And now for something different, here is the Special Edition of the usual weekly progress updates to give you an early Sneak Peek at how the SuperSalon and Guest Cabin area are shaping up. To do that we will leave the reality of the shipyard and cabinetry shop and take a short trip into the virtual world of CAD renderings all compliments and thanks to our brilliant interior designer Yesim.
Yesim would want me to emphasise that the renderings below are at a very early stage of the interior design process where we are still finalising the dimensions and layout of some of the interior elements in the SuperSalon and Guest Cabin as well as different materials and textures. There are lots of items and details missing at this stage as we are just interested in getting an overall sense of how layouts and materials will look and work.
Using 3D Max software Yesim is able to take photos of the material samples we chose such as the Rosewood, upholstery fabrics, leather and flooring and then “maps” these onto the different surfaces in model. It is a great way to try out all these variations in this virtual space before we start ordering the materials and building it all in the workshops. We are also able to setup the renderings for different times of day/night for different lighting and in later stages we are also able to turn on the virtual lights inside to see how they will light up the interior.
While it is very early and Yesim wanted to do much more work on the model, the lighting and the renders before sharing them widely, I thought you would enjoy this early sneak peek of how the SuperSalon is shaping up. In some of the renderings we we will take advantage of this virtual world to remove some parts of the room to be able to show you more of the space so please use all of this to help to create your own mental model of how our layout will work. Lastly before we jump in, remember you can click to enlarge ny photo in any of these blog posts.
General Arrangements:
Let’s start by getting you oriented with the general arrangement of the interior spaces and the overall layout of the boat.
Here is an overhead plan view of the upper deck level and Super Salon.
And this profile view will add to your understanding of how the different levels and interior spaces are laid out.
Now let’s move inside and switch over to some renderings to give you a better sense of the interior.
Master Cabin
Before I get to the new parts of the interior, let me start by going back a bit by showing the interior of the Master Cabin which many of you have already seen as we have already featured this area in several recent blog posts as they cabinetry for the Master Cabin is being built. This will save you from having to go back to these earlier posts and also help those who have not read the previous blog posts.
This is the view you are greeted with as you enter the Master Cabin via the circular stairs leading down from the SuperSalon. The King sized bed is on your left and sits about 1m / 3’ off the floor with a full set of large drawers in this large base.
The outer two walls of the shower are etched glass to allow all the light and breezes in from that big 700mm / 28” square overhead hatch. Being over the shower also means we can leave this hatch open in the rain if we want to supplement the fresh air coming in via the four Dorade Vents no matter what the weather. The head/toiled in the far left corner of this render on the other side of those slatted walls and there is a vanity sink on center at the far end of this view up against the WT Bulkhead with the Forepeak on the other side.
Not quite visible here, on your right as you enter is a full height wardrobe and then the leather covered bureau of drawers you see here on the right.
Standing in front of the Vanity sink with the shower and head on your right this view shows the end of the bed with one of its drawer stacks.
On the left side of this view there are a series of full height cupboards which also contain the washer and dryer and then as you move aft towards the entry door with its full length mirror, you have the very tall bureau of leather covered drawer and then a full height wardrobe to the left of the mirrored entry door.
Stepping forward to the corner of the glass shower walls this view shows more of the Port/Right side of the Master Cabin with the large bureau of drawers and sculpture display on the left and some steps on the right side of the bed to a raised floor that makes getting in and out of that side of the bed easy as is making the bed. This floor area has also been just right sized to also serve as a very safe “bunk” to sleep in very heavy seas where you are safely contained on both sided.
Standing up on those stairs looking across the bed towards the entry door gives you a better view of the Port side layout with a beautiful 3D sculpture of a Möbius Strip hanging in the dedicated space above the bureau of drawers. The white version in this rendering is a temporary stand-in which will actually be a phenomenal work of art which our niece Lindsay has made specially for us.
The large 700mm / 28” square hatch above the bed provides both lots of light and fresh breezes as well as star gazing at night.
But that is all SO last week and so real! Let’s jump into the virtual future with a look at some renderings of the other two primary living spaces aboard; the SuperSalon and the Guest Cabin.
