Shower?

Posts about the Galley and Head systems, including plumbing, water, and propane
drsm
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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Shower?

Post by drsm »

Dan wrote:Mine has the drain, as do almost all of the boats, but mine is actually connected to the head. Mine doesn't have the floor dam for the shower sump though, since that was a modification that went along with the longer centerboard IIRC.
Mine has the floor drain connected by a three way valve to the pump for the head, then out the through-hull. I can empty either the head or the sump depending on how the valve is turned. It doesn't fill the head. That is controlled by another valve which allows either fresh water from the sink or lake/sea water to be used to fill the head.

Steve
Dan

Shower?

Post by Dan »

One thing I would recommend is putting a water strainer, like one you’d find on a bilge pump or washdown pump, into the line for the head. This will prevent debris from the shower or from the raw water side from entering the head and possibly damaging the seals on the pump. West Marine has one that is about $11 or so.
drsm wrote:Mine has the floor drain connected by a three way valve to the pump for the head, then out the through-hull. I can empty either the head or the sump depending on how the valve is turned. It doesn't fill the head. That is controlled by another valve which allows either fresh water from the sink or lake/sea water to be used to fill the head.

Steve
luigisante
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Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:19 pm
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Shower?

Post by luigisante »

This is very interesting because, when I was replacing the floor in the forward compartment of my Mark 1 Telstar, I made the floor out of a marine ply base with glass and west epoxt on top, covered with a barrier coat. I also included a small drain at the lowest corner and a hose to lead into the bilge. ALthough I have not finished it yet, I am planning to put a small Rule 800 bilge pump in the bilge just below the drain hose from the head floor and a filter to catch hair, etc., on the end of the drain hose. The shower would be a 5 gallon gravity fed sun shower (I have used them for years while beach cat racing and they provide plenty of warm water on even marginally sunny days and on a cloudy day, you can fill them with heated water from the stove). Violla - a shower!

If I ever get my boat in the water again, I'll let you know how it works out.
Don
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Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:17 am
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Shower?

Post by Don »

Greetings , I am the new owner of hull 309. It is a joy to sail but I am glad to find a forum such as this. I have the shower drain as well and a" y" shaped valve on the bulkhead where the commode is. the hoses for this disappear into the hull . my issue is that when i pump the head to flush i am getting water ( and possibly other goodies :shock: ) up through the shower drain. do I have the valves set right? Any help? thanks in advance' Don
gsbpel
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Shower?

Post by gsbpel »

I don't think you can get the other goodies back to the shower drain unless you have the valves set wrong and the check valve / dry flush lever set wrong. When I have the valves set correctly I can drain the shower water to the waste tank or ovbd. The best way to really understand the system is to remove the front twist cover and trace the hoses with fresh water that has food coloring mixed in. The plumbing on 369 has a valve that is not included in the manual that I received with the boat. That is the reason for food coloring. You can experiment with valve setting and then label the valves and positions for the function you require.
Don
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Shower?

Post by Don »

Thanks for the reply. I figured the valves were maladjusted as there was more than one person trying to adjust things .... at any rate it sounds as if you have the grey Y valve I have. What is the default or off position? the food coloring idea sounds do-able. I did re-look and one of the hoses from the Y valve goes to the valve that directs the flush water to the head...so i guess that if adjusted correctly the flush can be used to draw water from the shower drain eh?
Dan

Shower?

Post by Dan »

On many of the Telstar 28's there are several diverter valves.

The first is a three-position valve under the head sink and determines whether the sink drains overboard (handle in the outboard position) or to the head intake system (handle in-board). If the handle is straight up, the sink drain is effectively closed. A similar three-position valve is used as the seacock for the raw-water intake for the head. IIRC, with the handle to port, the head flushes with sea water. With the handle centered, parallel to the hose, it is effectively closed, and with the handle to starboard, the head flushes with grey water—either from the sink or the shower drain. There is a diverter valve in the 1/2" hose that selects whether the "fresh water" flush is from the shower or the sink.

Then there is normally large 1-1/2" diverter valve that determines whether the head pumps into the holding tank or overboard, through the large seacock.

On my boat, the head flushes directly into the holding tank. I moved the large diverter valve in to the pumpout-fitting line and one side goes up to the deck pumpout fitting. The other goes to a Whale/Henderson Mark V diaphragm pump and to the seacock. This allows me to dump the holding tank when at sea or pump it out using a pumpout station. With the normal setup, there is nothing you can do if the holding tank is full and you do not have a pumpout facility nearby.
luigisante
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Shower?

Post by luigisante »

Dan

Where you the one that posted the link to the camping shower system? There was one that went on top of a propane stove and heated the water on demand. Pressure was provided by way of an electric pump. This looks like a nearly perfect system if it works. This way you don't have to hang a small on-demand system in the forward compartment and don't need a full pressure system to take a shower.

If it was you, could you reposet it here?

Thanks

Lou
seicam
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Shower?

Post by seicam »

Jerry,
I have one of the most recent hulls. It has a built-in shower drain that through a set of hoses and valves can be drained outside or to the holding tank (wouldn't recommend the latter). The plumbing is all part of head plumbing. The key is to label all the valves correctly, which I am planning to do this winter.

As for the source of shower there is nothing provided with the boat. When I asked about that, the recommended solution was this: http://www.hotwatersource.com/Zodi-Extr ... ble_Shower , which is similar to the solution that you described. It can be heated over the stove and has additional benefit of providing water pressure.
I do not know if anyone here has actually purchased that Zodi heater and have any practical experience with it.

HTH,
Maciek
tricruiser
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Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:43 pm
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Shower?

Post by tricruiser »

Dan wrote:On many of the Telstar 28's there are several diverter valves.

The first is a three-position valve under the head sink and determines whether the sink drains overboard (handle in the outboard position) or to the head intake system (handle in-board). If the handle is straight up, the sink drain is effectively closed. A similar three-position valve is used as the seacock for the raw-water intake for the head. IIRC, with the handle to port, the head flushes with sea water. With the handle centered, parallel to the hose, it is effectively closed, and with the handle to starboard, the head flushes with grey water—either from the sink or the shower drain. There is a diverter valve in the 1/2" hose that selects whether the "fresh water" flush is from the shower or the sink.

Then there is normally large 1-1/2" diverter valve that determines whether the head pumps into the holding tank or overboard, through the large seacock.

On my boat, the head flushes directly into the holding tank. I moved the large diverter valve in to the pumpout-fitting line and one side goes up to the deck pumpout fitting. The other goes to a Whale/Henderson Mark V diaphragm pump and to the seacock. This allows me to dump the holding tank when at sea or pump it out using a pumpout station. With the normal setup, there is nothing you can do if the holding tank is full and you do not have a pumpout facility nearby.
Hello Dan,

I am very interested to do this modification as I will be mostly at sea and with very few pumping stations.

Would be nice to get a sketch of the modification.
In the meantime I will try to work it out looking at the head system.
Many thanks

Tricruiser
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