Shower cubicle

[Rustic Charm]

Hi all,
I'm starting a new thread on this because I simply can't find the answers I need in amongst the thousands that pop up when I search 'shower'.

I'm looking this year at installing a shower. For heating I'm looking at using a grind system off my engine, which means when we want a shower we run the engine, but that's okay as I have a 170 ltr fuel tank.

The Head is small but it's the only place I can install one and to do that I'm going to have to water proof the Head area. I'm thinking of a shower where you sit on the head and then use a hand shower rose, similar to an above deck system.

I currently have two 100 Ltr water tanks but planning on installing a third this year in the front of the boat which I suspect will be at least 200 litres more giving me a total of 400 litres.

Question:
1. how much water can I expect to use per shower?
2. does it work to make the 'head' cubicle out of marine ply and then fibreglass over it to make it secure?
3. how well do the little shower sumps with the rule pump work? Are there any problems with these little sumps?
4. I'll also be installing a Vetus waste water tank on the wall above the head which will then freefall to the waste seacock below. Can I tap the waste from the shower sump into this tank? Does anyone forsee any problems in doing this?
5. My vessel was not design origionaly to carry 400 litres of water. (Didn't seem to have any origional water tank which is odd) It's operated fine with the 200 litres I've introduced. Does anyone think there would be a problem with weight, if I add another 200 litres?
6. Anyone have any experience with the marine Grind HW system?

Regards Ted.

[Rustic Charm]

Well, looks like I won't get a lot of help with this. :-(

[senormechanico]

How much water to use in a shower depends on how much water you want to save.
Some people think a typical land shower is a half hour with hot water running the whole time, and a long one is for an hour !

It's like saying how long is a piece of string?

Our boat has a hand held shower/sink faucet and originally came with a shower sump which contained a tiny Rule centrifugal bilge pump.
It was hard to clean around that pump so I ditched it and installed a remote mounted rubber vaned pump.

We have a teak lined head/shower/vanity compartment with a shower curtain on a rectangular(ish) track on the overhead.
I installed magnets in the curtain at the points where it matches the compartments corners.
This gives us more standing room as the curtain hangs away from the bulkheads instead of straight down from the track.
It's still a pain to wipe down the deck, head etc, but that's part of boating.

Since the boat has a swimstep mounted hot and cold pressure water shower system, we're in the process of making up a quick mount black ripstop nylon curtain which mounts to the underside of the solar panel arch and the aft end of the boom.
When done, I'll post a pic.

BTW, we hold 26 gallons of water and love our Spectra watermaker.

[SVNeko]

FWIW, we have a FRP shower pan set into a floor of plastic veneer covered plywood. The pan is fine but leaks at the seam caused the plywood to rot away. Big job to replace. In a shower, the fewer seams the better. We have that Rule sump box and it works OK, but have to clean it frequently and replace the float switch about once a year. Would prefer the whale grey water box, but we can't fit it without surgery.

[Cheechako]

I'm guessing my typical cruising shower is about 2-3 gallons max. But as said,it's all up to you. I dont think 400 litres is to much for a 35 ft boat. it's getting up there though.

[Hartleycruiser]

We have a strainer and a diaphram pump to pump out our shower . Works well get a lot of hair in the strainer but it saves it going through the pump. We have no grey water holding tank .

[aclmck]

i use around 6-8 litres max for a hot water shower, 3-5 for cool water, wife you can double this amount. we have 350 litres and go for 6-7 days without the worry of running out much longer if we both conserve but 22 days is about it.