MacGregorSailors.com

Best thing we ever did (borrowed the idea from a fellow X'er) was remove the factory mounting and mounted a better PP ROTATED 90 degrees, so you keep your feet OUTSIDE the head. Yes, the door has to stay open, but it provides a modesty panel.

A whole lot less gymnastics required to use the head.

Ron

What is a "factory mounting" with reference to the porta-pot ?

ALX357 wrote:What is a "factory mounting" with reference to the porta-pot ?

Head is situated facing aft, and mounted on the forward-most area of the head's sole, centered between the starboard and port sides of the head enclosure.

Mine did not have a mounting kit, and just sits there. I guess some are mounted with clips etc. but I thought the factory did not mount porta-pots. It is no great problem to turn it 90 degrees to face the door, but has to be lifted clear of the doorsill and rotated before placement, because its corner-to-corner length is more than the space will allow to turn it in place. If I bought a smaller pot, maybe it could be rotated in place, but that is not really a full solution to the problem I outlined, requiring the cabin be vacated, or some loss of privacy. It's not just about me, but guests on the boat, generally more comfortable with the concept of closed door usage.

I store my fenders underneath the head sink, and when I use the head, I leave the vanity door open. This increases the leg room. I'm 6 ft tall, I shared this "tirick" with my 6 ' 3" friend, and he is not afraid to use the head anymore.

Why go to the trouble of cutting out the vanity portion of the sink, when opening the door can increase your leg room? My knee fits between the 2 fenders stored under the sink.

Ric

That's what got me started on the idea a long time ago, I noticed that with the vanity door opened under the sink, I had more legroom.
'Need to do that before closing the head door, since once in there, the vanity door has no room to be opened, legs are in the way then. Then I thought about just removing the vanity door, then that led to the notion of completely cutting out the vanity altogether....

Thanks everyone, and believe me, I think I have tried all the tricks, having had the boat for five years now. Many ways to work AROUND the problem, ways to ignore the problem, or RE-DEFINE it as not an issue, but ....

And now that we have explored all the reasons not to "bother" with the mod work of cutting out the vanity, what about the original question ? ( I think that got overlooked )
Any more photos of mods that increased space INSIDE the head ? With 5000 boats out there, surely several owners have done this.

I assume it was factory: hold down brackets secured to the floor.................

ron

Probably not factory installation, but done by dealer if new, or PO if used.

captronr wrote:Best thing we ever did (borrowed the idea from a fellow X'er) was remove the factory mounting and mounted a better PP ...

As ALX357 said, the brackets were probably installed by the dealer or the PO....

Bossa Nova came with an old-style Sani-Pottie that had been neglected by the PO. (It had sat, half-full, through at least one Virginia mountain winter.) When I replaced it with a new Dometic potty, that one came with hold-down brackets and fittings to mount it permanently as a pump-out potty. (Just add hoses and a deck fitting & vent.)

I found out by trial-and-error that it needs about an inch of extra space behind the potty, if you want to use the pump-out fittings. My present marina is dead-set against dumping porta-potties in their toilets; I'm beginning to think the pump-out option would be better ....

BTW I've seen a recommendation to replace the head door with a curtain. Not sure how well that would work, using a side-mounted head, but it's worth a thought.

When I said 'factory' I was somewhat misleading... I should have said 'dealer', as folks are right, the factory, to my knowledge, never installed port-a-potties. However, the location I stated is the standard for most dealers, AFAIK.

Ric K wrote:I store my fenders underneath the head sink...

Ditto.

I am also a large guy. I built a shelf about 6 inches off the floor to mount the porta pottie. This allowed for fender storage underneath it and the increased "altitude" gave more leg room. Made out of starboard material with a vertical support on the starboard side and screwed into the liner just beneath the lip of the head door.

ALX357 - By what you discribe on your earlier post, YES, your porta-potti seems to be much larger then the one I have in my 26X (2000). I am 5'11" and 245 Lbs., but I can stand up (being somewhat bent over) and can use both my hands. By what you discribe, that sounds very difficult and troublesome. My porta-potti seems to do fine for my family (more then big enough), so I would think about getting a smaller footprint porta-potti before doing the mod you discribe.

However, if someone was to put a shower in the head; then I think it would be a good idea to remove the sink and make more room. I have installed an aft shower out by the engine and taking a shower out there in your swimsuit seems to work fine for my family so we don't feel a need for a shower in the head.

No, I don't have any pic of a mod to share and I'm not sure, at this point to make the fiberglass repair after cutting.

- Doug