S/V Wildthing: Mid Ship Head Completed April, 2024

Midship Head Completed!

The midship head was one of the last cabins to be completed. This had been sitting in a state of total disrepair for several years. Cabinetry, face frames, headliner and doors were done but it was all being held up by fairing and painting of the bulkheads.

I finally dove into this mess and finished up the fairing and sanding of the bulkheads. This was a hot and sweaty job but after a few days of work it was ready for primer.

We used Total Boat primer and Wet Edge topcoat to achieve a nice glossy finish in the head and shower.

Once the painting was done the face frame and cabinetry could go back in. The upper cabinet has access to the chain plates, Y-valve and vented loops for the waste and fresh water.

Sliding doors give access to areas to store toiletries.

The headliner quickly followed the installation of the cabinetry.

The panels went in nicely and the teak trim was added like the rest of the boat. An LED light with day and night/red mode was added.

An AC electric outlet was added to the aft/right side of the portlight opening.

The midship head is a dry head with a separate shower stall. In the shower the drain pan had rotted out in a few areas so it was rebuilt. The pan was faired and re-glassed with some fiberglass matt and epoxy. I can guarantee it will never leak again.

A hose was glassed in the aft corner of the shower for a drain. This leads into the engine room where it will be connected to a sump where the gray water will be pumped overboard.

Shower sump fiber glassed water tight!

Shower stall fairing

The shower seat and cabinet were installed. Fairing was used to create a cove in all the corners. This allows water to easily run off and not create any areas where dirt could accumulate or mold could grow.

Large pop sickle sticks were used to smear on the fairing compound and then it was sanded, primed and painted.

Shower stall completed

Large hatches were installed in the shower to allow access to plumbing and toiletries.

The controls and shower head were mounted on a sliding rail to allow use while standing or sitting down.

The heads on the Pan Oceanic 46 used to both run into a large holding tank under the pilothouse settee area. There was a huge tank that took up too much space and smelled so a change was needed. We decided to go with smaller holding tanks located in the cabinets of each head.

The new holding tank and plumbing had been previously installed by my brother a few years ago. I did have to fabricate a new toilet base to attach the new LaVac toilet and connect the waste and fresh water lines. The LaVac head works off of vacuum.

We installed an electric pump in this head, which creates a vacuum to pull the waste out of the toilet and up into the holding tank. The holding tank is about 12 gallons so it is not designed to hold much waste.

A wye valve was installed to direct the waste into the holding tank or to pump it overboard when the boat is out at sea.

A new base was built for the the LaVac toilet. We used the same solid surface material used throughout the boat. This material will not rot and cleans up easily.

The toilet was mounted and plumbed. Fresh water comes into the back of the toilet and waste leaves out the side.

In this head we mounted the electric pump for the toilet up inside the cabinet. We tested it with water and it worked like a champ!

The button to activate the pump was mounted just inside the cabinet door on the top left.

Water lines to the shower and the drain for the sink have been completed.

The flooring in the head was completed with the same product used throughout the rest of the boat. We had just enough to finish the floor.

We covered over the other sump in the floor in front of the cabinet. We saw no reason to have another area that could collect dirt and moisture. We filled this in with a piece of 3/4 inch plywood and applied the flooring over that. It turned out to be a nice clean look.

It feels great to check another cabin off the list as done! This one went pretty fast because all the pieces were completed and we were just waiting on priming and paint. Onto the next cabin, lets finish this boat!

~~~Sail On~~~ /)

Mark!