Sail Life - Athena’s new head & boat goodies - DIY sailboat project 

Puts new meaning to the term "Poogleing". Flushing the loo with your phone, that's a new one. Funny stuff. Rossco

I've been watching your progress for several years, but I've gotta say Mads, I know that we don't get to see everything, but it sure seems to me that your back is stronger than it was when you started. I totally thought that as soon as I saw you moving that toilet. All this DIY seems like it's been good physical therapy!

That moment when you step out of the airplane loo with a measuring tape in hand...😆

Best way to bend marine hose is put some sand in a skillet and heat up the sand. Pour the hot sand into the hose cap the ends. Make your bend and let it sit till it cools. Pour out the sand and you have a perfect bend.

Uhhh hurts my heart to see that awesome guitar lying around and full of dust!!! Keep up! You are almost there!!!

Haha some poor soul was busting to go to the toilet on the plane and you’re in there with a tape measure. Hahahahaha, classic👍👍👍👍😂😂

Just found out about your channel from Leo on Sampson Boat Co. and I'm only onto the 6th video in this playlist of your refurbishment of Athena. I'm hooked. Thank heaven I'm retired, so I can binge on these videos. But it'll be a sad day when I catch up and have to wait and wait and wait and............ Seriously, your personality is infectious and the way you approach the problems (let's re-phrase that - opportunities) is interesting. Best of wishes in your upcoming travels. I'm jealous.

Beautiful idea measuring the airplane loo, these guys have been optimising those for a century now.

Can't wait for the boiler video!!! Check out Wallace Grommet 's comment on the pvc pipe !

Please be aware that when you put your face in the sink you also put your bottom in the shower. This looks like a good layout. I will second ilCigno's comment about radiusing inside and outside corners. I would suggest larger than the stir stick radius throughout the whole bathroom. Very good idea on the fuel polisher. Manually tripping a polish near the end of a long passage can prevent motor trouble in a channel or while docking. I love your enthusiasm for the projects this year. :)

Brilliant idea using the airplane head for space management layout , things are really falling in place .

Athena is coming along nicely. Just one thought about the heads is that there may be to much room either side of the head. When at sea you need to be able to brace yourself with your arms and legs. If the space either side and in front of the head is to great you will end up sliding all over the place in a rough/choppy sea.

Find a 'sweep 90' bronze elbow to make the turns at the back of the head. Just grind the internal opening at each end to a bevel and clamp it in place with a short length of hose, then you can clamp on the rest of the hose with no 'kinking'... There's also the option of using a bigger 'Tip-up' sink on a lower vanity. When not in use, it swivels up and locks to the bulkhead, the drain is mounted at the back. Since it's unlikely you'll be using the head and sink at the same time, you get a bigger sink without losing any 'head' room...

If welding the sides of the gimbaled box isn't necessary for structural support you want to consider attaching them with rare earth magnets to leave access for service and cleaning

You can use silicone pads to keep things on top of the cooktop. Get thin ones, they are flexible, easy to clean, can go between the induction top and any pot, and grippy enough to keep things on the stove even if things get a wee bit sideways.

I think you did a great job with measuring the air plane bathroom! Very Smart!

I watched all your Athena videos! I’ve been waiting quite a while for a new VLOG. It was worth it.

I am all aboard for a "Cardboard Aided Design" t-shirt!

"As you can see, 2020 is shaping up to be a really spiffy year" Yeah, that comment didn't aged well :(

Hi Mads. Using a ceramic white sink you don’t need to make a flange underneath to come up and meet the lip/edge of the sink , just set it 2/3rds into the vanity unit.

So glad you’re back, we’ve missed you!

What about a farmhouse style sink that juts out a little from the counter so you don’t have to make that fiberglass cover. Id think that would maximize your sink size.

Hey Mads, You should consider separating your Black Water from your Grey Water. 2 separate holding tanks. There are grey water filter systems out there. In North America, many areas do not allow you to discharge grey water within a certain distance of land. If you filter it, you can discharge. I am sure Ava would appreciate the opportunity to have showers on board when moored or docked. I plan to do this on my boat! Imagine a nice hot 10 minute shower anytime! Provided you have a water maker or shore water.....

