Plastic Classic Forum

I was just perusing one of the Improvement Bulletins (1991) recently made available on the NETA website and I came across this quote. I thought it was rather funny but perhaps I haven't had enough sleep lately.

Bob Dobbins, #264 Revenge wrote: In retrospect I spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the wrong things. We all do. I, like so many others, kept adding, and modifying, and cluttering up the boat. A lot of it was due to ignorance and fear of radical change. It was when I met Carl Alberg a few years ago and he looked the[#264] boat over and we talked and I learned that the interior of these boats were designed by salesmen. (he referred to them as whores) who laid them out for weekend cruising for a family of 4 or 5. As he said, they are 1 or 2 person boats...

Like I said, maybe I should get some sleep :-)

Look here son, if it's worked for 40 years, I don't know that you should be....

Heh, no, I'm in total agreement. Alberg's own boat probably would have suited him, as everyone's boat should suit themselves (although I suppose if one had a museum-quality classic wooden boat there might be some merit in the former philosophy).

I still think about creating a shop/head/stowage space in the forepeak, and then giving over the current head/locker space into settee territory, then using what is now the after ends of the settees for improved galley-age. Not that I'd jump in and do it on a whim, of course, or overlook the necessary structural support, but it could make for a very nice one-or-two person layout (for folks who would be comfortable giving up the "extra room" of the V-berth).

R.

I would absolutely agree that for extended cruising, the Triton is a 1 or 2 person boat. However, for weekend trips and an occasional week-long cruise, it'll do a family of four or five perfectly fine. (It did for us.) But now, as I'm preparing it to take me around the world in four years, I'm making some modifications. The v-berth will never be used for sleeping.