I have a confession. I have a bathtub. I know that this isn't considered much of an issue for most people, but my wife and I live aboard a sailboat.

Rockhopper, our 1978 Morgan ketch, has two complete heads, one with a fully enclosed bathtub. However, the total space aboard that is used for bathroom facilities is less than the space that the engine and generator occupy – and this is a boat that is supposed to carry up to eight passengers.

Let's face it: the head on most boats is just too small to provide a practical and pleasant experience. And, in an age when designers have more freedom than ever and comfort is playing a larger role, we got to wondering why.

Cruising experts say there is a very good reason: heads are designed to keep you in contact with the equipment (read: toilet) when the boat is underway, especially in rough weather. However, most boaters use their boats primarily in calm weather, alongside the pier or in other areas where the idea of wedging yourself in is less important than the idea of comfortably attending to matters or changing clothes. As my wife, Suzanne, has said more than once, "why do I have to leave the bathroom to change my mind?"

FRANK MUMMERTThe forward head of an early 1980s Bruce Roberts design shows that aesthetics takes a back seat to function.The truth is that there aren't many production boats, sail or power, which have turned over much floor space to what many designers still consider a luxury.

HEADY STUFF

Early wooden boat designs, even up through the early fifties, did not actually include any shower facilities aboard. Most boats included a toilet, a basin that was hinged to the wall and a hand pump to bring in seawater. The basin had no drain, water was supplied either from the hand pump or carried in from the galley. Once the user was done, he (almost invariably a he in these "pre-liberation" days) would simply flip the basin up against the bulkhead, where the water would flow down into a funnel and then be directed into the bilge to be pumped overboard. Since most wooden vessels were not completely watertight anyway, regular pumping tended to keep the water level down and the soap and other materials cleaned out.

Actual toilet facilities were rather Spartan, and since it was generally only used in the seated position, it could be tucked into spaces that were otherwise under-utilized. In fact, early designs tended to be deliberately cramped, since it meant a significant number of surfaces to brace against underway. The best design was one where the user could stay put while driving upwind in a full gale.

While there have always been commercial captains who have taken their wives and children to sea, and many passenger vessels had to take into account the needs of women, it was the explosion of low-cost pleasure boats, both sail and power, that accelerated the change in marine heads from a tight closet under the cockpit to the more open space of today's modern cruiser. Early cabin designs merely emulated in fiberglass the layout of their wooden sisters, but as families started using the vessels for day trips, then cruises and living aboard, the structure changed, albeit slowly.

SHOWERED IN LUXURY

Celebrated designer Bruce Roberts, in a late-1970s model, succeeded in tucking the head into a space just forward of the aft cabin and outboard of the engine room. However, the design still suffered from the most common failing of the small marine head, an inability to allow for a separate shower facility.

CHRISTENSEN SHIPYARDSThe master bath on Casino Royal is enough to make any sailor swoon (unless he too owns a megayacht).Few live-aboards even use the shower, opting for the marina facilities while in port, the transom shower at anchor and the judicious use of deodorant and staying upwind of companions while underway. Yet for many boat owners, the pinnacle of bathroom design is a separate shower area, which means that the toilet paper doesn't get soggy when the kids lather up.

Most designers of the period simply attached a showerhead to a flexible hose and teed it into the sink plumbing. By installing a pan in the bottom of the head, with a drain that could lead to the bilge or to a separate pump, the system was considered complete. Adding a shower curtain that could protect a towel and the toilet paper was an additional design feature, but in many cases, the occupant was simply supposed to ensure that these items weren't out when the shower was active.

Shower and sink water is considered "gray water," to differentiate from the output of the toilet (known as "black water"). In some designs, gray water is allowed to flow overboard, while in others, it is plumbed into a holding tank. Gray water is not considered waste according to U.S. Coast Guard regulations and can be allowed to flow overboard except in zero-discharge areas, places where local governments have convinced the EPA to prevent all discharges into the marine environment.

The Coast Guard specifically recommends against mixing gray water with black water, since materials like food waste from galley drains and body hair from showers and sinks are more difficult for treatment facilities to deal with than human waste.

CHANGE IS COMING

In the 1980s and 1990s, boat designers were beginning to understand that while the male mind usually looked at features like cockpit size and hull form, many female buyers concentrated on the amenities that made the boat "livable," even if only for the weekend.

