Dixie Dime's shower just wasn't cutting it when her fuel tank dropped below half full. It looked great but water was not always fully draining out when on the hook or tied to a dock due to her bow being slightly lower. Though she looks big even modest weight changes near her bow or stern can affect her balance significantly. The whole sole of her head was constructed by glassing over a standard Kerdi board shower pan with only 1/4" per foot of slop for drainage. Certainly, the last thing we wanted to do was to start sanding and fiber glassing inside an almost finished boat but if it's not right it's not right. We look forward to spending many years cruising in Dixie Dime and don't fancy getting our socks wet when using the head after taking a shower, so sanding, adding a little more angle and glassing was in order. We had learned to take our showers in the morning prior to getting underway which would quickly drain the shower, but this was not always an option. The option was always there to keep the tank topped off which eliminated the problem, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to have a 90 gal fuel tank if you can only use the first half.
The balance of a boat and position of the center of gravity as well as the water line is very hard to predict, especially for an eyeball designer. The fact is until the day of her launch and me going around her with a sharpie on a piece of floating Styrofoam her floating waterline was just a guess. Likewise, was the location of her center of gravity as well as how much it moved with changing in loading. This loading doesn't just affect the fore and aft but also side to side. Since her launch several changes have been made to equipment position and stores location to help balance Dixie Dime in the water at rest and underway.
Her new head sole features an epoxy over gravel finish that hopefully will prove to be both durable, sanitary and non-slip.
