The head in Wisdom is rather old and in need of some updating. The shower is tiny, and the cabinets are inaccessible when on starboard tack. The space under the sink is completely disgusting and unusable. So, after living aboard for 6 years and cruising for 1.5 years, we decided it was time!
This is the original head in the yacht. The cabinets are pretty with mirror doors that you can’t actually see into, and the sole is so high up that you can’t stand up if you are tall (as your head will bump).
Hidden behind the cabinet are the chainplates, which were hidden away and forgotten for decades. There was a tiny access hatch that I would use for inspection, but when salt water got onto them, corrosion began and I knew I needed to do more than just “look” at them through a tiny hole.
The plan is to tear out the head and build new cabinets that will open fore/aft, allowing us to open them on either tack. A large usable mirror will be mounted on a wall, and the chainplates will remain exposed, probably painted with a contrasting color to create an “architectural bathroom” appearance; something with a bit of an industrial feel to it.
The head refit began as something of elective origin, something we wanted to do simply to make better use fo the space present in there, but shortly into the tear down, we discovered that rot had taken hold in much of the wood of the head. It is a good thing we decided to start the project because we caught the decay while it was still relatively early and had not gotten too advanced to be patched.
Trust me, more on the rot will soon follow.
