We had that discussion several weeks back and I settled on having the
door open outwards. There is then the possibility of something falling
against the door from the outside and trapping someone in the head but
there is an 18" square hatch overhead that can be used for escape.

Jim Woodward wrote:
A thought -- killing two birds with one stone.

Most "narrow head door[s]" open into the head. This is a real safety
issue if a person in the head goes down for any reason -- they block
the door and make it impossible to get in -- a fire ax is possible of
course, but runs the risk of hitting the downed person -- and, of
course, you have to decide if you love them enough to justify ruining
your pretty varnished door.

Think about a large access panel from another side. Solves your PITA
and makes the boat safer.

Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com



Glenn Ashmore wrote in message ...

Thanks for all the suggestions. Here is what I came up with:

I am going to make up polyester/FRP pans with inside dimensions equal to
the drain opening with a 3/4" flange around the edge. I am going to
apply some 1/8" thick mastic backed neoprene gasket to the flange and
hold it against the bottom of the grate support cleat with stainless
quarter turn fasteners. That way I can get under the pan quickly in an
emergency.

The only problem I see right now is that getting the pan back in place
will be a real PITA. It is going to take 4 hands to hold it in place
and turn the fastners and fitting two people in a narrow head door at
the same time will be an interesting exercise. :-)

Glenn Ashmore wrote:

Strange how you can work through all sorts of challenges in building a
boat and then get stumped by a simple problem. I am working on the aft
head sole. I built a nice teak grate, carefully fitted it to the shower
drain opening and epoxied support battens underneath. The original idea
was to fabricate an FRP pan with flanges to hang from the battens below
the grate but soapy water could run under the flange and into the bilge.
The next idea was to epoxy the pan under the battens but that would
eliminate access to the bilge below the head and there is no space for a
separate access hatch.

How do you mount a shower pan so that it will not leak and can still be
removed easily?




--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com