Shower / washdown in the cockpit? Questions.

[BobM]

So now that I am moving my Chartplotter from the port side coaming aft, it leaves me with a 4 x 6 hole in the coaming. While looking for a small coaming box (most are larger than I'd like to have) I came across flush mounted deck shower boxes. Hmmm...pretty reasonable too and the one I am looking at from SSI custom plastics is still compact at about 6 x 10 inches. I am really more interested (in Boston) in its potential for washing the cockpit/deck with fresh water than as a shower. I have a pressure potable water system (only cold) so it seems like it would be an easy project and I have to put something in that hole in the coaming anyway.

Anybody install an SSI unit? How was the quality? Anyone have a cockpit shower / deck washdown and do you get much use out of it?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Mike B]

I've had a swim platform shower for several years and love it. However I have both hot and cold water. Unless it's in the 90s you wont find me showering with just cold water. FYI they do not have a lot of water pressure so if you're thinking more along the lines of a deck washdown then I'd skip on the shower system.

 

[Dean5735]

I would love to put one on mine. I would want a long hose on it, cuz I have a swim platform on mine, and would want it to reach back there. And the cockpit gets sooo dirty.

 

[Bob S]

We have used ours many times. I use it cold after swimming. Lets face it, the water in and around Boston is probably colder than the water coming from your tanks. I don't think washing down the deck is a great idea unless you plan on refilling your tanks frequently. You dock your boat, just use their water supply to do that.

 

[BobM]

Actually I am on a mooring, but could bring it up to the dock for freshwater as necessary.

 

[Bob S]

Back in the 80's I lived in Revere. I dove for deep sea clams in Winthrop. you get a little Logan traffic there!

 

[BobM]

It is like that line in the Blues Brothers. "Do the trains pass by often?" asked Jake. "So often you don't even notice" replied Elwood. They do stop by ~11pm so you can sleep.

 

[sailaway78]

Water usage

My opinion is that if you have a cockpit wash down, connected to your fresh water supply, about all you accomplish is using too much fresh water. You do not realize how much water you will use in simply rinsing out the cockpit. Nothing worse than being out for a weekend and running out of fresh water on Sat. afternoon. When at the dock, you have a hose right there, or should for a wash job. When out on the boat, I just use a bucket to rinse out the cockpit, and save fresh water for more important uses. For showers I use a black 2 galllon bug sprayer. A short time sitting in the sun and you have plenty of nice warm water for a shower.

 

[Franklin]

don't cover up the hole, patch the hole with fiberglass. It's easy to do and you will not notice there used to be a hole there.

I took out my old wheel autopilot and that left a hole. I filled it in with glass and re-coated it with gelcoat and you can't even notice there was a hole there.

 

[Prime Time]

Love the cockpit shower

We have a cockpit shower, cold water only. Its great to rinse off after swimming and general showering when we don't want to get the head steamed up. We have a T fitting after the pressure pump and a hose connected to a ball valve anchored to the fiberglass of the sail locker. We have a garden hose attachment in the cockpit. When we want to shower, we just screw in a hose in the cockpit, open the valve and turn on the pressure pump. There is enough hose coiled in the sail locker that the water is warm during the summer. The same fitting is our shore water system when at the dock, just the pressure pump is off. We have a pressure regulator at the shore connection.