I was recently sent a link to a video on Youtube showing the construction of a Falmouth Cutter 22.
I noticed at the very beginning of the video it list the specs and shows headroom as 5’11" to 6’6" (option).
I understood that the headroom is 5’11" on the FC. After watching the video I am wondering if “6’6” option" is a mistake/misprint on the video or did Sam L. Morse offer the option to lower the cabin sole, thus reducing the width of the cabin sole but giving more headroom?
I understand that some FC were built with fiberglass liners which wouldn’t have made this very feasible. However in the case of a plywood and teak floor (the type featured in the video) I could see where perhaps the stringers that support the sole could have been placed lower if the owner needed a few more inches of headroom. Does that sound right or would lowering the point that the sole is laminated to the hull have a significant effect on the strength it provides?
Just curious as the idea reminds me of the narrow sole found on a Nor’Sea 27 and I wonder if that was a design option specified by Lyle Hess for the FC22
Interesting. Do you know if any FC22s were built with the raised coachroof?
I wonder if lowering the sole (in a non-fiberglass liner model) a few inches would do any harm to the structural design? That is putting in new longitudinal stringers and attaching the sole at a lower and narrower position.
I was thinking that some FC22s did not have a fiberglass liner but had the plywood and teak sole attached to stringers which were attached to the hull itself.
I of course could be mistaken and not speaking from experience in a FC22 but am going off of photos from the internet and the video I referenced.
I own hull 26, 1985 I have no liner in boat 6’1" headroom but 6’ 6" under hatch you could also add a butterfly hatch in galley for more headroom. I wouldnt lower floor, it is almost too narrow as it is. Alan
I’d have to measure, and I’m not near the boat, but I don’t recall headroom of 5’11 or 6’6. I’m almost 6’4 and can stand slouched. I’m thinking headroom might be close to Alan’s report of 6’1. -Stein, FC#9
In 1995 when I bought my FC, Sam Morse Co was building a FC for a fellow who was 6’ 8". If I remember the story correctly, they lowered the cabin sole for him. The boat was hull number 34, I think. When I heard last about the boat, it was in the Florida Keys.
Sam Morse Co. generally built the FC with a liner until hull number 18. From hull number 18 on they have built the FCs with a plywood interior like the BCC, with the exception of hull number 35 (I think that is the correct hull number) where they again tried the liner. My understanding is that it took as much time to fit the liner and build the interior as to build the interior all from plywood.
Note: my own FC is Sam Morse Co. hull number 5 and has a plywood interior. So I know that not all FCs before hull number 18 had liners.