Welcome back! I do have to complain about the lack of glorious sanding in this inaugural video, though... :P

If you mount the drawer slides underneath the drawer you can make much wider and therefore more useable drawers.

Hi Mads, You mentioned making a fibreglass front to the sink to accommodate the bowl. If you use a domestic semi-recessed shaped sink that’s taken care of in the design. This shape seems perfect for your situation.

Athena dwarfs the buggy. The private water closet is confining at best. I'll take a daisy chain wherever possible. A loo of that stature could sit proudly on a bow sprit. Plumbers here finish the install with copper plated 1 cent USA Penney; proudly. I suggest using the bluetooth application everytime the coast guard boards your vessel. No one else uses two stoves...or do they? Looking forward to the next episode, I'm already plumbing hot water ballast tank ideas. Keep it light ' brah!

Great to have you back! I think making the odd-shaped sink yourself would be worth it. Drop-in sinks are a pain to keep clean in tight areas like that. Hair and muck gets stuck in all the little corners.

I switched from a tank hot water heater to an on demand propane hot water heater. I highly highly recommend that you look in to this. Additionally, for cabin heat I used an Espar diesel heater that provides dry heat. Allowing combustion in your cabin fills every surface internal to your cabin with water and leads to mold.

Welcome back, looks like a lot of fun projects ahead. You can heat bend PVC to almost any shape if you can't bend the hose as necessary. The other option is to make some fittings out of epoxy/glass over styrofoam shaped cores. Always make at least two if it's something custom. It's not the valves, piping or macerator pump that will fail on the head but the leaking AAA batteries. LOL

Great to have you back. Sorry Ava his youtube fans need him too. Athena is getting there little by little. Watch out 2020.

“2020 is turning out to be a pretty spiffy year”. Ha! It turned out to be something, that’s for sure.

I ripped out the heads and holding tanks on my boat. Putting in a composting head was a great decision. I'll never go back to flushing holding tank heads. Not only do I have all that extra storage space from removing those tanks, I get the added bonus of never ever ever never having to deal with rancid sewage leaking into my bilge because the holding tank alarm failed.

Looks like a good design. Make sure to round all inside corners around the toilet well, it makes cleaning a lot easier.

Looking very good! I will note that on my boat, the head sat on a pedestal that was probably about 25 mm plywood with several layers of fiberglass on both sides. The pedestal was also very small, barely large enough for the base of the head. (it was on the centerline of the boat up in the bow, which meant it was triangular shaped). I was surprised at how heavy duty it was.

The head looks good to me Mads. I had a Westerley Centaur and the only way I could sit on the toilet was to drop my trousers outside the head and go in backwards!

Always enjoy cardboard aided design. Looks good.

Boy! oh boy! ....have you stepped into the realms of the unknown !...good luck with Ava with that!

Good to have you back! Why not try a semi-recessed basin to save bending the ply - although you are good at it!

Looking forward to seeing your gimbaled oven box. We're also in the process of converting to an all electric galley on SV Ramble On and I need to construct a gimbaled enclosure as well. I'm also liking the new Carhart coveralls. Your Bjornkladder-style work pants have served you well over the years. Keep up the good work.

Very impressive! I'm surprised though that you didn't go with a composting toilet. No hoses, no pumps, no holding tank, no through-hulls, no electronics... simple, simple, simple. I'm putting a composting toilet on my boat and it's freeing up a through-hull which I used for a third bilge pump and I will eventually convert the holding tank to an auxiliary diesel tank.

The head looks pretty good Mads, there is one more thing you probably want to think about before you start building though. As it sits it will be great while sitting at anchor or thee dock however when you are under sail you probably want to be thinking about a handhold/foothold or two. Can be a bit unpleasant if you can't stay on your throne.

I like the Irwin 38 sliding or flip up sink over the head.

After all the work you put into the stringers, watching you run your saws right up to them was stressful. And happy New Year, sir!

if your misses is on the loo, how could resist not flushing it with Bluetooth 😂

Looks like someone got new overalls for Christmas! :)

You will definitely want fiddles and other restraints on that stove. Gimbals help with levelling but they won't help with other movements.

