Come Aboard!
Having lived on Whisper for close to 7 years, we cannot thank Hallberg Rassy enough for all of the comfort, safety and beauty of the interior. Whisper's interior is extremely well designed for both living and sailing.
The interior satin finish mahogany woodwork is quite beautiful. We opted for the blue tric cloth upholstery. Carpets cover the teak and holly floor in all areas except the galley and heads. We think the carpets look much better than the teak/holly with the mahogany. Plus, the carpets keep our feet warm and provide a good non-skid while underway.
Here is the floor plan for Whisper
As you walk down the steps, you enter the main salon.
There are three primary cabins in Whisper - the forward cabin, the main salon and the aft cabin. Both the forward cabin and the aft cabin have heads (bathrooms for the non-sailors). Duncan is 6 foot two inches and Whisper has ample headroom for him everywhere except in the hallway by the engine room.
There is plentiful storage for clothing, provisions, books and charts. We changed the forward and aft hanging closets to closets with shelves. Storage increases even more so with the installation of shelves in these closets. We left the "wet locker" as a hanging locker to store our foul weather gear and jackets.
Rather than reading lots of words to describe the interior, peruse the pictures to get a feel for Whisper's living space.
As you come down the steps on the starboard side is the galley. The galley is a one chef kitchen, but very functional. Just to the left of the sink is the refrigerator. Above the oven is a 3 burner stove which is covered in this picture.
This stove has cooked many a pizza. As with all stoves on boats, evenly browning and not burning the bottom of baked items is a learned skill.
On the port side as you come down the steps is the navigation and communications area. This area is home to the navigation computer, SSB radio, VHF radio, satellite phone, pactor modem, displays for GPS, radar and instruments, barometers, clocks, and electrical panel.
We have repeaters for the instruments and radar in the cockpit, but we can see several of the nav station instruments from the cockpit as well.
Behind the nav station is a large freezer. When we are not out cruising, we switch this to refrigeration mode and use it to chill beverages.
Looking back from the nav station, you can see into the aft cabin. On the left are the doors to the engine room.
The aft cabin can be in two configurations. In this photo, you see the double bed, seat, single bed configuration. Notice the stereo speakers and the instrument repeater? We would hate to get out of bed to check the wind speed or listen to music.
This photo shows how we normally configure the bed with the insert over the seat. With a sprung mattress and the bed size bigger than a king size bed, we are quite comfy back here.
Here is the view to the vanity from the bed./p>
Drawers and closets house our clothing.
The aft head. The only thing missing is a bathtub.
Showering while sailing can be challenging, so the seat in the shower comes in handy.
The HR42 has a spacious engine room compared most other 42 foot cruising boats. Here you can see the main engine and the generator behind it.
Enough about engines. Walking back through the main cabin, check out the beautiful dining table. The compartment in the center is the wine cellar. We usually keep the table covered to protect it from damage.
Walking forward past the table, you come to the forward cabin.
If you come visit us, this will be your bed.
Sails and other miscellaneous bits fill this huge storage area under the bed.
More closets hold dive gear, spare parts, medical kits and photography equipment.
Oh yes, and you get your own bathroom, too.
The watermaker is hidden behind the doors in this head.
Walking out of the forward cabin leads you back through the main salon.
We hope this gives you a feel for Whisper's interior. If you see us in an anchorage and want to see her for yourself, stop by for a tour.