Improve your cockpit

Want to stop battling with deck gear and tripping over ropes? Ali Wood has some tips to help make the most of this crucial space

- Nic Compton

Whether you're buying a new boat or refitting an older one, the cockpit deserves consideration; probably more than you think. While a spacious saloon or forepeak cabin is appealing, the cockpit is where you spend most of your cruising life and, if you're double-handing, you'll need it to be geared up for quick and easy sail handling if conditions change.

Perhaps you have a big racing crew, who keep tripping over each other? Or family and friends who prefer to dine around a big sociable table. Whatever your sailing style, there are ways to enhance your cockpit, but you may have to compromise a little too.

What makes a good cockpit for one crew is not the same as another. While older boats tend to have deep, narrow cockpits, providing a cocoon where you can easily brace yourself in a gust, they can feel cramped, and only allow for a quarter berth aft. Roomier and shallower designs, typical of modern cruisers, tend to be faster downwind, and have cockpits that allow not only for drinks, dining and barbecues, but a large aft cabin below. The downside, of course, is the possibility of being thrown about in heavy seas, which is where safety features such as footrests and handholds come in.

Coaming tops should ideally be wide enough to sit on; narrow ones, which force you to huddle inside the cockpit, can feel claustrophobic.

Centre cockpits