H-33.5 Shower Drain & Sump

[Dick Carey]

I am planning on changing the way that the H-33.5 (1990) shower drain just drains into the bilge. I want to put in a drain with a hose connected to it and run that to a Shower Sump Pump (Attwood or West Marine) and then run it to a thru hull (probably thru galley sink drain thru hull) with a Y fitting (and probably a check valve the the sump discharge line).Question. Have any of you done this? Probably you have. What did you use for the drain & hose connection? Was it a drain with a 90 degree elbow? The hole where the drain plate is fastened is pretty convoluted. I was looking at the Scandvik drain w/ 90 degree elbow but now doubt that it will fit.Any suggestions?ThanksDick Carey1990 H-33.5S/V PuffinPortsmouth, RI

 

[Steve O.]

never did it, but

What's the difference whether the shower drains into a sump or a bilge? Isn't the bilge just another name for a sump? On my 1988 33.5 the shower drain hose empties into the bilge. I don't use my shower very often, so maybe I'm missing something here.

 

[Rick Sylvester]

Smell !

Steve, unlike your bilge, a shower sump is enclosed because all those organisms from the shower water get together, have a party and get pretty rank after a couple days.

 

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

Bilges should be kept as dry as possible

A wet bilge is a dark stagnant pond, a swamp in fact. And it behaves like one, growing a variety of molds, fungi and bacteria—some that thrive in dark stagnant water, others that just like damp dark places. The warmer the weather and water, the faster they grow.Humidity, rain, wash water and stuffing boxes make it hard enough to keep bilges dry. Add drainage from an ice box, air conditioning condensate, and the soap scum, sweat, body oils etc in shower water to what may already be growing in it--dead and decaying sea water micro-organisms, dirt, food particles, a little oil or diesel--and you have a primordial soup that smells like a swamp or even a sewer. You'd be amazed at the number of calls I get from people who've torn out their entire sanitation system trying to get rid of the odor...when all they really needed to do was THOROUGHLY clean their bilge.I suppose you could consider a bilge to be nothing more than sump...but it's a very large one that has a lot of places where water can get trapped and stagnate. The more you can contain and isolate in a small box (sump), the better, 'cuz sumps are lot easier to keep clean than an entire bilge.

 

[Merrill Mant]

Fixed the problem once and for all!

I went the route that you are planning and after spending and entire day comleting the instalation of the "Sump Pump" enclosed in a plastic box, the end result was that the box filled up 1/2 full before the pump kicked in then was not able to keep up with the flow from the shower. End result was that the sump overflowed into the bilge! My permanent solution although not the least expensive was to install between the holding tank and the hull a new Whale Gusher pump. There is a switch from the pump installed in the shower and I connected the old drain to the new pump and then installed a new overboard discharge with a non return valve, right beside the bilge pump discharge. This was easy as the access in the head and under the sette is perfect. We use our shower regularly all season and the Whale pump does not mind running dry ... problem nicely solved!I have some pictures of the installation if you are interested, email me directly.MerrillAmbition 1992 33.5