To get the customization I needed I added a custom load block in the header.php like so

 <div class="head-search<?php $this->_c('head-search') ?>">

							<!-- custom menu-->

					<?php $this->loadBlock ('topnav') ?>

						<!-- custom menu end-->

						<jdoc:include type="modules" name="<?php $this->_p('head-search') ?>" style="T3Xhtml" />

							</div> 

Is it ok to use that format of code in the header.php or should the

<?php $this->loadBlock ('topnav') ?>

format always be in the default-content-right.php file?