I got a new coat of varnish on the cap rail on Sunday, but also spent some more time in the engine "room." To say engine "room" is misleading. There is no room in our engine "room" for anything else but our engine. Don't get me wrong. I love our little Yanmar, though she spits out a lot of soot when we are revving the engine while we get out of the marina. (hmmm .... I need to discuss this with our mechanic.) But when you are working in the vicinity of the engine, there isn't much elbow room.

On the Tayana, like most sailboats, the interior is built as closely around the engine room as possible. We humans get our creature comforts, but the diesel engine is typically cordoned off to the absolute least amount of space. If we consider that, in a sailboat design, we, the lucky owners are obligated to maintain the yacht, we should be pragmatic, and insist that the designers make sure that the manufacturers leave ample room for the cracked-knuckle mechanics to perform proper maintenance.

Alas ... the salon is wonderful... but I sure wish an extra foot of space had been delegated to the engine room.