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

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by J Clark H356

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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We are most definitely messy people and while I might dutifully wipe down the space, I can tell you my husband will never do so. Therefore, the separate space is great for us!

[Encourager]

Our 44' boat has two heads with separate showers. Separate showers take up a grand total of about ten square feet, including the sit down bench in the shower off the master stateroom. That's not much space to have to give up and it's much better than having to towel down the toilet and sink every time.

[roverhi]

The W32 had a shower area in the passageway outside the head with a surround curtain. Used it once in the California Winter. Half the boat was coated in a sheen of water after and never used it again. If I wanted a below decks shower would buy a boat with a separate, enclosed, sit down area, with a dedicated exhaust fan. Showering especially when the ambient temp is much below 70 degrees creates way too much water vapor. Have thought about buying a Pearson 365 just for the shower area.

Fortunately haven't had to suffer much in the way of cold weather. So much easier to just jump in the ocean and rinse off with a bit of freshwater in the cockpit afterwards.

Aloha

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by roverhi

The W32 had a shower area in the passageway outside the head with a surround curtain. Used it once in the California Winter. Half the boat was coated in a sheen of water after and never used it again. If I wanted a below decks shower would buy a boat with a separate, enclosed, sit down area, with a dedicated exhaust fan. Showering especially when the ambient temp is much below 70 degrees creates way too much water vapor. Have thought about buying a Pearson 365 just for the shower area.

Fortunately haven't had to suffer much in the way of cold weather. So much easier to just jump in the ocean and rinse off with a bit of freshwater in the cockpit afterwards.

Aloha

Even though we have that shower in the forecastle, we agree that making sure things are dry in colder climates is more difficult. Ours has a hatch right above the shower so that helps a little. Even so, if remote where no one will see us, we frequently take a solar shower of (stove heated) water outside to the cockpit and shower there even with outdoor temps in the 50's. It's quick and no excess moisture inside.

[Sandero]

This is indeed an interesting thread.

Showering on our boat is nothing like showering at home... We use little water and the water is not sprayed allover the place. The hand shower has an on/off valve so once the temp is correct... the water is only used to wet and then rinse. In between we later up and or shampoo.

Showers are had when the boat is flat which usually means on the hook or mooring... but occasionally we take one when we are motoring (flat) and very very very rarely when sailing a heeled only a few degrees. The toilet seat is up when we take a standing shower... the toilet is not towel dried! The walls are squeegied... And with a huge forward (into the wind) hatch the head is well ventilated and dries very quickly... much quicker than the bathroom at home which remains "steamy" and humid for quite some time. So what we get if we had the real estate to have a tiny separate shower? I don't think we would take longer showers... or leave the water run as we do on land. The shower curtain idea is creepy... and how small can it be? Our head is not large but it's not tiny either... You don't feel like you are in a telephone booth.... remember them???

So count me as a minority.... a stall shower is not something that makes sense on a small sailing boat....

[Hudson Force]

Strangely, though we have two showers on board our 41' ketch, both in a standing area with a curtain circled around, we rarely use them. Maybe two or three times a year!

If we're at a marina we normally enjoy the larger space and longer hot showers in the marina bath house. If we're cruising we are conserving water and usually bathing from our surrounding water, often swimming and rinsing with fresh water on our transom. We don't tolerate cold sailing areas and remain in relative lower latitudes in the winter.

Certainly, there are better plans for others, but this works well for us.

[Three Sisters]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Remember that glass is always one bump away from becoming a wall of sharp knives waiting to cut and slash you, and then do it again as you try to walk barefoot out of the mess. I know, there's safety glass, and glass can be very strong, but I still don't like it even as a glass table top ashore. In the 50's you saw a lot of glass kitchen cabinet doors and room separator doors in homes. In the 50's and 60's you saw a lot of hospital visits and by the 70's glass was not being used very much--because of the dangers. So personally, I don't want it around, except for "windows".


A separate shower stall makes for very nice cleanup. You take a little 6" squeegee and squeegee down the walls very quickly after a shower, and voila, everything is nearly dry and a solar vent or portlight will take care of the rest. As opposed to a shower head above the toilet, water around and under the toilet lid, the hinge, the pump body...You'll never get it all dried out as quickly, although that will be a convenient time to clean off the head.(G)
The separate stall can also make a good wet locker. IIRC the Sabre 38 had an interior plan with the head just forward of the companionway, starboard side, and the stall shower doubled as a very nicely placed wet locker as you entered it from there. Of course, you need extra room to have that luxury.

x2

Well put

[Jim Cate]

Long ago i heard a more experienced sailor describe showering on a yacht as being like getting into a phone booth with a large wet dog. That mindset is clearly still around!

This is the first boat we've owned with a below decks shower, so our experience is constrained. Our head compartment is on the small size compared to modern plastic fantastics of the same length. But it is large enough that we have a shower curtain that surrounds us on two sides, while one bulkhead and the door form the other sides. No need for contact with the curtain ( but why that is so horrible escapes me...) and cleanup consists of drying the door and one wall (less area than even a small booth shower) and wiping the grating as well; there is no issue of wet seats or vanity areas. The curtain dries itself in a few minutes. Seems so simple, dunno why other boats don't use the same technique.

Cheers,

Jim