I have a 1989 N33 and was wondering if any of you ‘ol salty dogs have ever thought about (or better yet done) a seat for the Mrs. (can you call her that anymore) up front in the bow pulpit?
I’ve seen a number of them on the internet. But was hoping someone from “our neck of the woods” had done one. Possibly, from the company we got our swim platform from??
Thoughts- do share! 
Cheers
Here is a photo of the bow pulpit on my boat. It was taken 2.5 years ago and not for the purpose of showing the seat. But you can see it resting on the middle rail, forward. Just a simple teak board, or could be made of almost anything sturdy enough to sit on. It is popular with my great nephews and with one of my friends my own age who sails with me often.
I’ll be sailing tomorrow and will try to remember to get a better photo of it, but it’s going to be a busy day, so I might fail.
I don’t know where my bow pulpit came from. It was on the boat when I bought it. But the other NS33 in San Diego has one which seems to be identical, so I bet it was a standard part. I know I’ve seen the name of our former stainless supplier here before, but don’t remember for sure. It might have been Klacko (not Klacko Spars) or might have been another stainless supplier. Hopefully someone else remembers who made these.
But if you’ve already got the bow pulpit and a jigsaw, sander, drill, and paintbrush you shouldn’t have much trouble making your own. Make a pattern first from 1/4” plywood or some such, just to save yourself some grief.
I have a very similar seat on my N30U. I think it was a standard option, but it’s easy to make. I didn’t realize it was a seat until my son sat on it.
Thank you-
Yes, “GRIEF”… I have plenty!!! 
Just trying to get the darn thing registered with USCG and NC is having me think I should sell the thing!!! Not fun!
Sadly I live 6 hours from the boat and when it was finally delivered there was a ton of things to go over. I just wasn’t sure how the bow pulpit is configured. I remember it having two anchors w/chain and seemed quite “busy” in and around that area. Didn’t want to be stubbing toes. Also, not sure just how much access there was up there.
Thanks for the pictures and the comments. Greatly appreciated your suggestions.
This is slightly off-topic, and may be moved if it generates a lot of discussion that diverts the thread.
But, I wanted to congratulate you on your new boat. I’m in the process of browsing old INA Updates, and ran across an article on the then-newly released N33 in the Summer 1987 edition.
Here are some nice line drawings of the boat from the article, just in case of interest:
– Bob
Carol Ann
The USCG has nothing to do with registration as far as i know. It’s not really a requirement to pilot the boat. In my state I need to register my boat with the motor vehicle dept and pay the sales tax and have a boating permit ( in CT to get the permit I had to take an 8 hour class and pass a test at the end). MV gave me the numbers to stick on each side of the bow and a year sticker. Done.
Regarding the bow seat I have been thinking I wish I could have one of the folding seats found in the forward berth in my N30U mounted to the mast looking forward some how. It could be folded down out of the way when things got busy around the windlass.
But there is an old saying “if wishes we’re horses bums would ride”
All the best,
Brian Cayer
Spirit~Wind
N30U 419
Westbrook, CT
Moving slightly off subject, which I love- it’s called conversation!
Line drawings are great. Thanks- might just print them off and decorate the interior of the boat with them. I love the hand drawn look of them!
USCG- since this boat is “documented”, it is required to have a USCG “paper trail”. the Bill of Sale from the back of the USCG document must be signed by all parties AND notarized. Then, scanned and submitted to the authorities for their review and approval. So, far a 6 weeks, 3 phone calls, redid paperwork twice and hundreds of dollars, still not right!! ugh! Anywho… this sailing thing ain’t for sassies, or bums would be doing it! :)hehehehehehehehe
Cheers and thanks.
Tracy White at Mary Conlin company did my documentation. It was so easy I barely remember it.
Tracy White, tracy@vesseldocumentation.com
Of course, to be fair, I barely remember anything anymore…
I sympathize with David and concur with Brian.
The biggest vessel I owned was CG documented, all the others have been state-registered. The latter is a lot easier. CG documentation is a complicated job that’s not much fun.
Complicated and not fun is my criteria for what’s worth outsourcing to a professional if budget permits. We all end up paying for everything in life with either time or money, depending which we have more to spare.
