Forward shower alterations

[Bogart]

Hi all
My wife and I have been living onboard for more than 8 years and can count on one hand the number of times our forward shower has been used by guests. It's just too small to be really practical. So, we are thinking of an alteration to put in a work bench and shelves/storage boxes in the area of the shower, but still be able to use the toilet. Without ripping apart the whole thing, we are considering cutting down the shower screen to provide a base for the bench. I'm wondering what might be the best tool for cutting the shower screen. Does anyone have any ideas?
Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

If you can throw in a bunch of pictures from every angle, I'm sure we can provide a few suggestions.

 

[Tally Ho]

What is it made of? Plexi?

 

[marcham]

What cutting tools do you have onboard?

 

[Bogart]

Here are a couple of photos of the shower screen. Not sure how much they will help identifying the material from which the screen is made.

In terms of tools, marcham, I have access to a good workshop with angle grinder, circular saw, jigsaw. Thinking that if I put a metal cutting blade in the jigsaw it might work.

Over to you.

 

[artboas]

Here are a couple of photos of the shower screen. Not sure how much they will help identifying the material from which the screen is made.

In terms of tools, marcham, I have access to a good workshop with angle grinder, circular saw, jigsaw. Thinking that if I put a metal cutting blade in the jigsaw it might work.

Over to you.

View attachment 234296

View attachment 234297

This is acrylic
Use a small circular saw with a fine tooth blade.
Watch your cutting speeds & forces, or you’ll melt the plastic
Other options are a fein oscillating tool, but the line won’t be as straight as a circular saw

 

[Boiler]

May want to try an oscillating tool. They to not tend to over heat the material you are cutting and they are easy to control. They also have a wide variety of blades.

 

[Bogart]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. At the end of the day we decided to remove the shower screen entirely. A couple of cuts (using an oscillating tool) in strategic places and we were able to remove it, after removing the headliner piece and the seat/shelf moulding in the shower recess. We discovered that the screen was actually attached to the hull on both the forward and aft sides with a right angle bracket, at about waist height. (See attached photo) We were not able to remove the hull lining mould behind the toilet, so had to cut a small hole in that in order to access the screws holding the screen to the bracket on the aft side. Sorry, I didn't take any further photos during the demolition phase, but I'll post some photos during the reconstruction phase. Attached is also a photo of the space with the screen and liners removed.

Cheers and happy sailing.