Berth (sleeping) - Beds in Boats or Ships

Beds in Boats or Ships

While beds on large ships are little different from those on shore, the lack of space on smaller yachts means that bunks must be fit in wherever possible. Some of these berths have specific names:

Quarter berth

A single bunk tucked under the cockpit. Usually found in smaller boats where there is not room for a cabin in this location. Typically, the head and chest will be in the main saloon, with the remainder of the body extending into a "pipe" leading aft. Preferred by some skippers as they can be close to the cockpit while off-watch; there's also no possibility of falling out of bed.

Settee berth

The archetypal layout for a small yacht has seats running down both sides of the cabin, with a table in the middle. At night, these seats can usually be used as beds. Because the ideal ergonomic distance between a seat-back and its front edge (back of the knee) makes for a rather narrow bed, good settee berths will have a system for moving the back of the settee out of the way; this can reveal a surprisingly wide bunk, often running right out to the hull side underneath the lockers. If they are to be used at sea, settee berths must have lee-cloths to prevent the user falling out of bed. Sometimes the settee forms part of a double bed for use in harbour, often using detachable pieces of the table and extra cushions. Such beds are not usually referred to as settee berths.

Pilot berth

A narrow berth high up in the side of the cabin, usually above and behind the back of the settee and right up under the deck. Sometimes the side of this bunk is "walled in" up to the sleeper's chest; there may even be small shelves or lockers on the partition so that the bed is "behind the furniture". The pilot berth is so called because originally they were so small and uncomfortable that nobody slept in them most of the time; only the pilot, if he had to spend a night on board, would be offered it.

V-berth

Almost all yachts have a bed in the extreme forward end of the hull (usually in a separate cabin called the forepeak). Because of the shape of the hull this bed is basically triangular, though most also have a triangular notch cut out of the middle of the aft end, splitting it partially into two separate beds and making it more of a V shape, hence the name. This notch can usually be filled in with a detachable board and cushion, creating something more like a double bed (though with drastically reduced space for the feet; 12" wide is typical). The term "V-berth" is not widely used in the UK, instead the cabin as a whole (the forepeak) is usually referred to.