According to Gerry Douglas, a designer with Catalina Yachts, "people require a more home-like atmosphere. They aren't camping anymore." Boats that previously only saw the installation of some hooks to hold down a portable toilet began to include a full, if small, permanent head area, with a manual-pump toilet.

The 41-foot Morgan Out Island, credited or vilified for helping to create the Caribbean charter industry, was designed with comfortable cruising in mind. In his review of the design for Sailing magazine, John Kretschmer said, "the OI 41 was simply ahead of its time" with an emphasis on function overriding form. The design included two complete staterooms, one forward and one aft, each with its own head. The heads are reasonably large and comfortable to use in port, but the shower is still merely a drain pan in the deck and a hose with a spigot.

FRANK MUMMERTThe after head in this 1982 Whitby 42 shows the ingenious efforts made to put as much head in as small a space as possible.Fast forward to 2009, and look at the current Catalina Morgan 440. The boat, while only three feet longer, boasts a much larger environment below, including two full staterooms with queen-sized berths, a washer and dryer, and two full sized showers, the forward one with a glass enclosure to completely separate the shower from the rest of the head.

POTTY PARITY

So, how did this evolution take place? How did vessels that previously had only room for a sit-down cubby suddenly become spacious enough for a full head and shower? It's difficult to say completely.

The subject of interior design is one that doesn't lend itself to a lot of discussion. Many of the designers contacted for this story were leery of saying anything on the record. As a designer from Glen-L Marine, the "build-it-yourself" design company that has been selling boat designs since the 1950s, put it, "we always wanted to make the head as large as it could be, but we had to do what people wanted, too."

One factor was a reduction in the number of berths, Gerry Douglas says. A review of sales brochures from the 60s and 70s bears it out. Boats were often advertised as being able to sleep six or eight, in vessels that had a quarter berth under the cockpit and a V-berth forward. Additional berths were created by converting dinettes, cockpits and other odd spaces into a "sleeping berth." More modern boats put more emphasis on a smaller group of people who can live more comfortably.

Another change is simply the difference in the answer to "how big is big enough?" As with everything else in boating, the answer is a compromise. The size of the head is related to the size of the water tanks, the sewage holding tanks and the hull form. A boat that is designed to do significant time offshore will invariably have a smaller head than a coastal or lake cruiser will. Power boats often have larger spaces, with better amenities.

The trade off is usually in other living spaces. In many designs, the larger the head, the smaller the spaces around it. This is not always the case, of course. According to Douglas, in some boats, the change was made by increasing the interior volume. "Compare the Alberg 35 to the new Catalina 35, for example," he says. "Today's boats have more freeboard and more beam, to give a 30-percent greater volume." However, changing the outside dimensions of the boat is a balancing act, and too much change can have negative effects on the handling characteristics, exposing the boat to more windage, if the space added is above the waterline, and restricting access to shallow water, if it is below.

Nigel Calder, in his book, "Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook," devotes almost four pages to the subject of heads and head compartments. Referencing what he calls the "two schools of thought," Calder comes down firmly in favor of "bigger is better."

His recommendation is that any boat under 45 feet should have only one large head, rather than trying to break up the facilities into two smaller, inadequate spaces. He also specifies that the space should be large enough to put on and take off foul weather gear. The ideal space, however, is still only 26 inches by 26 inches, with a similar size for the separate shower stall. "You don't want it to be large enough to bounce around in," Calder says. Finally, he recommends that the door to the head open into the space, so that no one can be trapped inside in the event that gear gets thrown up against the door in an emergency.

COMPROMISE

It has been said that the cardinal rule of good design is honesty of purpose. The purpose of the marine head is to allow the crew to safely attend to business that should not go over the side. For most boats, part of that safety is making sure that anyone using the facilities stays put in rough weather. And this, of course, is a compromise, pitting a small and secure head against the large and comfortable bathrooms we are used to our homes.

Every boat is a compromise but the best boat is the one whose compromises fit you best. The most important decision that must be made is how you will use your boat. If cruising and offshore sailing are not in the plans, then a large, well-appointed head, with a separate shower and even a bathtub, can be found, even in pocket cruisers. On the other hand, if you feel the need to go fast for long distances, in whatever the sea can dish up, then the safety and security of a small head compartment, with plenty of handholds and places to brace against, can be a comfort that no amount of bubble bath can make up for.

And if a bathtub is what you want, well, you'll be in good company.