Adding a shower

[moegev]

Dear Cruisers,

First of all, thank your for letting me be a part of your forum. For a long time I have wanted to sail. Circumstance and necessity have come to make it a possibility in my life.

I live in the Bay Area where rents are exorbitant. One solution is to live on a boat.

I am looking at several boats for sale in the area and that includes a Cal 33. It does not, however, have a shower.

Has anyone ever installed a shower on a such a boat? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Best,

Morris

[Suijin]

Most people who are liveaboards in urban areas live at marinas with showers and laundry, and use the marina shower even if they have one on the boat. Less to clean, less humidity, less fuss.

Adding a shower to a boat that does not have one designed in could take some work. If it has a separate head you could put a drain in the floor with a sump pump and a shower faucet off the sink.

Easiest is to add one in the cockpit where the water just drains out.

To put it in perspective I've lived aboard for six years, have a separate shower stall and a cockpit shower and I can count the times on one hand that I've used the stall. But it makes fabulous storage space.

[Franziska]

Toilet with sump in floor and pull out faucet works great for me.
Installed it and would never go back.
Installation was fairly simple.

Have lived several long summers on board and took a brief hot shower in the shower/toilet compartment almost every morning.
Hot showers are creature comfort! Especially when getting up early on a cold and rainy day in an unheated boat.
Btw. most girls do not love to shower or wash hair outside. I don't at least.

4 things to consider though.

Waterproof the interior where you want to shower and/or add a curtain.

Have enough tank capacity or means to replenish frequently.

Have enough holding tank capacity if grey water is not allowed overboard where you live.

Add good ventilation in the shower compartment to exvacuate humidity.

Good luck, Fran

[denverd0n]

Is it possible to add a shower? Sure. Would it be easier, and almost certainly less expensive in the long run, to just buy a boat that already has a shower designed in? Absolutely!

By the way, welcome to the bay area. Are you on the Tampa, or the St Petersburg side of the bay? Or perhaps you're from Australia and referring to the Port Phillip Bay area.

[roberttigar]

This kind of a project is maybe a 6 difficulty on a 1-10 scale. Think about it. The area of the head has to be realatively water tight because you are going to be spraying water everywhere.
Any cabinets must be fairly tight, bottom of door should have an overhanging lip to prevent water from running into cabin. There has to be a drain at the lowest point-simplest is to drain to the bilge and let the bilge pump remove it. Source for the shower head can be as simple as a diverter valve-avail from rv parts supply houses for under $30.
If you dont have a water heater, the job is much more involved. Bob

[Franziska]

Add a round shower curtain and you only splash against one panel.

https://static.schoener-wohnen.de/bi...leinewolke.jpg

On Lady Rover it was a reasonably simple project to convert the head to also accommodate a shower.
All depends how complicated one wants it to be.

[Cheechako]

It's all about whether the boat has a waterproof floor in the head. If it does and comes up 3" or so all you need is a shower curtain.
-Plumb in a shower head to the water system.
-Does it have a hot water tank?
-Drain the floor/sump: This may be the toughest part, you need room to add an elbow drain fitting to the floor to hook a pump up to to take the water out.