The head on Olivia is located almost midship on the port side. It is in a compartment bordered on the starboard by a hanging locker, forward by the Vee berth and aft by a bulkhead separating it from the main salon. There is an oval door that doubles by closing off the entire forward area for privacy.

With the Vee berth filler cushion in place, entering the head area is a study in contortionism. The twins, who are only 9 years old can't even access the place without hopping up on the Vee berth, opening the door, and swinging into the compartment. Forget about adult access. I stored some fishing rods in there, and was always afraid that I'd snap the tips off trying to wrestle them out.

And forget about trying to use the porcelain goddess too. So it was back to using discarded whataburger cups and buckets for necessities underway. That was allright anyway, because there's no pumpout around here. Imagine, a fairly substantial boat population, and no sewage pumpout. Used to be one over at Southpoint, but it fell into a state of disrepair and finally inoperability over the years. There was supposed to be one here at Anchor Marina, but the owner, who had other priorities, used the grant money for other purposes, so you either have to live with the head smell until you can get offshore and pump out, or use the restroom at the marina, The third option is to pump directly into the harbor, which is of course illegal.

So I didn't much worry about using the head, but it got to be somewhat of a conundrum whenever we're away from the dock. Why did I install it in the first place? Could've used the space for storage (probably will anyway to some extent, as most cruisers do).

Anyway, I was reading postings from the Westerly Owners group, and low and behold, there it was.....a fix for the situation.

So following their suggestion,  I sliced the door in half, horizontally, added some stainless hinges and voila, access granted. It was such a simple and elegant solution. Why hadn't I thought of it? After being an aircraft mechanic for years, and used to figuring out access problems, I didn't even see this one at all. I was resigned to using the head under only the direst conditions, folding myself up like a pretzel in order to squeeze through the entry and into the confines of the marine comfort station. Now anyone can access the thing like a human, the door swings open like a closet, and you can just walk right in, sit right down, or whatever......

We were reclining comfortably in our beanbags on the back deck last night, watching the show, and I was thinking about those things. For all of the fears and uncertainties of the 21st century, it sure is nice to be able to travel the world at a keystroke. As D said, there's just about anything you might want to know out there, on the web, and there's no excuse for "I don't know" answers.

So if any of my new found friends from the Westerly group are reading this, thanks for the help!

Weather here is hot, mid 90's still, but we are waiting for a pretty powerful cold front to arrive late Thursday or early Friday, the first substantial one of the season.