WC Privacy

[Wansworth]

Any boat is a set of compromises, and if you value WC privacy no reason not to prioritise it in your search for a new boat.


But we go sailing in part to get away from a home environment. Also, a small boat can't provide all the niceties (and I;'ve been on big boats that were more luxuriously kitted out than any home I've had!), but can provide some selection of them, according to the builder and purchasers' preferences.

Obviously inclusion of a separate w.c. compartment in a smaller boat is more challenging due to limited space and head height, but even though it is unusual under about, say, 26 feet, there are some smaller boats that have them.

My Samphire 23 had a fully enclosed heads compartment, which is one of the many advantageous features that led us to buy it. (There were at least 3 different layouts of the Samphire 23 (among the reputed only 12 or 13 boats built!). Ours had its heads adjacent to the companionway, the first boat built had its enclosed head centrally in the bow, facing aft and with berths either side, and some examples didn't have an enclosed head, IIRC. (The much more numerous Samphire 26s (and also 29s) typically had an enclosed head in a compartment between the saloon and forecabin (though again, there were variations in internal layout.)

The 20' Pearn Seadrift (available as either sailing or motor boats) had separate heads (centrally in the bow, facing aft, berths either side).

Then there's the mighty 19' Mirror Offshore! (Separate heads only in the Mk1 version.) As far as I am aware that is the smallest production boat with a separate head, but wouldn't be too surprised if there were something smaller I hadn't come across.

My new acquisition the Dufour 24 has almost identical layout as the Albin Vega I had bought ten years ago.Looked at a multitude of26 footers and the best layout was two settees loo up forward and galley by the hatch.Some owners had tried to fit I a L shaped dinette arrangement or a dinette oposite a settee but nothing worked for me better than a simple side by side settee berths.Tryingto make the inside of a small yacht a home from home invariably fails in my oppinion

 

[Wansworth]

My new acquisition the Dufour 24 has almost identical layout as the Albin Vega I had bought ten years ago.Looked at a multitude of26 footers and the best layout was two settees loo up forward and galley by the hatch.Some owners had tried to fit I a L shaped dinette arrangement or a dinette oposite a settee but nothing worked for me better than a simple side by side settee berths.Tryingto make the inside of a small yacht a home from home invariably fails in my oppinion

The macwester 22 was a nice little boat but an interior molding with galley we and dinette was a disaster whereas a simple two berth arrangement scored

 

[Wansworth]

How have we got three pages in to a heads thread without one reference to the captain's log?

I always liked layouts with the enclosed heads occupying the bow compartment - not only is it relatively private and spacious with a big overhead hatch for venting, but it gets rid of that comfortless triangular excuse for a double berth.

Assuming I'm likelier to find myself in a much cheaper sub-20ft design, and excluding any probability of sailing with anyone other than SWMBO, I reckon a made-to-fit boom tent is a great help. Kitchen or bathroom activities ideally belong in the cockpit on so small a boat, but a carefully proportioned and enclosed boom tent can give privacy and proper space whether cooking or crapping (or both at once) .

At night, the cabin need not be made intolerable by the miasma that accompanies relief; meanwhile, if sailing, the "lavatarian" can take the portapotty or whatever receptacle, to the cabin while the other person steers and enjoys fresh air and the sound of the sea on deck.

Abysmal ventilation of cooking and w/c facilities (by design) has long made yacht accommodation less attractive than it might have been. Considering how ancient many designs are, and how easily and quickly a retro-fitted ducted ventilation system allows a change of air, it surprises me how content most skippers are with their stinky chambers of ease.
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Back when gentlemen went yachting the galley and toilet was up forwardwhere in fact the air flow takes the air out through the forehatch.With the family yachting craze the galley was dragged back to the main companionway

 

[mjcp]

How have we got three pages in to a heads thread without one reference to the captain's log?

Since you went there, would that be accompanied by a stool date rather than a star date?

 

[Greenheart]

I'm suddenly developing "motion" sickness.

 

[Greenheart]

...the galley and toilet was up forward where in fact the air flow takes the air out through the forehatch.

Does that assume we only ever sail downwind?

Won't most people's experience (usually sailing to windward) disperse stinks aft (through all the rest of the accommodation) towards the open companionway hatch?

Ducted venting, that's the solution. Don't let the relieved person escape the scene of their activity till a pair of powerful bilge-blowers (one drawing out stale air, the other sucking in fresh) has evacuated the pong.

 

[Wansworth]

Does that assume we only ever sail downwind?

Won't most people's experience (usually sailing to windward) disperse stinks aft (through all the rest of the accommodation) towards the open companionway hatch?

Ducted venting, that's the solution. Don't let the relieved person escape the scene of their activity till a pair of powerful bilge-blowers (one drawing out stale air, the other sucking in fresh) has evacuated the pong.

Well gentlemen never sailed to windward we are informed,Harrison Butler NA drew yachts with the galley/wc up forward certainly with a paid crew and cookthey would be stuffed up forward of the mast.

 

[Poignard]

Here's the Twister arrangement:



There are two plywood doors. One normally covers the clothes locker to port, and can be swung forward to close off the forecabin. The other closes off the heads to starboard and can be swung aft to close off the main cabin,

With both doors athwartships the heads compartment is private.

 

[Wansworth]

Here's the Twister arrangement:

View attachment 202788

There are two plywood doors. One normally covers the clothes locker to port, and can be swung forward to close off the forecabin. The other closes off the heads to starboard and can be swung aft to close off the main cabin,

With both doors athwartships the heads compartment is private.

Proper boat!

 

[Concerto]

The Moody 29 has a toilet compartment that is the width of the boat. Probably the biggest you would find in a smaller boat, even bigger than my Fulmar.

