November27, 2007. This Fall I stripped and repainted the inside of Marionette. This gave me the opportunity to get some photos and below are a few of the V-Berth with the cushions removed.

The arch is a built up laminate of an oak arch sandwiched between and bonded to 3/4 in marine plywood, mahogany faced panels.

The forepeak panel is removable and behind it is the anchor locker. The panel has 2 pins in the top edge on either side that fit into the overhead beam. You can see the simple swivel plate with a wing nut that secures the base. The mahogany louver provides circulation, and access, as it too is easily removable. Webmaster Note July 30, 2013. This anchor locker now has a page of its own - click here to go there.

The hull sides are bare fiberglass, painted. The floor panel is removable. The vent provides for air circulation below the seats and around the head area.

Marionette has cushions that mirror the seat/locker panels shown - see below. That U shaped one in the middle surrounds on 3 sides the cushion that sits on the hinged head panel. This is the only cushion that has to be removed to use the head. With 3 windows in this cabin it is a throne fit for a king!

A heavy denim curtain secured to one side slides on a ss rail just visible at the very top of the arch (top picture) provides privacy - not a universally admired solution but I like it. Webmaster Note November 17, 2013. This highly sophisticated system, much liked by solo sailors and male crew, , somewhat less so among female crew, needed a couple of pictures - click here to go there.

I have 3 shaped boards and 2 cushions, otherwise used elsewhere, that fill the aft opening of the V to make a very large sleeping area (picture above right). When single handing I don't use them. There are reading lights in each corner, and normally 2 small hammocks are suspended fore and aft under the port and starboard hull/deck joints. The aft seat locker on the starboard side is used for storage. The area either side of the head is open except for the hoses, the divert valve on the port side and the water intake seacock on the starboard side.

Marionette's head is a Groco Model HF manual pump head with the water intake seacock just to the starboard side of the head, and reachable through the opening to the right of the handle. Note the relief cut into the bottom of the seat panel for the handle. The head pumps directly into an 11 gallon capacity polypropylene tank located forward of the head - see below. The duck tape 'spacer padding' a still another example using this indispensable product.

The above 11 gallon tank was custom made by C.C. Tech in Cranston, RI from dimensioned sketches and a full size 1/4 " plywood mock up I made (at left). It has flat panels but follows the form of the hull and bilge. It has a single outlet at the aft panel at bottom of the tank plumbed to a valve that can direct the flow to a deck mounted pump out fitting (you can see the hose for this at the top of the picture below), or to a manual pump that can pump overboard via a thru hull fitting - see below. The tank has a vent fitting that exits near the top edge the front panel on the port side and the vent tube exits at a fitting on the port side near the toe rail. The inlet from the head is on the aft side of the rear panel near the top edge. The clean out fitting in the top panel makes it easy to flush the inside of the tank at the end of the season. Another important contributor to this easily maintained tank is that the bottom panel sits in the V formed by the hull and slopes down following the downward curve of the bilge. This means that the deepest part of the tank is at the aft end, which is where the outlet fitting is located - and the tank gets pumped dry! As mentioned earlier, on board racing rules require that this tank be empty when racing.

Above is the Whale manual pump for thru hull discharge. It is located under the port aft seat panel, next to the seacock. The pump handle, lower left corner, fits into the pump, center top, and doubles as a backup handle for the manual bilge pump located in the cockpit. That little, unpainted, square on the hull is for the wood block I will re-epoxy in place. It has a ss wire loop with a lock that can secure the seacock lever in the down (closed/lockout) position.

Updated November 6, 2011. That white hose outboard of the whale pump goes through the main bulkhead and up behind the galley sink (picture above left) to the deck pump out fitting (picture above right). The other end goes to a 2 way diverter valve (picture at left) on the port side of the head. It directs flow from the tank to either the Whale pump for direct overboard discharge through the seacock, or to the deck pump out fitting. This system provides for a legal, lockout overboard discharge, or a deck pumpout.

So far, the entire head system has worked flawlessly - except for that hard to remove RUST stain on the pump's outlet port from one of those turn screws on the hose clamp. Note that the outlet hose is double clamped at each end - a much debated compromise on the weight saving guidelines...

Full Disclosure - Marionette does not have vented loops - only iron discipline - thru hull valves are locked down while sailing

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