is scheduled, other yachts, like the Hanse 590 are made from the outset to accommodate 10 or more people. I am happy that the Omega 42 building process is fully custom: In this, owners are free to do whatever they want inside. As for the dinner table of my boat, I asked for the smallest possible table top area: I will mostly be sailing single-handed, maybe taking either my fiancé or my kids with me. So, space for two is appreciated, any bigger table top surface would be considered a waste of material – and blocking of precious internal volume. In this, we work with gauge models which in the context of a table is a simple sheet of cardboard that is cut to size.
Good and less good examples for sailing yacht salon tables.
I´ve said it in the previous article and I will re-iterate on this: As professional furniture retailers know, the decision for a good looking table is considered one of the hardest. Same here on my yacht. I am very lucky that my profession and nonetheless my journalistic work for NO FRILLS SAILING brought me on hundreds of yachts during the past ten years, in which aboard almost all a salon table had been fitted, of course. Also, my past job as a Beneteau dealer, having sold, delivered and taken care of exactly 100 units, is quite a base of first-hand experience. So I really know what I want – and what I don´t want.
Simple, maybe a bit cheap
Take the Oceanis 30.1 for example: It´s a really “magical” boat which I still consider the best bang for your money in the range of 30-footer series production sailboats. She comes at a very attractive price, offers a decent amount of interior volume and comforts and she sails surprisingly well, even more with a set of high-grade cruising laminate sails. Her dinner table could be a role model for my boat: Center mounted, faced by two benches on either side, with two folding tops. A sturdy, yet simple construction. On the other side, there´s the Nautor´s Swan 65:
Swan´s coffee table with a telescopic leg
These yachts show how ridiculous decisions for tables in sailing boats at times can be. This huge yacht does not come with a dinette, but with no less than three of them! There´s the classic dinner area with a huge table and a U-shaped sofa. Vis-à-vis is a lounging area with a small “coffee table” and adjoining to starboard another, more intimate, seating area, maybe for having breakfast? Those two examples quite nicely show the scope of what tables in yachts could be. Simple, multi-function tables or lush, high-class tables, each serving different purposes. I guess, the one I am looking for is somewhere in between?
The telescopic table leg by Ilse Technik
There´s another factor: Money! Rarely spoken of here in my magazine, because I dislike the budget-focus. We all should be well aware of that a sailing yacht, no matter its size, is a luxury gem that costs a lot of money. I don´t want to be part of the sensationalist budget-fixed influencer-scene, hell no! But, of course, even though I went for the Omega 42, which is by far not a bargain, my budgetary capabilities are (very) limited. That’s why I am happy that the guys in the shipyard are equally focused on coming up with not only beautiful and well-made products by their own hands, but also always look for alternatives which might be readily available.
This looks promising: Ilse Technik table leg
In this, they´ve sent me this telescopic table leg. It´s a sturdy, high-grade product “Made in Germany” by a company named Ilse Technik. It´s a family owned and family run company, founded back in 1890 (!) as a furniture manufacture. Today its one of the big system-specialists for solutions for caravaning and camping. The current fourth generation of owners specializes in clever, room-saving solutions for tables, gas-lockers and other stowage-applications for the booming caravaning market. Boats, in that sense, are floating caravans, if you will. So why not check it out?
We´ve bought it right away …
With slightly above 300 Euros the mono-telescopic table leg looked promising in the catalogue. Once arrived in the shipyard, the boatbuilders immediately put it down into the salon to check its dimensions and properties, closely documenting those with the smartphone so that I could make a decision remotely too. First impression: It´s sturdy, it looks good and it comes with very, very interesting features! But first and foremost: We´ve saved a lot of working hours (hence: money) and secondly, a lot of production time (hence: less waiting!). Perfect!
Clever features the new salon dinner table
The first thing I´d like to emphasize on is the variable height. The table can be moved (by hand, of course, no unnecessary electric gadgets for my yacht, please!) up and down from the lowest point of 34 centimeters above floor to its highest position, 71.5 centimeters. That´s perfect for all examples of use I can think of: Dinner table (of course), working desktop (which is usually lower for a more ergonomic grip on the laptop keybord), table for my kids (who are smaller) and maybe a nice and low evening-desk for putting my cocktail whilst reading a book down here …
Finding the right tabletop-size
The second feature I like about this table is the vertical sliding capacity of the tabletop itself. As you may see from the pictures, the arms connecting the later Bamboo-worktop with the construction can shift laterally. This means that it can be placed well-centered so that two (or four) people can sit to either side and enjoy a meal, it can shift to portside so that I can sit down here and work on the computer for example and it can even be shifted all the way into the portside part of the dinette so that there is no tabletop on the starboard side at all. Meaning: The whole starboard side of the salon is a free gangway from the forward cabin all the way back to the bathroom.
