How Would You Build a New Shower?

[cruisersfarm]

How would you build a very lightweight shower in an empty hull without...

1) Using epoxy other than to coat wood
2) Sanding

Ideas? Do they make really lightweight tiles or plastic tiles?

[estarzinger]

Well if you really want light weight you start with (in order of weight):

1. Showering in the cockpit, or over the galley sink in really cold weather.
2. Using just shower curtains
3. Using pre-made honeycomb cored panels with glass or Formica skins.

I guess #3 is what you think you are looking for.
But I would suggest that #1 is perhaps more realistic than you might guess.

[Sandero]

Shiva doesn't have a shower per se... it has a grate and below it a GRP pan with a drain and the gray water is pumped overboard. The head IS the shower... and the shower head is a the sink faucet which is a hand shower.. One faucet... double duty... with/ shut off so you don't waste water by maintain temp.

See the red ball? It's the shower pump switch.

Grates come off for cleaning shower pan... and grates.

You can sit on the head if you want to shower in a sea way.

Weight of shower? Nothing!

[newhaul]

Start with this Little Giant Poly Stock Tank at Blain's Farm & Fleet
Next you need a shower hose that hooks on the fawcett like this unit
https://m.bedbathandbeyond.com/m/pro...FUiBfgodDlYDvA
Last a hoop of small PVC tubing to hang shower curtain from
The best part is it is portable

[rbyham]

My shower hose also runs off of the faucet so 1 for 2 on that. I have one of those spring loaded rods that holds the shower curtain up to cover the sink/cabinet/drawers area when showering.

I am considering changing the hose out to one of those sprayer things like on kitchen sinks so that it stops spraying as soon as you lift your thumb. So a shower would be... thumb to wet down... release to stop flow... soap up and then thumb again to rinse.

[cruisersfarm]

I'm sorry.

It's hard to get all the details in sometimes.

This is an area designated as a shower stall. It is empty. There is no sink, no plumbing, no vanity, no floor, no shower pan, no walls.

It's just an empty space in a fiberglass hull without anything there.

I need to build the entire thing from scratch. Also, it can't be "use a pump sprayer", "dive in the ocean", etc.

I need to build a real shower a wife would want to use. It will make my life much, much happier if she has a real shower.

Specifically, what materials and construction techniques would you use to do this in a very lightweight way, using no or very little epoxy and no sanding? I have epoxy sensitivity and don't enjoy sanding.

I think the prefinished honeycomb panels came closest.

I'm open to buying whatever it takes. Not on a strict budget.

I prefer not to build a shower and use a washcloth with water heated on the stove. This isn't for me though. It's a minimum female requirement.

Thanks!

[cruisersfarm]

There are also several types of approaches:

1) Buy a fiberglass shower pan/floor. Downside is it requires substantial wooden framing

2) "Wet room" type showers and the standard material from Lowes/home depoit. These need tiles. They are by far the best looking, which is desirable, but standard tiles are heavy. Can you tile with basically anything or do they make very lightweight tiles from various materials?

Build it all from glass/epoxy/sanding. Too much work. Would rather spend money.

[Hoosiersailor]

If you are trying to build something waterproof in a boat, don't enjoy (or at least tolerate sanding), have an epoxy allergy and don't have a strict frugal budget, then hire someone to do it for you.

[newhaul]

The budget part I didn't understand prior to now so with the requirements you have now given I would recommend hireing me to or another shipwright to do the job with the correct parts and materials.

[cruisersfarm]

Ok. Will explore the option of hiring it out in addition to other ideas about materials and approaches.

My hope was there was a simple way, as there is for home showers.

The "right way" is foam cored panels, glass/epoxy sanded down and sprayed with lpu.

After years of dealing with that stuff, I'm done.

If there is anyone in miami that can work efficiently and reliably for a reasonable rate, PM me to discuss.

The idea of the thread was to look at premade/prefab components or tiling, which actually look better than your standard, boring fiberglass shell.

[newhaul]

There is always terrazzo looks good on floor of shower and can be applied directly on a wood ( 1/2 inch ply works great) base. Also it looks great and is almost effortless to keep clean and maintain

[zeehag]

first , install 900000 gallon water tank.
somewhere.
then put the shower in. you will need a lot of water to assuage a landlubbing person into wanting to shower on a boat.
i do because i LIKE it. if someone, aka wife, not likee boat, you will NEVER assuage her without FULL land attached benefits.
if she LIKES the boat, it is a lot easier.
good luck.

[cruisersfarm]

Originally Posted by zeehag

first , install 900000 gallon water tank.
somewhere.
then put the shower in. you will need a lot of water to assuage a landlubbing person into wanting to shower on a boat.
i do because i LIKE it. if someone, aka wife, not likee boat, you will NEVER assuage her without FULL land attached benefits.
if she LIKES the boat, it is a lot easier.
good luck.

W-A-T-E-R-M-A-K-E-R

(and rain catchment)

[cruisersfarm]

Originally Posted by newhaul

There is always terrazzo looks good on floor of shower and can be applied directly on a wood ( 1/2 inch ply works great) base. Also it looks great and is almost effortless to keep clean and maintain

Very nice!
This is what I was hoping for. Thank you.

I have never heard of terazzo or many other products that apply.

I'll check this out. That's a nice finish and could be done lightweight, possibly.

[newhaul]

Terrazzo uses chips of marble and other stone . The chips are the basic size of real course sand in a polyester or epoxy resin and applied just like a thin layer of cement . ( I installed the stuff for steigerwald shipbuilding back in the day) you just mix it up and trowel it on a bit of chicken wire and you can go up the walls for a sash guard as well. ( comes in a wide variety of colors)