V berths

[bobnpaula]

On our Caliber 35 LRC, I love our queen-size vee berth. It is well-ventilated with a huge hatch above, that opens the right way, plus an opening port. We have a tufted topper mattress topper, which makes it really comfortable, and sheets that tufted topper made to fit. Nice! (the berth is actually bigger than our old-fashioned double bed at home) We use the vee berth at anchor/mooring/slip.
Our aft quarter berth is roomy for one, cozy and friendly for two. At least it has good headroom.
I cannot sleep in an aft berth that has no headroom (like a lot of them).... I get claustrophobic, especially if no cross ventilation.
If rocking and rolling, of course, the midships berth is best.

[Tim R.]

We love the Pullman berth in our Caliber 40lrc. We have been living aboard 2 years now.

Hated sleeping in the v-berth of our Pearson 28 and Ericson 35-3. My wife and I are both tall so climbing in and out of the v-berth was a chore.

[tdw]

Originally Posted by treilley

We love the Pullman berth in our Caliber 40lrc. We have been living aboard 2 years now.

Hated sleeping in the v-berth of our Pearson 28 and Ericson 35-3. My wife and I are both tall so climbing in and out of the v-berth was a chore.

Trouble with small (35' and down) v-berths is that they are invariably pushed so far into the bow that unless one of you is significanlty shorter than the other it is simply impossible to get comfortable. At least that is how it is for me and I'm not overly tall (just under 6 feet).

Otoh, we tend to hit the sack at different times, me first, and I'm up and about every couple of hours especially when anchored so a Pullman is a tadge inconvenient.

In the ultimate boat I'd definitely have an island type. (Why an island I wonder ? Surely more of a peninsular.)

[chuck53]

My wife and I are very comfortable in the V berth on our Catalina 34. It's quite large. We don't often sleep in the aft cabin, but it's pretty roomy as well and you can fully sit up when in bed. I'm 6'1" and wife is 5'7". No issues at all.

[exkma367]

Deb and I slept in the v-berth of our Columbia 26 for 14 months. Yes we banged our heads a bit, and were constantly in contact with each other, but sleeping was what we did when we were exhausted from the fun we were having. If we waited until we had a boat with a big cabin, we still would be waiting. Tonight I will sleep in our big bed and in the morning I will scrape the ice from the windshield and go to work. I would much rather be sleeping in the v-berth and sailing south in the morning..

[Tim R.]

Another plus of the Pullman is that we can sit up in bed reading leaning against the bulkhead. That is where I am right now.

Downside of a Pullman is one person has to crawl over the other. This works out for us though as my wife sleeps against the hull because I am more likely to get up in the night.

[Ferretchaser]

Yep you are right there. I have a Pullman berth midships and after a night out, I sometimes crawl all over myself to get out of my bunk.

[Faster]

I think the whole V berth issue is going to hinge hugely on what boat's under discussion. The C34/36 have very large, roomy V berths with pretty decent in/out access, most Benes under 34 feet or so have the 'pushed forward no room for feet' syndrome big time, esp the late 80s early 90s models.

We have a fairly long V berth but narrow forward - it's our guest cabin and there've been no complaints.

Our aft is a quasi pullman.. sleeping fore and aft, with side access over half its length. If the inside sleeper has to get up it is a 'crawl over'.. I sleep on the easy-out side just to be able to check things at night easily when anchored.

The aft berths on the C-34 and 36 (and many others, Hunter included) are athwarship these days. No worries on calm nights but I do wonder at that motion as opposed to sleeping fore and aft. Sleeping across the boat is also not on as a sea berth, of course...

[BubbleheadMd]

Disclaimer: I served on submarines and small boats.

Pearson 30 here, and no troubles at all. I'm 5'11". The mattress became more comfortable and supportive when I lost weight.

The aft part of the V-berth has standing/sitting headroom.

[SchockT]

Our V-birth is the domain of our son, and has been since he was 18months old. Both my wife and I like to sprawl out when we sleep, and there is just not enough room to do that up there. We currently have a bed that spans both settees, so we have a near queen sized rectangular bed. The downside is that we have to dis assemble our bed each morning. Our next boat must have a decent aft berth, because we have yet to see an acceptable v-birth among the boats we are looking at. We will just have to live with the headroom problem!