– Bob
When I documented the boat it was 26 years old and the hour meter did not work so I was unsure of the engine. (Turns out to be an excellent engine!) And I was new to the boat and hadn’t sailed in 30 years when I bought it. I knew of no sailing companions who could operate the boat if anything happened to me. (I’ll post on that separately.) With the prevailing winds likely to carry us into Mexico in such a situation, and with the reputation (earned or not?) of Mexican authorities’ creating more problems for CA registered boats than for USCG documented ones, it seemed like the best thing to do. I also thought we might one day like to go down to Ensenada and wanted to reduce the hassles.
I have inadvertently found that the USCG seems to take me a bit more seriously than they would a small state registered 33’ boat (small, by San Diego standards). I hear how they talk to lots of small boats on the radio and they can sometimes be impatient or ignore them if it isn’t an emergency. But the time I contacted them (to report a tanker pumping oil into the ocean!) they became much more professional and took me much more seriously once I pointed out my AIS position and they looked me up. They even called me on my cell phone to followup on it and did not treat me like a moron. I’m not saying the registration was the whole reason. I’d like to think that I presented myself professionally. But it did seem to help.
Gee your story seems to be my story! I ran a sailing program for BSA 30 years ago then moved away from Annapolis to Western Maryland in the mountain. No sailing for 'ol Crazy Dave! 
30 years later, nearing retirement this thing Nonsuch darken my door!!! Hoping for my first sail on her this Thanksgiving! We’ll see- the Outer Banks of NC in November can get nasty…
But it sounds like, what you’re telling me is, the USCG reg. is worth the headache!
I’LL STAY THE COURSE! as frustrating, as it is!
Give Tracy a call. Doesn’t cost anything to ask if she can help.
And hopefully you’ll be moving closer to the boat after you retire. (It’s often the case that we move from more lucrative places to nicer ones when we retire, though I did the reverse.) These are easy boats to sail, but they are still sailboats and come with a learning curve. Six hour drives would get old fast. The more often you go out, the better - and safer - you’ll get.
It looks like the bow pulpit seat topic has morphed into a Documentation vs state registration topic. I have had boats that held both and in the state of CT where I live never showed any advantages with documentation to me. I’m sure there are some and am interested in viewpoints from owners in the northeastern US.
I’m also interested in forward looking bow seats and would love to hear other ideas of how to do that.
Brian
I’m not sure what would be the most helpful for the most folks: splitting the topic vs. simply renaming it. It sounds like what would help David / Carol Ann most is to keep going under the heading of “getting back into sailing and set up with a new boat.”
There are some definite advantages to being a Federally documented vessel, although the joy of the process of getting documented definitely isn’t one of those advantages.
Over and above the cross-border and respect issues that Brian G. mentions, I was told when I did it that banks really like large value boats to be documented rather than state-registered. The reason is that their legal rights to claim the vessel as collateral are stronger under U.S. law than state laws. This raises their comfort level about the risk they’re taking in case of a loan default.
That may not feel like an advantage. My first reaction at the time was, “why I would I want it to be easier for them to get their grubby hands on my boat?” But, if you need a loan, it makes it easier to get one. If you paid cash, that may seem irrelevent. But, all of us will someday be selling our boats (or our kids or executors will). Your future buyer may or may not have cash. Being documented increases your pool of eligible buyers.
I don’t know how much things have changed in the 12 years since I sold my documented vessel, but – at least back then – for the 13 years I had it, renewing the documentation was dirt easy.
If I was going to build a forward-facing bow seat, Brian C., my off-the-top of my head approach would be to design it as a plank located further back closer to the aft end of the bow pulpit. That would give someone facing either direction a place to rest their feet. I’d set it up so that one side attached to the lower bar with a hinge, the other side with clips. That way, it could be swung up out of the way when you needed to work with the anchor line or step out onto the bow pulpit platform. I still have to think about how I’d secure it in the raised position, but that feels like a manageable problem.
David, going back to a point Brian C. raised, do you have any plans for re-locating your home or your boat? There are helpful INA members in Annapolis, Virginia and North Carolina who I can connect you with if you want local advice. If you want company from someone who knows the boats, the people I’m thinking of are often happy to give folks sailing time on their boat or go out with you on yours. If that’s useful, let me know what locations are of interest, and I’ll do the introductions.
– Bob
