The hardest part of the whole VolksCruising gig is not about storms at sea, pirates, dealing with bureaucrats in exotic locales, or the problems presented by living on a minuscule budget…
Nope, those things you can deal with. Problematic maybe, but the really big problem we all have to deal with is the stuff thang.
Seriously the more-than-problematic nature of finding a place for stuff on a finite platform/space called a sailboat is the big problem that never goes away…
For instance, one of the things I have to factor in for the next boat is where the electric hookah compressor related hoses/regulators/ancillary gear (like float bags) is going to be accessibly stowed along with the 2000W four-stroke generator that powers it. Talk about problematic.
Of course, with a hookah rig aboard, you’re just bound to come across stuff you’ll want or need to transport to a place where there’s a good nautical flea market which just might be a thousand miles away… But then what are you going to do with the big stainless plow anchor, that 30kg Bruce, and the half-dozen milk crates of nautical bric-a-brac bottom plunder?
Then there’s the tools and needful materials problem… They all take up room and when I look at a boat design, more often than not, I’m looking at stowage space and wondering where I can store 10 gallons of epoxy/related fillers, a lot of fiberglass tape/cloth, a partial roll of Sunbrella, enough sailcloth to build that new sail I need, misc pieces of stainless/aluminum/plywood/lumber as well as paint/varnish/goop and a few spools of rope and Dynex for rigging jobs.
I could go on and I have not even got around to guitars but I’m pretty sure you catch the drift.
The thing is that all of those items I mentioned actually earn their keep and for a person cruising on a budget multiple income streams make sense but the stuff that fuels multiple income streams tend to take up space but it’s space that pays for itself in a lot of needful ways…
Maybe it’s time to rethink just what sort of boat a volkscruiser needs to be…
A big ole sharpie like Atkin & Sons "Missie and Laurie" looks big but in this vein of thinking it is NOT. http://www.atkinboatplans.com/Sail/MissieAndLaurie.html I always figured a watertight bulkhead at each end of the centerboard trunk would make really nice holds and even work spaces for what you posit here. Strip planked Buehler composite style (2nd grade stock for the main strength layer) or of salvaged steel plate a big 45 foot hull is not all that big. In the case of Missie and Laurie it would make for bangup watertight compartments stem to stern. Tome Colvins final aluminum junk (for his family cruising) was over 50 feet as I recall and had a scuba tank filling station too.