1643 Mar 3, 2002

I have never installed a shower in the head, instead we take cockpit baths using a Sunshower, using about 2 gallons for the two of us, or in very cold weather, a sponge bath (a la Francais) using the galley sink. The shower in the head uses fresh water which is likely to drain to or near the bottom of the head bulkheads. Fresh water is the source of rot, not salt water. And I don�t want a rotten head bulkhead or compression post. I do have a drain hole in the head floor (or sole), but only for the rare head overflows.

We have been able to preserve what modesty we have by the use of cockpit cushions turned on their side in the cockpit. If we are in a marina we use the marina shower, if any.

Dick Weaver SWII75K

1644 Mar 3, 2002

Hear, hear, but I still recommend tapping the existing shower pipe, or the forward sink tap as an alternative to the kitchen tap, with a hose and showerhead long enough to reach, respectively, fwd deck and cockpit. Although you can last weeks healthily on mere "sponge baths" (why the French connection? Or is it too salacious to elaborate?), there is nothing like a sparse but full shower when you come out of a swim, and/or when the engine has heated the water in less balmy climes.

I reserve the tank water for that use (and fresh water dishwashing once a week, the other days use seawater from a separate hand pump, on the other side of the icebox drain pump), having found that 60 days of bottled freshwater (3 times the expected crossing time) can easily be stored in our spacious boats, at least for the crew of two which is the comfortable number offshore, when the fwd V-berth is loaded with need-to-access equipment, charts, sails, etc. Our 50 gal tank thus gives us ample bliss from short showers (if only for rincing after soaping with biodegradable Joy and pre-rincing off the boat), on long voyages and/or when swimming.

Salt water inside the cabin, on body, clothes or walling surfaces, is just a NO-NO: We even wash and dry the dishes in the cockpit when using seawater, to avoid a spills or drops inside. We get everything ready (towels, clothes, showerhead) for people to walk directly to the fwd deck from the ladder, without entering the cokpit after a swim.

Be well, Bert dF