Narrowboat Desk-Bed

I was asked to design this piece of multifunctional furniture for a traditional narrowboat. The entire internal width of this type of craft is just 6 foot so careful use of space is vital. On this piece for example, drawer handles would have stuck out in to the passageway and stopped the door to the engine room from opening fully. I opted to design the handles as open gaps or pulls. This had the added advantage of creating ventilation for the drawers, solving a second common problem on all types of boat, high humidity and mould caused by poor air circulation.

The brief was simply to create a bed which converts into a desk, which makes sense when your living space is necessarily small. The client was an older person, so any moving parts needed to be easy to lift.

Initially I began looking at off the shelf solutions and existing hardware which could maybe be adapted or provide inspiration for this design. However, because the walls of most houses are flat whereas boat walls curve, slope inwards and narrow at the gunwales, an entirely bespoke solution was needed. The unique part of the design is that the bed pivots 1/3 of the way across the base unit thereby keeping clear of the cabin walls. Iron counter-weights were added underneath to assist the opening action.