Shower in the Head: Separated Area with Glass or not?

[Stu Jackson]

We only use teak oil on our wood in the single use head room we have. Works just fine. The OP actually listed all the pros & cons I could think of.

[Myknjul]

I have a separate shower on our 45 and find that it really doesn't matter as we rinse the whole head down after showering. Helps keep it clean and fresh.

[Scott Berg]

I've had both and MUCH prefer a stall shower. Not a fan of glass but we have a raised panel door with large plexiglass insert and it suits us well. Wet heads are fine for a while but for extended cruising we much prefer two spaces.

[Macblaze]

I wanted a separate shower but the Hunter 386 we got has vanity in one compartment and head/shower in another. But there is a solid fiberglass fold-down lid/seat that lowers over the head when we shower. We find that a quick squeegee of the lid and floor pan after a shower means no wiping down the head before its ready to use, but we still have the bonus of using the shower to keep everything sparking clean.

It has worked out so well I can't imagine another system.

[Tom and Maje]

We have a shower stall with plastic around it, and I love it! So does Tom. But the fact is that many women like it way more than the men. And it's not glass, but marine plastic.

Maje

[Tom and Maje]

Originally Posted by deltaten

Glass??

Oh my!!!

It's not glass. It's marine plastic.

Maje

[Sailor647]

I once heard a man lament about not being able to find a woman to cruise with. I thought to myself, "Have you taken a good hard look at your boat?"

Of the women I know who quit cruising, their two biggest boat complaints, without fail, were about the galley and the head, both being a pain to use and impossible to keep clean.

Imagine having to wipe down the galley every time you did dishes. Ridiculous, right?

We have a separate shower in the Norseman 400, without having sacrificed any space because of the fantastic design and floor plan. So, it can be done.

I can't imagine not having a separate shower, which is separated by a plexiglass/acrylic door (not glass). The entire toilet/sink/wall/floor area is easily wiped down with Chlorox sanitizing wipes as needed. The shower stall, bench, and plexiglass door are wiped down with a wet washcloth after showering to keep it pretty much spot free. A removable teak grate makes cleaning the shower floor/drain easy.

AND the shower is also used to hang bathing suits, dive BCc, wetsuits, or fowl weather gear while they're drying - without being in the way of using the head.

Vote: Separate shower!

[Capt Gary]

Our Pearson 39-2 has a separate shower stall in the head that used to have a smoked plexiglass pane separating part of the shower from the sink area. we took the plexiglass off and do not have any issues. It opens the stall up a little and any water that gets in the head compartment gets wiped up. The TP never gets wet. It's nice to have a separate shower in the aft head near the companionway, so you can use it as a wet locker when offshore.

[SofiaB]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

We have a shower stall with plastic around it, and I love it! So does Tom. But the fact is that many women like it way more than the men. And it's not glass, but marine plastic.

Maje

I was about to post: This question is for the better half... No doubt mine had to have a separate shower stall. As soon as she saw the separate shower there was no going back.

[StuM]

Owners side: separate shower with a plexiglass divider. just forrard of the head and washbasin. Shower area is a well about an inch lower than the rest of the area. Shower head is a detachable handpiece mounted at head height.

Guest side: shower on extendable hose which doubles as the wash basin water supply.

Owners side advantages:
Rest of compartment stays dry. (You can dry your feet after the shower before you leave the compartment!)
You can use both hands to scrub yourself.
If the floor area outside of the shower well gets wet, it means you are using too much water for your shower

[ranger58sb]

Our head and shower are separate... in fact, the shower is in its own "room" on the other side of the boat from the head. Completely separate is our favored configuration. Means two folks can be busy at their assigned task -- at the same time.


-Chris

[salty_dog_68]

The head attached to the master stateroom in our boat has a separate shower stall. I had to find a design with a separate shower stall to get my wife to agree to live aboard. I am glad she made that a priority.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Plutoi

Hi,

Which is better: A separate shower area with a glass divider or right in front of the toilet? What are the pros/cons of each style (besides space). Does a shower above the toilet allow you to clean the head area more often? Does it get old having to wipe dry the toilet seat and surrounding areas? Does it encourage water problems such as more mold or wear and tear on the wooden areas? I’m leaning towards a bigger head with separate shower if possible but there may be some drawbacks I did not think of (besides space and cost.) Observations?

Thanks,
Frank

For what it's worth, we have chartered a boat with 'wet head' and now own a boat with two 'dry head's.

Yes, when the shower is in the same area as the toilet bowl, that area gets washed each day, but you have toiletries, basin counter-top, toilet lid, seat, bowl, around and under and behind ......
All need drying each time
Then you put things back they way they were again ....

Frankly, I/we much prefer cleaning that area as you would at home with a cloth and disinfectant.

If we did not have a separate shower area fore and aft, I cannot see that we would gain much, if any space, but we would gain a fair bit of work each time we had a shower. As it is, we just wipe down the acrylic screen and floor with a sponge, and all done in under a minute.

[J Clark H356]

W've spent 959 days on our 2003 Hunter 356 in 13 seasons. We have the lav and vanity on one side and the head and shower separated by a tempered glass door on the other. The walls are laminated plastic and the floor has a teak grill that is removable over fiberglass. We have no problems with mold and take showers most every day on the boat. It is a simple task to wipe down the walls with a towel after showering and we do after every shower. We clean under the teak floor periodically with bleach. We have a wand shower head and use very little water and it does not get out of the shower area as the door sill is raised an inch or so above the teak grill.

At first we would like to have had a separate shower, but it is not a noticeable inconvenience as I think we would wipe down a separate shower stall just like we do the combination head/ shower. We have a covered toilet paper holder that keeps the toilet paper dry. We have two opening ports, one in each side. If it is hot summer, we use a small battery powered fan to pressurize the space and exhaust the moist air out of the two ports which we have cracked, but not full open. This transfers dry treated (HVAC is always on from dock or gen power) air from our salon thru the head and out the ports.

I would not want a boat with a head that had the lav/vanity and toilet/shower in one space. The separate parts make it easier and less messy.


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[Sailingveterinarian]

Separate shower was one of the number one things on my want list. Don't want to stand on the toilet to shower. Also....it keeps everything from getting wet.