Sink and Shower Drainage

[erict]

PO showered in the boat but without a sump or drain pan water simply ran into the bilge and eventually pumped out. This created obvious sanitary issues as well as clogging the pump and float switch.

There's very little room beneath the sole but I'll figure out how to add a pan and dedicated shower pump. For shower drainage, is it okay to T into the sink drain? Sink drain has its own dedicated thru hull below the water line. I realize I'd need a loop vented well above the highest point of heel or perhaps a check valve. Seacock is kept closed when I'm not on the boat.

[Matt sachs]

I'm planning to put all the gray water into a common sump and pump it all out above the water line. Extra holes in the hull underwater seem so.........scary.

[erict]

The hole is already there. In fact, I'm about to haul the boat to add a backing plate and replace the seacock.

[AnchorageGuy]

Not a problem taping into the sink drain thru-hull. Just keep it as close as possible to the thru-hull. Chuck

[sailorboy1]

if you tap into the sink drain don't use a high capacity pump!

but why wouldn't you install a new outlet above the water line, can do this even with the boat in the water

[erict]

If there's not a fundamental issue with shower and sink discharges sharing a thru hull then I'd prefer to avoid adding yet another hole in the boat.

[DRS]

The issue will be if the thru hull does not have the capcity to handle the flow from your shower sump pump it will back up the sink drain and over flow the sink.

You don't want to know how I know this

[erict]

I see how that would be a problem. If I set the pump to cycle on relatively quickly then regardless of the pump capacity (within reason) the volume of water won't be enough to overflow the sink.

[Pato]

Or you could use one of those sink plugs that twist and lock no more water coming up the drain

[DeepFrz]

Just make sure the sea cock is open when you turn on the pump...

[Viking Sailor]

Have you consider T'ing into the bilge pump discharge line. The bilge discharge should be above the waterline. To keep the bilge dry the bilge pump should have a check valve of some type. This valve will keep the shower water from flowing into the bilge.

[osirissail]

The sink drain line is probably the closest and easiest to tap into. Just try to "Tee" into it as low as possible from the sink. I seriously doubt that the volume of water from a shower will overwhelm the sink drain and tapping into it low gives you a vertical "head" to alleviate shower water from backing up into the sink.
- - And the other way around - ensure you have a check valve or something in the shower drain package to prevent sink drain water from backing into the shower.

[zeehag]

my ericson has shower into bilge--i found if i used a lil vinegar or even bilge soap there was no smell..i diluted the soap and flushed with fresh water once after each shower. kept bilges clean and fresh.
worked great. i have a sump in this formosa and i flush with vinegar mebbe about once per month for cleanliness.
is amazing what a lil follow up to showering does in the old system of no sump......

[Cheechako]

On my 30 footer The shower was just routed to the bilge. I had a trap to pickup any debris and it worked quite well. In fact the detergent helped keep the bilge clean! No pump, no issues.

[osirissail]

If somebody has long hair and likes to keep it "glorious" then invariably there will be a lot of hair working its way down the shower drain. Unless there is a shower box or trap for such stuff, you may be jeopardizing your main bilge pumps. Not a good idea.