Headroom is a serious issue when thinking about living on a sailboat. Some people will tell you that it doesn’t really matter. They say things like how much time are you really going to spend standing up down there anyway? I have come to the conclusion that people like that are usually shorter than me and have never smacked their head on corners and overhangs. If I only had a dollar for every time I smacked my noggin on some sharp corner! OUCH.
In the quest for the boat, one of the things that has been paramount is berth length and head room in the main cabin. Assuming that I was the standard six foot, three inches I have been measured at over and over and over, and having expressed interest in smaller sailboats, headroom starts to come a serious premium. Many boats under 32 feet have head room in the six foot to six foot, three inch range. One particular vessel of interest has headroom of six foot, two inches.
Out of curiosity I measured the storage shelf that sits above the workbench in the garage, which I built to maximize storage and to be able to accommodate my needed head room. When I build the storage all measurement started at the ceiling and ran towards the floor. Thus never considering my actual height.
Knowing that I fit quite comfortably under the garage storage, I measured the height of the bottom of the storage platform to the floor. Imagine my surprise to discover that the bottom of the storage is six feet, two and five eighths inches above the garage floor.
This at first seemed a puzzle. How could I, at six foot three, fit under the storage platform when it is 3/8 lower than I am tall? Re-measure. Same results, the storage is definitely less than six foot, three inches off the floor. Next logical step, measure me.
How odd it is to discover that I am not six foot three. Sure if I put my boots on I am sure that I would be six-three. Flat footed and standing strait I am only six-one and a half. So what does that mean for the sailboat hunt? That six foot, two inch headroom might be just enough. Besides, how much standing am I really going to do below decks?
OUCH!
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