Today: Outfitting and Testing the Shower.
There are lots of choices for shower heads and hoses, from cheap to pricey! Well you know me, I like cheap.
So when I couldn't find anything in my coffee cans that would work, I went and spent too much money. But not as much as I could have!
Our first obstacle is the fact that the laundry wall faucet incorporates a garden hose threaded spout, as opposed to the half inch male pipe thread (MPT) found on typical RV shower hoses, not to mention home shower head connections. And that fact set me to wandering the bathroom fixtures and repairs aisle at the home center.
Our second consideration is the easy removal and minimal space stowage of said head and hose, and of course whatever we chose needed the on/off switching capability for the head itself.
Another thing is we didn't want the stiff plastic hose - the flexible metal hose was preferred. We bought a 48" washing machine hose (shorter than the typical 5' hoses for hand-held shower head).
I've always felt there's always the RV store for when needed, but if you can find another thing to play with - well.... what else is life for?
Here's what we ended up with.
That included this little shower head.
And these hose ends, which required this brass adapter from garden hose to 1/2" MPT.
The hose and head stores here in the bathroom closet across the hall from the bath. Along with rolls of toilet paper.
That's actually six rolls hanging out in here. Depending on length of trip, we don't need to buy along the way. But if we did, a four roll package can be stowed easily anytime you get down to two rolls or less.
For our purposes, when you use the toilet, you take paper with you. I don't think storing TP in wet baths works very well.
This is a grounding clamp for connecting a home ground wire (for various purposes) to your cold water pipe, or a grounding rod.
I bought two and changed out screws.
Then clamped them in an appropriate spot of the angled copper pipes, so as to hang a bathroom bag or kit.
Then when not in use, the bathroom kits can be stored back in the dinette overhead cabs, where we will locate our individual "personal storage": clothes, towels, sheets, bath kits, etc.
For the last sealing item, I put butyl on the counter hole plug and secured it in place.
DW finished shortening the shower curtain, and I took a shower.
I forgot to take pictures.
There were some problems, and I made some mistakes. First the problems.
The basin rim leaked. The weak plastic clip method of tightening the new style (meaning cheap) plastic basin rim tight to the counter (and into plastic screw holes), prevent a secure install using butyl (which is harder to compress than is... oh - say silicon).
Water down through the propane cabinet and out the drain hole onto the concrete floor.
So the next day, I resealed that sink and the center hole plug using an interior/exterior use bathroom caulking (because I had it on hand). I may need to redo it using an adhesive, but it was fairly easy to do, and we'll deal with any more leaks, without further testing right now.
Another problem; the cloth type shower curtain. When receiving a direct stream of water spray, it leaked through and onto the bath door, then down onto the floor outside the bath door. We are replacing it with a different fabric DW has on hand made for thin, compact-able, and highly water resistant (beads off really good). If that fails, we'll simply buy and cut to size, a standard plastic shower curtain.
Now for the mistakes. I left the shower mats in place. You don't need that. Don't want it. Just one more thing to dry, after getting it wet.
Also, I sat on the toilet (lid). Of course that gets it wet, and so you have to dry it later. Good way to keep the exterior of it washed I guess, but tight conditions in this position prevent easy cleaning and drying.
In future, we'll remove the mats and the toilet, making it not only unnecessary to later dry off the toilet, but makes the toilet available in the main aisle of the camper for whoever ISN'T showering in the moment.
In place of the toilet, we'll use this shower chair we've had on hand since getting it originally for when my Mother would visit. With the back removed, it disassembles, and will easily stow in the wheel wells.
We found extending the legs to about half way worked well for our height and size.
But being adjustable is an added cool feature. For example, DW says sometimes after a hike or whatever, she just wants to wash her feet. "Like this", she says.
When not in use, one wingnut (plastic and stainless) is removed...
And compacts to this. We'll have to watch that wing-stud and not damage it in storage.
So that was interesting.
I also discovered a couple leaks around the right side drain connections (and top p-trap clamp) of the galley sink, whereas NO leaks in similar spots of the left side galley sink. The leaks didn't improve as readily as you'd expect with rubber seals. I have to watch it now but it seems fixed for the moment.
Another leak discovered was at the top water fill connection on the gravity fill hose where it connects to the fresh water tank's barbed fitting. Maybe most people are probably just doing something wrong, but I've have been totally disgusted with this type of hose and it's FREQUENT leaking I've experience or seen others talk about. I believe it's a failed product, and now I need to decide how I'm going to do it another way. Glad we're still in the garage. More work to do.
(Fixed
here, under the Fresh Water Chapter.)
{Edit - 2/20/18} This completes Bathroom Remodel.
