I have not seen this done in an 8' ceiling without having the horizontal mullion at eye level. With a proper header and the minimum height associated with a transom, it ends up smack dab in your line of sight. The only way to fix that would be to make the transom taller (meaning that it extends lower, not higher because it can't), but that really kills the appearance IMO. At that point, it really doesn't even look like a transom anymore.

I think the client in the chair is female and I think she must use a chair that can get wet. I'm assuming the toilet will be shifted to the left and the built in cabinet made smaller. I want to incorporate a ramp at the entry to the bathroom. Loose some head room in the master bedroom and then ramp down to the bathroom. I'm thinking then the bathroom dry side becomes the emergency spill space if the boat rolls a little while anchored or docked. Need to book it to work. Just got the CAD drawings from the Naval Architect - I'm so excited but need to keep focused on the job on hand today! lol Reading through the email this job is a little easier in the fact that this boat will not have low voltage in floor heating like the last build. The stuff was a pain and something I did not enjoy working with.

Depends on how the door is built and the glass set into the frame. Very unlikely that you will be able to fine anyone to do a singular operable unit based on the width of a french door (i.e. minimum of 60" at the least in most cases). You could put in a mulled unit that would look like two transoms and I would opt for an awning so that the handle isn't as prominent and somewhat cheap looking as compared to a hopper.

My grade school had big tall windows where the top and bottom panes opened. The ceilings were high, so the top pane was operated by a pole with a little hook at the end that you used to grab the latch (which had a loop on it) and push the window open. Then you hooked it and pulled it back in to close and latch. That was the old style (main parts of building were from the 30's). Surely they make transom hardware like that? "Not possible for it to open if it's high" seems like a silly answer from an architect. I mean, you'd probably need a window pole if you don't want Victorian-style transom hardware with the long rod hanging down (I have those in my house - most of the interior doors have transoms). Also, you definitely want those upper transoms to open - the whole point of having them is because they open up and can seriously help with cooling down/ventilating the house. Bottoms ones won't give you that benefit (hot air rises and all that jazz).