Right below you can see our first effort at creating this “perfect” bridge.  We got good feedback from readers and now moved to a 2nd draft with a few big changes.  For the better we hope and we invite you again to comment.

For starters, we added the side doors.  This was something I felt was missing for quite some time but I didn’t quite know how to fix it until I got inspired by a bridge lay-out of Lars Modin Design.  Especially when mooring these doors will improve the traffic flow.  We also moved the chart area to the rear of the bridge, combining with with a bigger ‘office’ space that doesn’t interfere with the flow of people and can be used at night as well without blinding anybody using a curtain.  And we added a little “coffee station” which will also have a small fridge.  The toilet is 10 steps away behind the bridge.

As to the equipment, we’ll mostly go Furuno and some Simrad and use a highly recommended electronic chart system from the Norwegian company Admiral.  We may also put in a customized panel from Radio Zeeland DMP.  The ship automation and alarm & monitoring systems will come from Marble Automation which is another Dutch company linked with Piet Brouwer Electrotechniek, the company that will provide our new electrical system design and switchboards.

And yes, only one helm chair but it will be a nice Norsap 1500.

This is our provisional equipment list:

Currently we have an old Sperry gyrocompass but it’s huge and heavy and there are no spare parts so this will be replaced by the satellite compass. Originally we had also planned a Farsounder forward looking sonar but the exciting new 3D does  has all the specs and performance we need, much better visualization and costs  fraction of the Farsounder.  The X-band radar will have a 4 or 6 ft. antenna.

 Original post july 2009 (abbreviated)
……  What were the 5 most annoying things you encountered on a bridge?  What did you like most of a bridge you worked on?  Just through it all out. And if you have pictures or layouts of bridges you’l like to share, please send them to thorwald @ expedition yacht . org

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