how to install a shower?

[Guest]

buying a boat for the first time. 26 footer got some room to play with and want to put a shower in. read this months issue of pbo and creating a wooden box then lining with fibreglass. im happy with all this but would like a sketch of how the outlet would look including a pump etc. i understand you have to have a bend in the pipe above the water line i think??? as for water supply to the showerhead figure on a holding tank i can fill with the kettle but dont think i will have room for it above my head as i dont have the head room. is it a case of having on the floor then using another pump?? this will mean 2 pumps for the shower as i need to keep costs to a minimum anyone got an cheap ideas??
kind regards
richard aka 'soon to be proud owner'

 

[seahorse]

Try a B&Q garden sprayer!
Costs about £12, partially fill with cold water & boil the kettle, mix to taste, afew pumps & away yeh go!

 

[Guest]

Easier than fiberglass

Two of the showers on our boat were made by installing ceramic tile over the plywood walls and floor. If laid normally and grouted, they are entirely waterproof, look neater and are tougher and easier to do than fiberglass. Both have been in operation for over 13 years now.

Where the ceramic tile has an edge that is exposed (not joining another ceramic tile), you need to make a wooden (teak) strip so that the outer edges are not subject to excessive stress that might crack or lift the outer tiles.

The tiles on ours are about 1 inch square and come in sheets about 12 inches square. There are many larger tiles but the small ones look better in the confined space of the shower.

tech@yandina.com

 

[johnsomerhausen]

Re: Easier than fiberglass

Whilest the garden spray is a good simple system, the bottle tkes up quite a bit of space in a 26 footer (mine's a 28 footer, so the problems are similar) and the ceramic tiles would be quite heavy for a small boat. The solution I've adopted is an "H2O bag" (don't know if you have these in the UK) which is a plastic bag, tranparent on one side and black on the other that you fill with water and tie down on the cabintop. The sun will heat the water (here in the US...) to a comfortable 40 degress C. in a few hours (or you fill it with a mix of cold water and hot wateer from the kettle). You hang it up in the cockpit if you want or connect it to a through-deck fitting to which one of these "dish rinsing" heads where you control the flow by squeezing a lever is connectd inside the heads compartment. I take my showers sitting on the loo so there's no problem of headroom...The H2O bag can be folded up for stowage and takes no space and the rinsing head simply hangs on a hook in the heads
john

 

[vyv_cox]

Don\'t install a shower

Our Sadler 34 came with a shower. We used it once and it made so much mess that we have never bothered again. On a 26 foot boat I don't believe you could make a decent shower booth without adding considerably to the weight of the boat.

What we do now is use a solar shower, as proposed above, in the cockpit. No need for pressurised water, grey water pump or mopping up. In the past we also tried the garden insect spray but this is rigid and takes up space when not in use. Make a canvas or plastic tent if you wish to preserve your modesty, or if you don't just do it for all to see (may not go down well in Port Solent, but I am assuming you want to shower where no facilities exist, at anchor) If the sun does not provide enough warmth to the water just top up from the kettle.

 

[Guest]

Re: Don\'t install a shower

Which way up should the solar shower bag be?
Black side up or down?
Martin

 

[Guest]

Re: Don\'t install a shower!

Agree with others who say "don't".

Fixed showers equals unused space for 99.9% of time (or massive movement of goods when you want a shower) plus problems of how to supply and then get rid of the water.

I prefer the "solar bag" with a small shower head attached. Dead simple to use, stows away to nothing and uses only a tiny amount of water.

Use it anywhere on deck. Preserving your modesty isn't that much of a problem out at sea - who's there to see anything they haven't seen before anyway?

Also talking of showers (or rather a lack of them) it helps to take along a couple of litres of cologne (Mont St. Michel is very good). It was invented when people only used to wash once a year to hide the smell of unwashed bodies and it still works in this age of excessive hygiene.

A quick wipe with a damp flannel in the right places and a hefty splash of cologne and "presto" - very little water used and no-one would ever know that you haven't had a shower in the last week!!

Best regards ))

Ian D

 

[Guest]

Suggest you try.....

"Mermaid" type panelling (check out your local plumbing bathroom supplier)- seal joins with silicone sealant - for showers we use a portable shower made by Hozelock - similar to garden sprays, but has a proper (small) shower head with a trigger on/off switch which means you conserve water. We just boil water and add to cold to desired temp. Have never found the solar shower bags much use in the UK - and anyway, we like a shjower in the morning! Hoze wraps around bottle when not in use, and stores away neatly in a locker!

 

[Guest]

Re: Don\'t install a shower

My experience is that it doesn't matter as you will still have to boil a kettle anywhere North of Bordeaux.

Mine "looks" as if it should be black side up (i.e. printing is on black bit) but:

o - Black absorbes heat and you must have circulation.

o - If black is on top then top 2mm warms up rest stays cold.

o - If black is on bottom then warm water on bottom will rise and give circulation - whole bag should warm up.

Just worked this out - b*gger of it is that for years I have had it black side up and never questioned why it didn't get warm!!!

Ian D

 

[vyv_cox]

Solar showers

I agree that for the majority of times in northern European climates the solar feature is hardly worth having. On the sort of day when a swim is enjoyable there is usually enough heat in the sun to warm the water in the bag enough that it feels pleasantly warm when washing the salt off.

Yes, the transparent side goes up and the black side down. On mine the outside of the black half is aluminised, so little chance of any heat penetrating to the water.