SuperSalon
It is a bit distorted but this wide angled overhead shot of the SuperSalon will help orient you to this eXtremely beautiful and spacious open plan area which is where we will spend the majority of our time aboard. I think you can also see how the name SuperSalon became self evident. Distance from the front window to aft is about 7m / 23’ and about 4m / 13’ width between the side windows.
Starting over on the far right side of this rendering above, the eXtremely large Galley is on your right as you come down the stairs after entering the SuperSalon through the WT door on the Aft Deck. As you reach the bottom of the stairs the four unit fridge/freezer cabinet is on your left and if you turn further to your left you go down the second circular stairs leading down to the Guest Cabin and the corridor to the Workshop/Engine Room.
In the upper center area is the L shaped dinette and in the top left corner are the other circular stairs which take you down into the Master Cabin. The table can be moved on both the X and Y axis with a single handle under the table to position it wherever you like and the pedestal also lowers and raises to adjust between eating height and coffee table height or can go down flush with the seat bases to create an additional sleeping area which we sometimes like to use when on very rough passages and we want both the on and off watch person to be nearby.
The helm chair and Main Helm station is at the far left and then a large open area is our reading and relaxing Lounge area with those two inviting Eames Lounge chairs.
Layout of the Main Helm Station is very much in flux as we refine the list of screens, controls and switches that will be mounted there. Currently we are thinking of having a pair of 20” touch screens mounted side by side in the forward center of the Helm Station with other controls, keyboards and smaller displays mounted in front for things like autopilot heads, AIS, Radar, jog levers, etc. The steering wheel will not be in place most of the time as it would only be used to turn the manual hydraulic steering pump in case of a full failure of every one of the many other steering systems we have.
Standing in about the center of the SuperSalon looking forward provides a good sense of how fabulous the views are going to be through all those 360 degrees of windows. The Helm Chair will be on tracks set into the floor so it can be moved fore and aft about a meter to position it just right both when one of us is running the boat on a passage from here as well as when we are at anchor and want to just use it as a comfy chair or move it back and rotate it to be part of the dinette table seating.
The large 50” monitor to the left of the Helm Chair will be on an articulated arm so it can swing in/out/up as well as be moved back into the cabinet. It will be be very multi functional being used to display chart, radar and boat data when we are underway and can then be used to watch movies and see photos from the day when we are anchored. There is also a remote “Walk About” controller (wired) at both this and the SkyBridge helms so you can run the boat from pretty much any position that is most advantageous to the conditions.
The 40” monitor on the left will be most often display all our multiple views of boat related data, charts, Radar, etc. as its location has been optimized for viewing when seated in the Helm Chair.
The angled half wall to the right of the Helm chair will provide easy access to switches and circuit breakers mounted within easy reach of the helm chair for all the circuits typically needed on passage and when docking.
Using our magic wand “hide” feature in the software we have made the Galley and the Fridge/Freezer cabinet that would normally be to the left of the lounge chairs disappear for this rendering looking out the forward Port side windows will and providing a better sense of the Lounge and Helm areas.
I’ve long admired the work of Ray and Charles Eames and so I think this is the perfect space for two of their iconic Eames Lounge chairs for eXtremely comfy reading or watching movies at night. These chairs can be moved around when at anchor and then have tie downs in the floor to secure them when underway.
The stairs just visible on the bottom left go down to the Guest Cabin and the stairs leading down into our Master Cabin are on the opposite side on the right.
Note that the ceiling is just a blank right now and the flooring is actually very textured vinyl planking rather than the glossy version that crept into this rendering. Lots of great grip and feels good on your bare feet.
Turning to the right the Galley magically reappears and lets us see this perspective looking out the Starboard side windows. You can see how the Horizon Line runs throughout the SuperSalon although we have removed it from the table edge and under the dinette seats and will instead have it run along the tops of the seat cushions at the same level as elsewhere in the Galley.
Standing in the very front Port/Left side looking aft you can see how the Dinette area will be such a marvelous vantage point when weather and conditions motivate us to eating inside. There is a bit of the Galley’s marble countertop behind the right end of the seat cushion making it easy to pass food and drinks back and forth. The Fridge/Freezer cabinet is on the far right just behind the Eames Lounge chair.