Ooooh, new Carhart overalls!

Great to have you back Mads..!!!

Welcome back, looking forward to a informative and productive 2020.

Only problem I have had with my dual source Rartain head is the small seal the keeps "water" out of the macerator. I now carry many seals and change every time I have the bowl off for any reason. I believe the Rartain can use 1 in or 1.5" sanitation hose. I think the 1" is better as the velocity helps prevent build up and your bends are much easier - plus it is less expensive. Have fun and play safe.

Excellent job!

Welcome back, glad your home safe. Looking forward to the projects coming up in 2020.

Nice to have you back. Looking forward to this year's progress.

Mad, great video, nice to have you back on after your short vacation.

Finally I have caught up and seen all your videos of Athena. Happy New Year

Measuring the airplane restroom was very clever. Was that a plan or spontaneous I wonder.

As always it’s great to have my old friend back!

So many awesome updates. I cant wait to see all the projects.

It was long vacation ! Welcome back!

Welcome back Mads hope you had nice holidays with Eva !!

nice your back!

Welcome back!!

It's nice to have you back! I hope you had fun here in LA!

Welcome back Mads! Good to see you diving right back in.

Have you thought about a grey water system? Would be great to save shower/sink water to flush the head!

You made it home! Yay! So happy to "see You"!

Great video!

Looks like it is already shaping up to be a great year! Thx!

Goes on vacation and takes a break, comes back with 4 projects ready to go. Amazing how that seems to work out.

Finally ... I'm so excited to see you back..! I hope you had a glorious time with Ava. You also look very spiffy in your new boots and what looks like Carhartt overalls ...it's going to be a great year....

YES! A new video. Finally things are back in order ;-)

Glad to see you back safe and sound. Looking forward to seeing all these goodies installed. Welcome back.

Welcome back mads glad you all had a wonderful holidays. The layout of the bathroom look great love the idea of using the airplane bathroom as a template lol awsome never would have thought of that. Cant wait to see all of the fun things you have in store for us next , lots of exciting projects. !!

Love your airplane head tech gathering! Really great.

Good to see you back Mads, now my Sunday's are complete …

Welcome back mads, I do like the near gear you have bought ......and the toilet is it a vvip one!

Welcome back to Europe, Mads! So good to see you back again. :-)

Welcome, Nice to watch your videos again

Glad to have you back in the saddle Mads! Hope you and Ava had a great Christmas and New Year.

I really like how it is turning out. Measuring the airplane head was a great idea! I am needing to do something similar in mine, I will be tearing it out within the next couple of weeks!

Welcome back. Like the spiffy new Walls coveralls.

Happy New Year! Glad you’re back Take a look at the Oxygenics Shower head for RV’s and Boats Saves water and it’s design boosts the water pressure for great showers

Like the new bibs!!

Spiffy to have you back!

I for one am looking forward to watching you progress aboard good old Athena in 2020 as I have thoroughly enjoyed all your videos so far Mads!

CAD! I love it!!! Well done and welcome back.

Good to have you back. Hope you enjoyed the hols. Could you fashion a single panel for the sink unit. Melt some plastic and bend or do your fibreglass thing?

I just wanted to say I really enjoy your videos I watch a lot of saleable refits and yours is by far one of the best may I ask hold your you seem very knowledgeable of what you're doing and you're very good at it too

ha i just went to my Albin Ballad today to do a mid winter green stuff clean, always feels good leaving the boat clean!

Welcome back

Welcome back!!!

Your back. Hope you had a great Christmas and new year.

Head looks great..

to save some space you can put a constaintina door in. Gerard.

Nice Hat Mads! Cheers!

@Sail Life You say you won't use that app but C'MON!! That's got to be one of the best pranks ever. I also think it's only appropriate that I mention I actually unintentionally watched this episode on the bog. It's not my preferred location for a good Sail Life episode but you have to manage your time wisely every now and again.

hi good to see you back . boat is going to look very good and work very well

Mad's back!! Head is shaping up nice. I like the gimbaled stove/oven combo. Nice design.

Hope you had a nice time in LA, but for the rest of us it is nice to have you back! Given jet lag, that’s some awesome work!