Head Musings — Fit2Sail

One of the big outstanding projects we’re tackling on Calypso during this round of “life on the hard” is the forepeak area. It used to be where we had our bunk, an offset double with an insert that neatly slotted over the head.

We’ve never had a place where we could shower down below either. Now that our bunk has moved to the main salon, it’s freed up the forepeak to be more in line with what the Lyle Hess design was from the start: a workbench/head area with good storage.

Step 1 was removing the head. Step 2 was templating out the new cabinetry, which led to a screeching halt. Because we needed to remove the existing tongue and groove planking on the plywood AND remove the existing floor.

Back to templating the new cabinetry, starting with the shelf.

We’ll cover the bulkheads with formica, a good, seamless, easily cleaned, durable finish. We’d initially thought we’d do more like a thin fiberglass sheet like a house shower stall has, but the only ones we found had a pebbly finish on them - totally not easy to keep clean!

Mischief’s forepeak has been a real asset to us in the whole design process, especially when double checking cabinetry dimensions. We’re also pretty sold on the floor design, though we will NOT be using teak grate but going with something a bit more practical: teak is crazy expensive and this area will be wet frequently!

*Teak grate chocks directly to the hull*

This new space will incorporate lots of storage, a shower, and (of course) the head.

The new head is a Raritan Superflush, a manual toilet (we’d briefly contemplated installing an electric flush head - there is room on the new electrical panel in case we decide on that down the line) that’s got rave reviews for durability and ease of maintenance. It’s replacing a very cheap old Jabsco that we hate with a passion, from the flimsy small seat to the frequent need for disassembly to maintain to the fact that rebuild kits cost almost as much as the head to begin with. Of course, we’re planning to use the (now very well cleaned) Jabsco as the head on Mischief, but . . .

Jeremy has already built the little “dam” wall to separate the forepeak area from the rest of the boat, but we’re still a ways away from installation. There’s cabinetry to build and finish off with formica. The floor and sump design to finalize. We’re still trying to figure out if our existing holding tank will fit in the new location, and then install that and the new head. There will have to be lighting . . .

It sounds endless. It feels endless. But there is, actually, an end in sight. We’ll get there!