Using the magic wand again to make the Dinette seating invisible lets us peer into three of the four sides of the spacious Galley with the Bosch Speed Oven below and the 4 burner induction cook top above. All the other cabinetry below the marble countertops will be different sizes of drawers as we find the so much more functional than doors and shelves. Countertop will be cut from a truly gorgeous slab of 20mm / 3/4” thick marble we found in a local quarry.
Even more storage space for dishes and food is in the cabinets or “Garages” as we tend to refer to them sitting atop the marble counters. The top and angled fronts of these Garages are one piece doors which hinge at the back and swing up and open with gas cylinders and make it very easy to see all the way to the back and easily reach in to the items in each Garage.
If you look closely just below the countertop corner on the left you can get a peek of how the “Horizon Line” and handhold works.
Over on the right the top two SS units are mirrored door opening 135L refrigerators and below are two pull out 75L freezer drawers. Each of these have their own remote 24V DC compressor which will all be located down below in the Basement. Removing the compressors from the fridge/freezer units allows us to add even more insulation around all sides of each fridge/freezer box to make them super efficient.
Now let’s go down those stairs in the far aft right side of this render and take a look at the Guest Cabin and Christine’s Office.
Guest Cabin & Christine’s Office
These two rough renders will show you the general layout of the Guest Cabin area. You come down the stairs on the far left side into a corridor that leads straight ahead into the Workshop and Engine room shown here at the bottom center. On the outside of this corridor is an office/workbench for when I’m need more of a clean space to work and then you can turn into where the doors for the head and shower are or walk straight ahead to enter the Guest Cabin and Christine’s Office.
Jumping over to the opposite Starboard/Right side of the hull looking into the Guest Cabin you can see the couch/bed in the lower right corner and Christine’s work desk and chair over on the left.
Note that the full height wardrobe on the bottom left has been relocated to the upper right corner of this cabin.
Now let’s take a look at some of Yesim’s MUCH nicer renderings of this space.
Standing in the doorway into the Guest Cabin, Christine’s desk is on the right, the couch on the far left which pulls out into a Queen bed and then there is also a fold down Pullman berth hidden away in the aft wall on the right. In addition to the two large overhead hatches you see here there is another large one over the shower so lots of natural light pouring into all these spaces and lots of fresh breezes when they are open.
Removing the shower for a better view reveals more of the wardrobe and bookshelves next to the pull out couch.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this very quick and very early glimpse at how the SuperSalon and Guest Cabin areas are shaping up. You’ll be seeing much more of these once the cabinetry work begins which should be in a few weeks after the Master Cabin woodworking is all done and moves on to the finishing shop.
Please do let us know what you think of this layout and put any of your suggestions, questions and ideas in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
Thanks!!!
– Wayne
Looks awesome!
Thanks for taking the time to check this posting out and comment Seth. Much appreciated and hope we can keep you coming back for more.
Beautiful renderings of a very attractive living space. Hard to believe this all started 458 days ago.
Yes, we have to pinch ourselves as well from time to time Elton. It’s one of those situations where it simultaneously feels like it has been just a few days and yet also feels like years. Well, it has now been over 3 years in the planning and design so I guess that’s to be expected. Best of all though we are having a blast working with this incredibly talented team here at Naval Yachts in Antalya Turkey and all the more so knowing how much eXtreme joy we will experience once we get back to living on the water and wandering this watery world again.
Howdy Wayne and Christine. LOVE the Rosewood, clean lines and leather on the the cupboards!! It’s all stunning. Multi purpose utilization of furniture and spaces – brilliant. (Helm chair = DR chair…) My only comment is a retractable??? side table “something” to hold my drink in the Salon when I’m sitting in those gorgeous chairs. Humbly yours…… Sue
Hello their Sue! The pictures we see tell us you and Bob are enjoying your fabulous home during the summer weather and we can’t wait for the next chance to spend some time with you guys. Hopefully the next time will be when you are aboard Möbius with us once she launches and you can test out those chairs AND where to put your glass of wine when you are relaxing in one of those Eames Lounge chairs. As fellow wine lovers you know we have taken “drink holders” into question throughout the boat and I’m sure it will be an ongoing search for better and better solutions. For the Lounge we may indeed go with your idea of a “retractable” table as it would be relatively easy to create one that slides in and out of the Port side cupboards that run the full length of the Lounge area. And we will most likely have a nice little side table that I’ll make to match the Eames chairs and interior materials which you could move to be wherever most effective wherever you happen to arrange the chairs. We didn’t think a fixed post table would make sense in this area as we will move the chairs around frequently and a fixed table would just get in the way.
