Our head is located in the bow of the boat, and the layout allows for a separate shower stall – unheard of on a boat this size! Inside the stall, which lays to portLeft side of a ship when facing forward. we have a seat (though it is tall enough to stand), tile around the base, and a fiberglass surround. I've added three soap pumps on the wall to keep everything neat and stationary, as well as suction cup hooks and a catch-all. There is also a teak grab bar and towel rack.

The showerhead is on a long hose and includes a shut-off valve to conserve fresh water while bathing. We changed out the cheap faucet almost immediately, which wasn't an easy feat. But Don came up with a wonderful solution to our weird little, non-standard needs.

Over the years, the tile and grout began to get cracked and show its age. Much to my surprise, Don volunteered to take on the project of retiling without any suggestion from me. In the process he changed the seat from teak to Starboard®, a marine-grade polymer that is much nicer on bare butts.

Forward of the shower is a deep linen locker with a louvered door. It has a dividing shelf, and ample space for spare towels, toiletries, our first aid supplies, etc. In fact it is so cavernous, I've installed a little battery operated light inside.

The toilet is beautifully covered by a big, teak enclosure topped with a heavy lid. It is so nice to have this eyesore concealed, and the smells contained.

We originally had a manual pump style. It took a little getting used to; lumbering in there in the middle of the night, and then going through the added exertion required to flush. Though, if we left the lights off, it was kind of fun to see the green bioluminescence flowing through the pipes!

But the pump constantly needed rebuilt (yuck) and the parts cost almost the same as buying a whole new unit! So for our porcelain anniversary (3 years married I think), we upgraded to an electric toilet. I've never regretted it! Yes, it's noisy. Yes, it takes power. Yes, it has to sit a little cocked in the box so the electric macerator fits. But I don't care – it is a vast improvement over the old, stinky, leaky pump!

Directly behind the toilet are two louvered doors leading to what is known as the chain locker, which is where all the anchor rodeThe rope or chain attached between the boat and the anchor. sits when not deployed (What!? It's a closet full of kinky chain!). We've mounted a propane instant water heater on one of the bulkheads, and though it's ventless, it gets extra air from the two chain hawse pipesPipe in the stem or bow of a vessel through which an anchor cable passes.. Don plumbed the gas to the built-in teak deckbox directly above, which is large enough to store a 10lb horizontal tank.

Since the chain feeds into a bin of sorts, there's actually a great deal of storage room in there as well. We use it for cleaning supplies, including buckets, rags, and scrub brushes.

Last, we come to the sink on the starboardThe right side of a ship when facing forward. side. A stainless steel basin sits in a dark green marble counter. Above the sink there's a medicine cabinet behind sliding doors, and a small closed locker below. Again, the original faucet had at some point been replaced with a cheap, household spigot. Don upgraded that when the freshwater system got overhauled, shortly after we took possession of the boat.

The head is closed off by the only, full sized door in our entire boat. It was years before I took a good look at that door and noticed the huge loop of grain that ran through three-quarters of its face. "It's all one piece of wood!" I marveled. SOLID TEAK!

The large forward hatch directly overhead makes it feel sort of like you're showering outside. And it's perfect for when we choose to use the solar shower – which is a thick, black water bag with a hose hanging from the bottom. We just hang it from the staysail boom above, let the sun heat it up and feed the hose down the hatch into the shower. Two of the 6 doradesA cowl or fixed wind scoop found on the deck and designed to funnel air below. vent down into the head, and we've installed a 12V fan to blow everything aft. It can actually be fairly breezy in the head at times.

One overhead dome light is all we need to keep it bright. There's a large mirror on the door that reflects the light around, as well as another mirror on one of the medicine cabinet doors.

When we moved aboard, it was important to me that it didn't feel as if we were 'camping' and usually, a small boat's bathroom is the most rustic space onboard. I've seen walls of raw fiberglass, spray heads incorporated into the sink's faucet, toiletries indiscreetly out in the open, and toilet paper hidden away from the splash.

Most have their peculiar little bright-white toilets conspicuously sitting like centerpieces on their tangle of hoses. And the lack of a dedicated stall means showering either takes place in the entire head, or out in the cockpit.

But not on a Hans Christian!

Our head is a space that I can actually enjoy, warm and inviting. It's part of what makes us feel so at home.