Hi Frans:
Thanks for your comments. My Ballad is the version with the additional outboard berths and, ever since I bought her, I've been trying to think of a way to make the seating more comfortable. (Originally, in my version, the settees provided all the comfort of a church bench.) From what I understand, it's far more common to come across the other version, the one with the forward-facing chart table and the more comfortable seat backs. If I owned that version, I'd probably be a lot more hesitant to start the project. In the 2nd paragraph of my posting, you'll read what I consider to be the greatest advantages of the dinette--increased storage, better view, a ready-set table that's also out of the way. This may not work if more than two people are on board, but all the work I've done on Moments of Clarity was either with solo or two-handed sailing in mind. So, for me, sacrificing one berth was not a problem. In the extremely rare occasion where there're three or four of us on board--it has happened five times in 12 years--it's usually during a summer weekend when people prefer to eat and sleep in the cockpit anyway. To be honest, I wouldn't have dared open my toolbox had I not seen how Mats Wik had done the dinette on his boat. But having put my dinette through the test during a cruise with another sailing buddy two weeks ago, I'm convinced that it's a better set-up for my needs. As I've mentioned in a different posting, there're many boats shorter and narrower than the Ballad where a dinette has worked really well.
Nicholas