Not that it would work for your wine glass in all situations, the dining table is mounted on some very versatile sliders that allow you to move the table in both X and Y axis (fore/aft + athwartships) as well as being mounted on a vertically adjustable post so you can change the Z or height as well. The XY adjustment is made with a single handle mounted underneath the tabletop making adjustment a one handed operation and there is lots of travel in both directions so we think this will be super handy. Mostly used to adjust the table closer to you for “eating mode” and then pushing further away and lowering for coffee table/footstool mode but you might also be able to use it on occasion for your wine glass?
In any case, really appreciate you helping us keep our priorities straight and helping to entice you and Bob to come spend time with us! 🙂
How about another helm seat to the left of the command seat and off set to the rear? gives the ability to constantly monitor the readings and communicate with command while not interfering with the helm’s ability to work the controls and the right panel. Maybe be able to place one of the Eames Lounge chairs in that position and lock it into place as necessary. Looks like it would be a bit lower. That’s good. Not as a permanent cruse position but for the two extremes of casual chatting and working in tandem when the extreme conditions require.
Hey John, thanks as always for your comments and ideas. Christine and I discussed having dual helm chairs at the Main Helm station and made sure the design and overall layout made that possible but for now at least we don’t see the use case for it for us. We are both ex single handers and now “only” double handers, or whatever a “couple” crewed boat is called (?) and so most of the time when we are on passage whichever one of us isn’t on watch we are resting and we’ve never seen the need to have both of us seated at the helm at the same time. As you noted one of the Eames Lounge chairs could easily be moved up beside the Helm chair albeit at a different eye level and we do see that as one of our seating arrangements. In daylight hours or other times when we might both be up and talking when underway the off watch person is usually reading, checking weather reports, charting routes, etc. so we think that we will likely find sitting at the dining table will work well for that with the adjustable table there to hold the laptop, charts, books, etc.
We have also gone through the scenario when extreme conditions have both of us inside at the helm and designed that angled half wall to the right of the Main Helm chair to create a space right sized for one of us to be standing in there very safely braced. As with many other aspects of the design we have left the layout options open for now so that we can first acquire a year or more of experience on the boat in all sorts of different conditions and if we see an arrangement that we like and are often using then we can build in a more permanent solution. On example of this is that we are going to leave the area in front of the aft SkyBridge helm station as just an open space with free standing lounge chairs, table, etc. and see how we find ourselves naturally using this space both underway and at anchor.
So that’s our current plan for helm seating, in addition to the upper helm in the SkyBridge and we think this should cover most of the bases and be a good fit for us.
I’m borrowing some of your dialog from the next posting :
“Yes, it is a challenge to design systems to be both highly functional and also KISS so things can look quite “complicated” when you see all the inner workings, wiring, cables, plumbing, etc. However as you well know Elton from all your more land based projects and homes, to those of us who design, build and install these systems it is all very logical and “simple” for the most part.”
I would add, simple to maintain,the simplest being no maintenance and that is usually a “solid” piece. Every “non solid” is an opportunity for de-lamination, every corner an opportunity for accumulation, every “color coding” is a recall test in an emergency.
So what I try to do is make a couple of passes over time to try and simplify and eliminate. The most helpful person is someone who is knowledgeable but has never seen the product being asked by me to “do”, “maintain” or “fix” something. My wife is my first alpha tested. She just doesn’t see things the way I do nor does she think the way I do. But because we share the same values, we’ve been married for 57 years. To this day, many times the first words out of my mouth are, why did you do that? in that way”? How did you see that? Why is that confusing to you,. makes sense to me.
Am I making sense to you?