 

[doug748]

Well, thank you very much everybody. Looks like I've options to consider. Must be my age making me bashful.

Westerly Tempest 31 can be found with a huge forward head compartment and twin aft cabins. The sailing won't be in line with your exemplars though.

.

 

[Wansworth]

Somewhere amongst my collection of yachting world annuals is a yacht commissioned with four large wc…..a mfv owned if Irecallby an army officer,obviously to keep regular !

 

[Chiara’s slave]

How have we got three pages in to a heads thread without one reference to the captain's log?

I always liked layouts with the enclosed heads occupying the bow compartment - not only is it relatively private and spacious with a big overhead hatch for venting, but it gets rid of that comfortless triangular excuse for a double berth.

Assuming I'm likelier to find myself in a much cheaper sub-20ft design, and excluding any probability of sailing with anyone other than SWMBO, I reckon a made-to-fit boom tent is a great help. Kitchen or bathroom activities ideally belong in the cockpit on so small a boat, but a carefully proportioned and enclosed boom tent can give privacy and proper space whether cooking or crapping (or both at once) .

At night, the cabin need not be made intolerable by the miasma that accompanies relief; meanwhile, if sailing, the "lavatarian" can take the portapotty or whatever receptacle, to the cabin while the other person steers and enjoys fresh air and the sound of the sea on deck.

Abysmal ventilation of cooking and w/c facilities (by design) has long made yacht accommodation less attractive than it might have been. Considering how ancient many designs are, and how easily and quickly a retro-fitted ducted ventilation system allows a change of air, it surprises me how content most skippers are with their stinky chambers of ease.
.

Don’t go for the sub 20ft usual procedure, please! A few years back, we had a berth at The Folly. A visiting group of dinghy cruisers, obviously lacking facilities, relieved themselves off the pontoon, one of them giving our port ama a wash down with wee. OH was er, apoplectic! A full on shouting session ensued, the chap in question being unfavourably compared to an ill mannered hamster etc. The harbour master showed up, fortunately taking her side. Maybe he realised that was the choice where he got to retain some dignity.

 

[escapism]

Our first boat was a Hurley 20, It came with a bucket. My wife was game enough to come sailing with me, but if we had extra crew ( remembering that the Hurley 20 was advertised as 4/5 berth ) she insisted that: 'gentlemen will disport themselves on the foredeck', while ablutions took place. I always had to deal with the bucket.

When we viewed a boat with a heads, a basin, all behind a door, it was essentially sold. Luckily it sailed quite well too.

 

[doug748]

I recall first meeting a friends wife forty years ago and had the pleasure of recounting the story at his retirement do....

As I arrived over the side of the 24foot racer, a head popped out of the main hatch, and a very attractive dark haired female said:


"Hello, I'm Julie.....

just having a pee in the bucket.....

think I may be pregnant again..."

.


.

 

[Greenheart]

Don’t go for the sub 20ft usual procedure, please! ...at The Folly a visiting group of dinghy cruisers, obviously lacking facilities, relieved themselves off the pontoon...

I'm shocked at any association between lowly accommodation and gross manners. Not my style at all...nor most dinghy cruisers' style, I hope.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Peeing over the side seems to have gone out of fashion. It used to be common to see blokes leaning in the lee rigging with calls from the crew "is the water cold?" Rarely seen recently.
Regarding heads doors, I heard a tale of someone getting trapped when the crew wound on lots of backstay and the deck compressed, jambing the door.

I've sailed with a few younger lads who liked to piss off the transom or out the cockpit when under sail.

Totally gross and unnecessary on any boat with a heads IMO.

I don't think I'm that squeamish, but leave your piss splatters in the heads. I don't want to be sitting in your piss when I'n relaxing against a cockpit stanchion.

 

[KompetentKrew]

I had a friend with a Heard 23. Originally these had a separate heads in the corner of the saloon, but he didn't think it was a good use of space and removed the partitions. He gained an extra seat in the saloon (so long as you'd put the lid down), at the cost of some privacy.
When I pointed this out to him he said not to worry, he'd thought of that, and pulled across a curtain that hung from a track in the ceiling. A fine idea except it only came down to about the user's shoulder height.
I presume he was working on the ostrich principle, that if you can't see someone, they can't see you.

Within the last decade or so one of the big US manufacturers of sport / coastal boats produced a model with a shitter beneath one of the seats in the cockpit / lounge area, and it came with a pop-up canvas privacy shield. A sort of portaloo-shaped tent for the heads.

This might've been a Bayliner or some kind of pontoon boat - the layout probably makes sense if you're anchored up in a bay somewhere and all the family is barbecuing on the nearby beach, but I remember it so clearly because some wag on social media described so graphically the thought of poor cousin Tiffany squeezing one out in tent in a cockpit crowded with other family members.

 

[mjcp]

I recall first meeting a friends wife forty years ago and had the pleasure of recounting the story at his retirement do....

As I arrived over the side of the 24foot racer, a head popped out of the main hatch, and a very attractive dark haired female said:


"Hello, I'm Julie.....

just having a pee in the bucket.....

think I may be pregnant again..."

.


.

Its an age-old question: "Can you get pregnant from a toilet seat?" But from a bucket!!? Touche!

 

[mikefleetwood]

The Moody 29 has a toilet compartment that is the width of the boat. Probably the biggest you would find in a smaller boat, even bigger than my Fulmar.

A significant factor in buying Musketeer!

It's a big space, heads one side, sink other and shower in the middle. Big hanging lockers behind the heads, one sacrificed for waste tank. Big storage behind and below the sink. Solid ply bulkhead between heads compartment and forecabin, and between heads and main saloon, with solid door each way. 6-foot (nearly) headroom too!

Work-in-progress includes proper hot water and shower tray drainage - rather than into the bilges.