Hello good Swallow aficionados,
A small group of us have bought a BC 20, so I realise that my target audience may be small!
However, hopefully the following notes may be of some general interest.
Having recently downsized from a bigger boat the BC20 offers me everything I wanted ....except I was not happy with the toilet arrangements. I will be sailing with my wife and both of us appreciate a usable set up.
Peter Taylor was very helpful in talking me through the current options, which are:
-under the companionway and pull out when using, very tight and needs mods
-beside the mast post and galley in full view on the port side
-slid under the starboard quarter berth and pulled out when needed....and lifted on to the floor.
-In the cockpit...
-in the cockpit locker?
-or Peters solution which is to sacrifice the forward starboard berth for a permanent location.
several of the solutions involve using the space on the sole boards in the cabin, this space is very tight and not suitable for us. Nor would we be happy lifting it out using it then lifting it back in to storage.
So what did I do?
out came the cardboard and scissors...and after some head scratching I decided to sacrifice a little space on the main settee on the starboard side. On the BC 20 this is not a full quarter berth.
There is an access hatch to the bilges, I opened this up a little front and back. I created a plywood/epoxy box that just fits in the space. I added a nice ply/mahogany opening lid and it all works really nicely. Effectively the porta-potti is sunk into the space with only about half above the mattress base level. Very hygenic in that the box is watertight and can be removed to clean. Nothing should go in the bilges.
I call it our navigation table and it does work well as a side table. It is surprisingly unobtrusive and easy to get pass. There is still room to easily sit beside it. If needed I can sit on top...just...
For me at 5ft 7" there is full sitting headroom whilst using it. It does not feel cramped and the C'board box is a very convenient strong point for pulling to stand up, at which point your heads up in the companionway.
I am struggling to post more than one picture, please contact me if you would like more info and pictures
Very happy.
Kind regards
Graham B