Without any instruction and without you in the room, ask someone who should be able to do the task, to go into a space and simulate doing something and then explain to you what they did. Or even if they could do it.
This was meant for the previous week dialog about maintenance. I’d blame old age but that is getting to be a lame excuse.
Thanks for this detailed explanation John but first and foremost congrats to you and your wife for perfecting this over 57 years! Awemazing accomplishment indeed.
I think we are on very similar wavelengths here in terms of taking advantage of those unfamiliar with something you’ve designed/built to do an assessment of it from their perspective. There is indeed something very special about the initial reactions and experiences any of us have which we slowly loose as we become more familiar with it, learn to use it and become accustomed to how to make it work best. All too often we can be putting up with something or having workarounds to what could have been eliminated or reduced at the design/build phase. Christine and I try to maximize the fact that our minds work so very differently such that we almost always see things from a different perspective and our logic is quite different. While sometimes a challenge, we have learned how to turn this into a feature in most cases of having multiple points of view on the same item and being able to critique it better and come up with a better design. We try to avoid the “design by committee” syndrome by designing things initially on our own and then giving it to the other to critique BEFORE we start discussing it together. We’ve done this throughout the now multi year design/build of our latest boat and make sure we don’t rush the design phase and can live with it for several weeks or months as we do our scenario based planning both in our own minds and together in our conversations. This works well for us in providing a very evolutionary process that takes advantage of our individual past experiences so that we are learning from our past and then ask how we can improve on this, avoid what has not worked well in the past as we work on designing each system and setup from a full do over blank slate type approach.
Like you it sounds, maintenance is one of our five fundamental principles for our boats the others being Safety, Comfort, Efficiency and Dependability and most often these are all intertwined. So our pursuit of low to no maintenance has guided us towards things like on the exterior as unpainted aluminium, no wood, no SS, no hull or deck penetrations, no opening windows or portholes, etc. And on the inside we definately share the “solid” mantra and go with either all solid wood where possible, solid wood large radius corners and solid wood edging where marine plywood is superior. When added to proper joinery that is biscuit reinforced where appropriate, easily cleaned surfaces such as marble, polyurethane wood, treated leather, etc. we believe we will have as low a degree of maintenance as is possible on a full time liveaboard ocean crossing boat.
It made me smile to read that we are kindred spirits when it comes to simplifying designs and learning that elimination is often the best solution wherever possible. Having our boat be our only home for many years has really helped us refine this simplification principle in our lives in general and literally everything we own is contained within our boat so we elimination and lack of accumulation in the first place is the norm for us. I think this becomes an overall attitude and way of living and thinking so it also permeates our thinking when we are designing something and problem solving our way through designs and builds. It can be a tricky balance to not go too far and eliminate things which really add to our joy and experiences but at the same time the very best designs usually are the simplest and that process you describe of “simplify and eliminate” guides us very well too.
I can understand your concern with color coding in an emergency but there too I think that it is function of simplicity and elimination. For example in our wiring we have colour coding standards some of which are required for certifications such as CE, ABYC, etc. and some which are of our own choosing and add in my opinion to the safety factor in general and in an emergency because we keep this quite simple. We have a consistent colour coding standard for the outer insulation on individual DC wires for example which we take from the ABYC/CE standards and then we add to this by having a distinct colour of the outer insulation of multi wire cables where all bundled DC wires are black and all AC bundles are gray. Ethernet and N2K wires and their outer sheathing have their unique colours as well. This adds to the fact that every individual wire has heat shrinked labels at each end and along the way of long runs with explanatory text as well as unique circuit/wire numbering scheme. In my experience this combination of simple consistent colour coding with clear labelling is the best way I know of to avoid the human error factor of thinking a wire is AC when it is actually DC or not being clear if an individual wire is positive/hot, ground/neutral or safety grounding. The only way human error creeps back in the future is by not sticking with these standards and conventions.
Well, I don’t mean to belabour these points any more than I already have but these are all fundamental factors for us and I’m not sure we can ever emphasize enough or stay true enough when it comes to things like safety, low maintenance, simplicity, efficiency and reliability. My sincere thanks again for your continued contributions and assistance with your comments, ideas and suggestions here. Much appreciated John!