which direction do you sleep on your V-berth?

rmeador · #1 01-22-2011

Head towards the bow, or feet towards the bow? It had never occurred to me that there was any way other than feet-to-the-bow, and that seems to be the way that is shown in all the layout diagrams of every boat I've ever looked at (they usually indicate the berths with pictures of pillows). But last night I was at a liveaboard party at my marina, and two separate couples told me they sleep with their heads to the bow. My girlfriend and I gave it a brief try, but didn't sleep all night in that orientation. It was pretty comfortable, perhaps even more comfortable than feet to the bow, but we hit our heads a lot (the cabin trunk gets rather low at the point of the V) and it's colder way out at the bow. So what do you do?

sailingdog · #2 01-22-2011

In a v-berth, you would probably want to sleep feet towards the bow, for two reasons. First, the headroom issue you found out about... and the width of the v-berth doesn't really allow two people's shoulders to fit well, where two people's feet would fit far better.

Also, having your head closer to the center of the boat means that your head will move less, since the bow and stern will lift and fall in heavier seas and the center of the boat will move far less.

In the main cabin, using the settee berths, the choice is less clear cut generally. However, some boats, like mine, will have a wider end to the settee, so that end is generally where you'd want to put your head, since your shoulders take up far more room than your feet do, as I pointed out previously.

In an aft cabin, you may want to have feet towards the stern because of the boat's motion. But, if the berth is such that you can only enter from the cabin side, having your head aft means you'll keep the berth cleaner.

RocketScience · #3 01-22-2011

Feet to bow is more comfortable for the reasons SD states, but is a PITA to climb in and out of, especially when trying not to disturb the person next to you when doing so. Additionally, feet to bow has also always felt "weird" to me, and therefore, because of these reasons, we usually just sleep on the dinette.

FishSticks · #4 01-22-2011

I prefer to keep my feet at the leakiest end. This tends to vary with the season and the sea state.

KiteRider · #5 01-22-2011

Head towards bow, but in fairness it's not really a true V, there's a good bit of width to it forward.

In a true V berth we'd sleep the other way.

JKCatalina310 · #6 01-22-2011

My wife hated climbing into the v-birth in our C&C. That is why the Catalina 310 was tops on her list when it came time for a new boat. It has a center line, walk around queen birth.

Can't wait for spring, we bought the boat in December so we haven't had a chance to sail it yet.

sailingdog · #7 01-22-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishSticks

I prefer to keep my feet at the leakiest end. This tends to vary with the season and the sea state.

Very wise... but I prefer boats that don't leak over the berth...

centaursailor · #8 01-22-2011

Prefere to sleep in the cabin but on the v berth on my 26fter the feet are up against the chain locker,so no real choice.
Happy sailing

poopdeckpappy · #9 01-22-2011

It depends on what kinda trouble I got into during the day, usually feet toward the bow, but if I piss her off, it don't matter, the dock box is uncomfortable no matter which end you point your feet

sailingdog · #10 01-22-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by poopdeckpappy

It depends on what kinda trouble I got into during the day, usually feet toward the bow, but if I piss her off, it don't matter, the dock box is uncomfortable no matter which end you point your feet

Must be a really large dockbox if you can fit in it.