Practical projects
Keith Calton puts a shower facility in his wheelhouse
A winch handle for old hands, a shower for a small boat and more
There I was, covered in soap, shampoo and shaving foam, taking a leisurely shower in a well-known south coast marina and the water stops, dead: no hot, no cold... nothing.
A closer inspection of the shower instructions (I was a bit myopic) explained that you only get six minutes worth of water for your token, mmmmm.
On with the towel and out of the shower, across to the reception area with a pound coin in hand to get another token, wet sudsy footprints there and back to show my path and a rather huffy reception person.
My boat, a Macwester Wight at 10m, would have a shower and possibly Jacuzzi if built in the last 10 years but is sadly only equipped with a rather cramped heads. First thoughts were of a shower tray in the cabin but getting the water out would entail a pump and a rather damp interior so I decided the wheelhouse/cockpit would be the best bet.
I re-made the wheelhouse about 12 years ago so there was nothing like mainsail travellers to get in the way (that’s on the roof now) so siting the shower rails partially over the companionway and out into the cockpit where it could self-drain seemed the best idea.
I made a D-shape using 20mm electrical conduit with a couple of corner sections as the basis, about 700mm wide and about 930mm long, (you’ll need about 3m in total). Design it to suit your boat. A hot air gun judiciously played on the pipe while bending around an object of suitable diameter (dustbin, chair etc.) will give you your curved D-section, but be careful as it’s easy to get it too hot and scorch it (you might want to practise first). The forward pipe clips are screwed through the head lining, and on my boat the aft clips locate near the rear lip of the wheelhouse.
To fit the shower frame to the boat just slide the ring through the aft clips until you can pop the front cross tube in place. It’s then all firmly located – you can put the shower rings and curtains on before or after this.
Having a fully canvassed cockpit and using two nylon shower curtains, one each side, provides good privacy. You can walk in from the cabin, shower, dry off and walk back into the cabin without having to step outside. And at the same time the self-draining cockpit gets a much-needed wash too!
A good tip is to trim your curtain depth to just above the floor level with the seam outside so I doesn’t retain water or get dirty or mouldy.
Pressurised water comes simply from a converted 12-litre Hozelock ex-pesticide garden pressure sprayer which can give a decent shower with one full kettle of hot water and the rest cold, but proper portable camping/ caravanning showers are available from around £20 upwards. If you re-use an old pesticide pump, be sure to clean it thoroughly (though if you don’t at least you won’t suffer from greenfly…).
You can make all of this with hand tools, though a band saw and sander will help and a hot air gun is useful.
All tubes, clips and lengths of rectangular PVC are available from DIY/Hardware stores, different makes have different tolerances which can either be a pain or really useful if you need a sliding or tight fit and mixing and matching between electrical and plumbing fixings can be helpful too.