Bridge deck positioning

following it too for answer.

Well, I am a little bit of late to respond to your request, but having some 1st hand experience, as I have built the Moonen 100 Explorer, you may be still interested with what I may share.

I had the chance to visit “Senses” and “Beothuk” prior building the Moonen explorer a number of times to get inspirations. I would like to comment on the “Beothuk” first, because I had the opportunity to design the Explorer with Vripack, who were also designers for “Beothuk” and the Explorer was the same size as “Beothuk”. In my opinion she had some shortcomings, which I will list below;

- Compromised guest accomodation due to passage to the crew area. She had 3 guest rooms, like the Explorer, but the 3rd cabin was a very small bunk bed cabin because of the stairway layout.
- Bridge deck not very practical, the lounging area in split level from the bridge was small and this enclosed area was taking too much space from the aftdeck outdoor area. Also, during nightcruising the louging area might not be practical for use, as it is open to the bridge area. There was only a small open deck area with a table at this level. The view was obscrued by the high bridge area in the front and the tender storage/cranes right at the back of the table.
- Flybridge deck too high for the size of the boat and it was small and occupied by a jakuzi, again there was not enough space for socializing here as well.
- Aftdeck open area on the main deck level was also rather small and the space was mainly occupied by the table.

So, the Moonen Explorer was designed to have a open flybridge area, which has a lot of socializing areas both at the helm level and also at the aft split level. It has less airdraft, makes it more stable and there is a larger lazarette area, which was built as a gym/sauna and the maindeck aft is large enough to accomodate the dining table, plus the free standing lounging chairs. Also, the access to the crew area is from the bridge, hence the crew has complete privacy both at anchor and during the passages. The galley is at the same level as the bridge, which also makes crew usage very practical especially during he passages.

The “Senses” was a much larger yacht, but also designed for specific choices/tastes. As you pointed out the observation deck was a nice thought, especially during the passages this area must be very attractive to have a good view for the guests. However, I have found the area designated for the tenders very extensive. If I recall correctly, she was carrying a 47 feet tender and all the aft deck was built around this tender. I think one may not need all the crane structure and allocated space to carry such a tender even on that size of a boat. She also had two large inflatable boats at bridge deck level, so there was not much space on deck for socializing. This large tender was driving into the yacht, therefore the aft space of the yacht was spared for this purpose as well.

Since you are mentioning Senses, I just today did a scanning of some old pictures I had on her...

Lars thanks for the picture, by the way hope all is good with you..

As it is seen here, the tender garage arrangement also takes the space from the yacht. In fact, the engine rooms was also very large and there were only two corridors coming aft at the aft section of the hull...

Thanks Nilo, all is well with me. Here is another picture where you can see the sail boat on deck....

I think the large inflatable tender also belongs to the yacht and was positioned on the starboard side opposite to the sailboat.