Shower Installation

[WaltG]

I am planning a one week trip to the FL Keys and will be anchoring most of the time. I got to thinking about our creature comforts, and thought it would be a good idea to have a shower on board.

Since my Sabre 28 does not have a shower, I would like to install one. My idea is to connect a diaphragm pump below to the water supply, and connect that to a hose that would lead to a shower head we would use in the cockpit with a privacy curtain.

Has anyone done this and I would appreciate any ideas/advice.

WaltG
Impromptu

[sailingdog]

WaltG-

If you're going to shower in the cockpit anyways, just get a solar shower rig and use that... Far less work, more reliable and provides warm to hot showers with no energy usage. Hang it from a halyard and you can get plenty of water pressure.

The other low-cost option is to use a bug-sprayer type pressurized canister to power the shower. If you get one that is made of black plastic, and leave it sitting in the sun, the water will heat up naturally, due to the solar warming.

[WaltG]

Thanks for the info. Another member advised me not to shower in the cabin since the gray water from showering would get into the bilge and start to stink. So we would have to shower above deck.

What products are available for the solar shower rig and pressurized cannister?

[Tubsmacker]

On The subject of showers (one luxury I simply cannot live without for long)

My (36') Boat has a shower fitted in the heads and can be pumped out of the shower sump which is basically the inside of the metal hull (the previous owner says he never used the pump to avoid odours and mess and always mopped up shower water with a sponge). I notice that the sump has an engine mount stanchion that rises vertically from the corner of the sump and it attracts corrosion. The sump itself does not corrode but I thought maybe I should make some kind of fibreglass shower tray to fit over the hull and pump out from that.

Has anyone done similar or got any thoughts/ideas on this?

I will definitely be getting a solar/pressure shower as advised above as well. Sounds like a good idea.

[sailingdog]

LOL... That was probably me...

Solar showers... Look here

Garden sprayers are available at most hardware stores, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. and look something like this:

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Tubsmacker

On The subject of showers (one luxury I simply cannot live without for long)

My (36') Boat has a shower fitted in the heads and can be pumped out of the shower sump which is basically the inside of the metal hull (the previous owner says he never used the pump to avoid odours and mess and always mopped up shower water with a sponge). I notice that the sump has an engine mount stanchion that rises vertically from the corner of the sump and it attracts corrosion. The sump itself does not corrode but I thought maybe I should make some kind of fibreglass shower tray to fit over the hull and pump out from that.

Has anyone done similar or got any thoughts/ideas on this?

I will definitely be getting a solar/pressure shower as advised above as well. Sounds like a good idea.

They do make pre-assembled shower sumps which have a small tank, with a float switch and small bilge pump, that can be plumbed into the floor drain of an existing shower installation, provided you have enough room below the shower to fit it.

[Tubsmacker]

Thanks SD, I reckon that I won't get away with a ready made product as I have a heavy removable teak fitting that forms the shower floor. I already have the electric pump etc so I just want to make a 'second skin' for the current sump to keep the water away from the hull and the stanchion I mentioned. I think maybe another solution would be to bond a fibreglass shield in the corner of the sump that I want the water kept away from.

[sailingdog]

Tubsmacker-

Does the current sump have a drain in the bottom? If so, then you could just plumb the drain into the pre-made shower sump system, and then use that to pump the shower sump grey water overboard.

You really should do something that empties the shower sump overboard, rather than into the bilge... otherwise, the bilge gets really ripe.

[Tubsmacker]

SD-

The current sump is part of the hull sectioned off from the access to the bilge and has its own pump terminating in a plastic hose that sits in the bottom of the sump rather than a drain hole. I don't think grey water can get into the bilge unless you fail to switch on the pump when showering for a long time. The pump takes the waste water overboard. I have just bought the boat so haven't used it as yet. I'm keen to keep the water away from the fitting that sits in the corner of the sump as I don't want it rotting away. The sump is clean dry and corrosion free apart from this stanchion in the corner.

I wondered if making a fibreglass liner might be the way to go?

[sailingdog]

You should just glass in a small dam, to keep the water away from the stanchion. It's a lot less work than making a complete fiberglass liner, and just as effective... provided the sump is fiberglass.