my (miniscule) kingdom for a shower

[jbarros]

Hi all,

So, I need a shower. A below decks shower, with hot water no less. (I''m spoilt by life on land. leave me alone!)

I''m pretty confident about setting up my own heat extanger or water heater, but I''m less sure about setting up a... headroom? to act as a shower like some of the newer boats do. Is is "simlpy" a matter of setting up proper dranage, a catch benieth and a through-hull, or... what does it take to retrofit a boat that doesnt have one to take a shower? should I give up and blow $55,000 on a catalina 270? talk to me.

Thanks.

-- James

[WHOOSH]

James, I notice no one is helping you get that damn shower installed!

A ''real'' system has a lot of pieces, most of them add-ons for a smaller boat...so I''m wondering if you might not want to consider a simplier system (Sun Shower or pressurized container into which you pour the hot water)?

A few tips after helping a friend install his new system:
1. Fawcetts (and other retailers) offers a small 3 gal. stainless hot water heater (either AC or engine/AC heated)
2. Try to see if you can use a ''package'' shower sump (the WM catalog has several) as it simplifies the collection and pump out logisitcs. The problem in using these in smaller boats is that there''s usually not much space under the spot where you''re showering, so you may need to snake a line from the shower grate on which you stand to the sump. (Don''t be tempted to drain the shower into the bilge. Ugh. Becomes a 7th Grade Science Fair project...)
3. A thru-hull isn''t necessary if you can ''T'' into a wash basin drain line. You''ll need a shut-off valve or perhaps an anti-siphon valve in that discharge line, tho''.
4. You''ll need a pressure system to deliver the shower water; if you don''t have one, it can get quite complicated all by itself.

Like I was saying, how about a simplier system? <g>

Jack

[halyardz]

If its a tough retrofit, don''t expect to get the money back when you sell. And if you are going to consider 55k for a Catalina 270, better do some more homework. My 1980 Tartan 33 came with a shower, hot/cold pressure water and loads of space and it was thousands less.

[jbarros]

Well, I''m not realy considering a new boat, as in the 15 years of financing the boat, I wouldnt be able to do any "real" sailing. The reason this came up though is the Catalina 27''s from the 70''s are about 6-7,000 and other than the shower seem to meet all my needs.

If I do buy a boat (or motorcycle, or car, or.....) I never expect to get my money back when I sell it, because I seldom buy to sell or as an economic decision, but rather because I''m looking to get something to use indefinatley, that I''ll probibly keep for a very long time. (I''m poor, I dont get to upgrade much ) But I will check out the Tartan. You guys know of any other boats that have showers, hot water, and room service standard and/or are a reletivley easy retrofit? and sail well? and are reletivley inexpensive? and.... yhea.

(ok, I''ll deal without the room service)

Thanks agian.

-- James