We sat down last night and gave some thought to AmyJo's layout. We quite liked the layout in Derwent6 so we thought we would use that as a basis with some tweaks of our own (hope you don't mind us copying you Del & Al?). We'll run this by the builders when the time comes so some changes are inevitable.
As for colours and fabrics we have not made the choice yet and will leave that until nearer the build time. One thing we are sure of the timbers will be of light Oak. I did think of light Ash but was told this can warp easily whereas Oak does not. It's also a lot more durable too.
We originally wanted a 58ft boat but seeing the day room area in other Fernwood boats we decided to up the anti and go for 65ft. This means the day room can convert into another double berth giving us 2 plus two berths for when we have visitors stay with us. We are an old fashioned family and believe meals should be eaten at a table and not on your lap so the table in the dayroom suits our needs for that too. For us it's the one place the family comes together and have a good old catch up on each others day or plan events like our infamous annual Bar-b-qs. As a bonus it can also double as a study for the computer too!
The saloon is still flexible in layout and we have no firm choices for this as yet. Again Derwnt6's layout worked for us so a variation of this might be the end result.
One area we would like to copy from Derwent6 though is the kitchen. Chris loves the layout and style Al has in hers and found it looks very practical with oodles of storage. Al offered much advice on this area and we are greatful to her for that.
Looking at the bathroom area we really love Fernwoods wet room designs and so we hope to have one in AmyJo. It will have to be a walk through bathroom and I know some people would advise against this but for us the room a wet room gives is more important.
The main bedroom too is pretty well decided. I'm just shy of 6ft so a cross bed is out for me so this will have to run lengthwise with a pull out section to convert to 5ft. Chris likes the overhead cupboards running along the side above the port hole rather than at the head of the bed and wardrobes with glass doors to give a feeling of extra room.
So that just leaves the back cabin. We both want the area to serve as utility room and somewhere to discard the wet muddy clothes after a day out in the rain and often muddy towpath. We hope to squeeze in a washing machine and tumble drier, bike lockers and a small desk for the laptop and GPS when underway.
One option I am concidering after spending several holidays on hire boats is the problem of needing someone in the bow when cruising as look out for bridges and corners. I thought of having some sort of remote control in the bow for steering and throttle but the "KISS" (Keep It Simple Stupid) principal rules this out. I like gadgets though so am thinking of having a small CCTV camera mounted on the Cratch board linked to a small 7 inch monitor back at the stern. This is both easy to install and not much can go wrong with it but will give a pretty good view of whats ahead.
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