I’m not sure what the DIY-ers here at our boatyard treasure more at the end of the day: the cold beer or the hot shower.
A good shower goes a long ways in making filthy boat projects more tolerable. I’m serious.
When we have a choice of haul out facilities, the shower room can be the deciding factor.
The shower room doesn’t have to be anything fancy. In fact, it’s often better if it’s not. You really don’t want to track paint chips or used engine oil across an off-white carpet.
What we look for:
- PLENTY of hot water
- Good water pressure
- Shower head high enough to be over our heads – no squatting to rinse our hair
- Reasonably sized shower stalls
- Hooks for clothes and towels – lots of hooks, so things aren’t all on top of each other
- Some place that I can put my filthy work clothes where they won’t get my “clean” clothes dirty
- Shelves in the shower or just outside sufficient for wash rags, scrub brush, soap, shampoo, conditioner, razor and anything else needed
- Ledge or bar in the shower to prop a foot on while scrubbing it
- Reasonably-sized dressing area
- Bench in the dressing area
- . . . and did I mention lots and lots of hot water with good pressure?
Most of that you can see by going in the shower room when you’re first checking out the boat yard. But how much hot water there is and whether there’s still decent pressure if all the showers are in use are a little tougher. If you ask the office, they’ll usually tell you it’s great.
We’ve learned to ask some of the other boaters who are in the yard. The ones who are actually working on their boats. The ones getting dirty.
Oh – and be sure to check out both the men’s and the women’s (if there are both men and women on board). A number of times we’ve found substantial discrepancies between them – sometimes the men’s room will be well-designed with the women’s seemingly an afterthought (what, a woman in a boat yard?) or vice-versa – the women get a “nice” facility and the men’s is nothing more than a shower head sticking out of the wall.
Here at Glades, the showers are great. Yeah, it’s a concrete block building with painted walls and floor – pretty utilitarian. No one yells if you track dirt or paint chips in: it’s designed to be literally hosed out, making it easy for the staff to keep it clean. Everything else I want in a shower room is there, even if it is pretty basic and the mirror is a little cloudy (so what? I have a mirror on the boat).
And no, we didn’t leave it to chance . . .
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
LaDonna Thomas says
Agree! We took a mosquito coil with us to the showers as in the yard they are usually present
Carolyn Shearlock says
Great idea!
Vicky Page says
The showers were a very real consideration at our last haul out.
Bruce says
I often wondered if using a mosquito coil is akin to breathing second hand smoke – toxic smoke at that. If the mosquitoes are bad – mostly a given here in the Philippines – I sometimes spray the area and give it a few minutes to air out before showering. Moving a lot and getting covered in soap also seems to help. My Filipina gf can feel them bite and she kills them – she can also see they flying even in dim light and kill them on the wing.
Gerald Hemming says
Cheap laundry facilities are nice too.
Donna says
I highly recommend that you try using a Thermacell. These little propane driven devices work better than a mosquito coil, and without most of the noxious smoke. I live in Alaska, and I wouldn’t be without at least one.
D and Don says
For us, the nicest bathrooms on the east coast are located at the Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick Georgia. The best in the eastern Caribbean are located at Nanny Cay on Tortola in the BVI. Both of these places are head and shoulders above all others.
D
Tom says
“Both of these places are head and showers above all others.”
Fixed it.
Paula Richard says
It’s amazing how important this becomes! I’m always on the lookout for my next “2 shampoo shower”! Also have to tell you how great the lip balm tip was. LOVE that stuff.
Lupari Sue says
Definitely important to have decent shower facilities after a hard day scrubbing antifoul. One of our criteria for haul out facilities too. Some we’ve been in are REALLY bad.
Kim Kattreh says
I’m glad we have a large shower , because the showers at our marina are small.
Gerard says
We have a medium shower room and is awesome.
Cap'n Dave says
No shower room in our yard. None. At. All. Seriously, what were they thinking? Toilets are porta-potties off-site (that are also available to the general public). Showers and laundry facilities are only available for the marina residents in the marina that it’s attached to. Um…yeah. No thanks. Seriously, I just need a quick bottom job. Unless I need to replace a thru-hull, I’m half-tempted to sail over to the shoals at high tide, anchor, careen the boat, and do it myself – two nights, one side at a time, I’d be good!
Of course, the cats would totally freak out.
Cap'n Dave says
I should have said, “And do everything myself with what I have” – of COURSE I’d be doing it myself. You do NOT want to know what their yard labor rates are. Trust me.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Ugh. Yes, that would encourage you to work VERY quickly and get out of there!
Cap'n Dave says
Although, I will say that their sanders that suck up everything in order to keep it as environmentally-friendly as they can (and which you HAVE to use) aren’t too bad, price-wise – $20.00 per day. Other than that? Uh…yeah. And don’t EVEN get me started on their chandlery prices for even the most basic of stuff.