Head and Tale

Getting a-"head" of the game - preparing for field testing

One definition of "comfort"

Bathroom design at sea is a big problem for me. And it can be quite a challenge on a race boat where weight matters so much (the more you weigh, the slower you are). We will already be ultra-loaded with all sorts of absolutely necessary offshore items but that is no reason to add un-necessary weight in places.

For those you are just joining us, a "head" is one side of a coin, as well as what hosts our thinking matter. It also happens to be a sea toilet. What it is called a head, I am not quite sure. Perhaps because setting it up right requires a lot of thinking...and the amount of space available to the user tend to be as small as a coin?

The additional consideration is comfort. Perhaps a short description of one of my previous adventures will shed some light on the matter.

Imagine a 40-footer whose name I shall not mention. The above-mentioned "head" is a regular white bucket. It sits in an open closet. There is no door and there is no curtain. Privacy is achieved by verbal warning in a language that other crew members can understand, or by distributing smelly French cheese around a semi-circle of security, a few feet away from the entrance of the throne room.

Balance can be a challenge. First of all the bucket is not tied to the floor, or to anything. Hence, in order for it to remain upright at sea, you need to keep it in-between tight legs. There is no door to keep you, your load and your head inside, so your hands are busy holding something so you don't end up on the other side of the corridor, across from where you are, with your pants down.

Interestingly, on this particular boat, there was a stove right to the side of the head room which did have some headroom (see? I have one good thing to say about this arrangement). At night, that stove served to boil water for coffee. Nighttime is also the time when moving around can become risky and burning yourself on a stove before entering a bathroom with no running water isn't the most pleasant of all past-times discovered by man since the beginning of times.

Finally, once you are done, the results of your hard work need to be disposed of overboard. This means a trip across the main cabin, up the companionway, to the leeward side of the boat. At night or in rough weather, it might require you to put on your gear and a harness. This can be made even more complicated if you are handling a leaky bucket as was the case for me at that time...Or you can pass up the bucket and bury any self-consciousness deep inside it.

Anyway, on Elise, I have to say that I was the main opponent of the idea of using a bucket. The chemical head was far too heavy and bulky to stay too long on the boat though. Perhaps a few races and a hint of fleet competitiveness did the trick...We turned to a bucket.

However, it is not leaky and we are maintaining a minimum level of comfort by retrofitting a nice soft seat (this is not hard plastic!). So there's no shower on Elise but you get a reading salon!