Up and down: Telescopic leg!
There´s no need for a folding mechanism anymore, so yet another couple of high-paid craftsman-working hours saved. I´m a sucker for easy and simple solutions, yet elegant and classy. I consider this one a no-brainer and prime example of how thinking outside the box can not only save money, but come up with better solutions. The product reviews for Ilse´s telescopic table leg are very good, the guys in the shipyard are excited too: So, let´s go for it!
Mounting and fixing the new salon dinner table
One of the demands I formulated when we started working on this detail was that I absolutely want a sturdy and stable solution. There´s a high chance that at some day either myself or my sailing guests will be surprised by a sudden increase in heeling of the yacht, due to an unexpectedly high wave, for example. It´s a classic: Quickly grabbing the next best thing within reach, it´s the salon table you´re clinging to – and by chance, if the heeling is too brutal or your body weight too high, often the stability of the foot mounted onto the floor boards is too weak and all breaks. I really want something that is sturdy in this respect. Ilse seems to be that way – we will se. Note: The leg will be mounted a bit offset to port side from the longitudinal centerline of the yacht, to further create free space for an unhindered walk through the salon toward the fore cabin.
Slides left and right, awesome!
Ah, and speaking of floor boards: As you may have already spotted in the pictures, we´ve ripped out the brand new floor boards already as I sadly had to acknowledge that the installed EVA-foam – though still a great material – didn´t live up to my expectations. It´s a shame, but there was no way of fixing the inaccuracies of the caulking. It looked absolutely inacceptable. Now, new plywood floor boards have been custom-cut and will be send to a professional joinery. There, Sikafloor, a new and supposedly great product, will be applied – stay tuned for the upcoming in-depth article showing that process and introducing this material!
How do you not miss this – and all the other interesting articles upcoming? You should really subscribe to the monthly free newsletter. It´s sent once a month at the end, comprised with links to all articles of the previous months, including a “hashtag of the month” that selects one of the useful, interesting and gripping blog´s sub-categories and of course introduces the marketing-partner of the month: It´s at least a curtesy to their spending which helps to finance my work and keeps this magazine free to read for you and above all, free from the hated paywall. I´d be happy if you´d subscribe! But back to the topic …
Other boat solutions from the camping industry
Borrowings from the camping and caravaning industry aren´t seldom, at least for my yacht. You might have already read my articles regarding the simplification of the plumbing and waste-treatment aboard my Omega 42? In order to not have the trouble and fuzz of marine toilets anymore, save on seacocks, piping and a septic tank, I went for a solid separation toilet that is – guess what – a staple of a modern caravan´s standard equipment.
It looks absolutely nice!
It´s so good, that the German manufacturer lately wrote to me in an email that his toilets are now offered by the first shipyard sailboat brand, Neptun Yachts of Germany. Which is a great success! I´ve tested these last midsummer with my kids: We literally ate heavy meat-based stuff only just to have the most intense solid waste production possible. And it did not stink. Not at all! So, I am really, really happy for this solution for my boat, and there´s another:
At last: A black water tap
Whilst being on a caravan-shopping spree anyway, the guys at last have discovered a water tap that I was desperately looking for! My boat doesn´t have a hot water boiler, nor any electric water pumps. That said, we´ll need a tap without a mixer, just a cold water tap for a single supply pipe. But it should be black and nice looking. I researched for hours, week by week, but found nothing. Now, finally, there it is. It´s black, it looks nice and fits to the black sinks – which, guess what, are also bought from a camping supplier. I´m really happy how this all falls into place now.
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Date for the big day is set: Hull & deck mating!
Last but not least, here´s the big announcement: After days of pre-works and preparation, both the Omega 42 deck, the hull and the bulkheads are now ready for the big day: Marriage day! On April 16th finally the mating of the deck with the hull will take place, and noting could keep me away from this occasion! Finally, the construction site will become a boat, a floating body!
Now that´s something big coming up!
I will be present early on from the start of the works until the deck is finally screwed and glued onto the hull, until the bulkheads are laminated to the deck and everything is fixed! Expect at least one or two in-depth articles about the process, the craftsmanship and the intricacies of this big, big undertaking! That´s one and a half weeks to go – more than enough time to fix the last remaining “smaller” jobs for the boat´s interior until this milestone is finally reached. Yeehaw!
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