When You Simply Cannot See the Obvious

I’ve been hard at work in the bathroom and what I’ve done has been going slowly, but well.

There is one problem that I’ve spent hours and hours thinking about, trying to solve it in the best way.

In the original, Island Girl had a flat shower pan, water lines for the shower running around the perimeter, and the shower head mounted on the bulkhead to the left in the picture above.

The new bulkheads are slightly wider than the old and there will be a small cabinet on the right, between the rear bulkhead and the bed in an area that used to be a narrow strip of tile.  I’d very much like to route the water lines in a cleaner appearing way than just screwed to the wall as they were.  I want the wet bath to function well as a shower and be easy to clean.

There will be a new laminated piece going around the curved door opening and I’d thought I might make that piece wide enough to hide the water line routing inside it.  Complicated, but it would work and keep the clean appearance.

Usually, when I’m struggling with how to execute an idea, I ask my friend Dusty for advice.  He drove over today while Pam and I were at the trailer and he took a look at what I’d planned.  I don’t think he had any real reason to be there except that I had asked for help earlier in the day back on the boat.  Didn’t take him long to ask me why the shower had to be mounted on the side bulkhead as original instead of the rear bulkhead.  Clearly there was no reason.  Using the rear bulkhead the water lines and shower mixing valve could easily be hidden in the new cabinet next to the bed.

He’s exactly right and it’s a much better way to do it:  simple, shorter water run and keeps the water lines and fittings away from a space that will later house the computer.  Good friends are good to have.

Why couldn’t I see this on my own?

-steve

The Bathroom Begins

The trailer originally had no holding tanks.  Not many changes in the space except for the addition of the holding tank, but I really want it to function well as a wet bath.

That’s the way the shower pan looked when I took it out in the gutting process.  I’ve decided to reuse it, just shortening to fit the new space and a bit of polishing.

New bulkheads are rough cut, the tank is in place, and the shower pan is smaller.  I’ll be using white FRP panels on the inside of the bulkheads and the aluminum will be painted white.

5/8’s ply will sit on top of the tank and 1/2” King Starboard will form the visible surface.

I’ve seen Starboard, but have never used it.  It works like wood, cuts easily, and can be fastened with screws.  It should give me a nice waterproof surface that will be easy to keep clean.

This Perko marine scupper drain (used to drain the cockpit on a boat) is the shower drain fitting.  It has a simple check valve in it, just a floating rubber ball.  It’ll use marine sanitation hose to form a P trap before running forward to the gray tank.  I’ve also dished out the subfloor surface around the drain to encourage the shower pan to drain.

Last post of the year and nearly two years into the project.  Hard to believe it’s been that long, but there’s clearly light at the end of the tunnel now.

-steve

Finishing the Black Tank

I don’t know how many hours the tank has taken, not a lot.  But it’s been one of those jobs that takes small parts of many days:  a layup that takes just a few minutes, an overnight cure, and another layup and cure.

I inset the drain fitting and laid up several plies of cloth over it.  Hate it when I do these things:  put the tank in place and considered where to put the drain, took everything into consideration except the fact that Airstream made these trailers with frames, and of course, dead centered the frame rail with the drain.  Easy fix, I’ve admitted it, and no longer have to explain the patch you’ll see in some of the upcoming pictures.

Fittings got installed in the top along with a couple of thin wooden stiffeners glassed in.

Next, 1x2’s were bonded and glassed in to form a mounting flange for the tank top.

And this is all that was left of the 10 yards of cloth I had ordered, positive I’d have plenty.  The roll on the right in the picture is the additional 5 yards I had to get.

I used a marine sealant to mount the cleanout fitting.  The nozzle will sit under the bed and connect to the fitting I installed on the outside in an earlier post.

The tank top was bonded to the bottom with thickened epoxy and attached with some temporary screws.

Finally, today I removed those screws, trued and rounded the outside edge slightly and finished the job with a two ply layup just over the seam.  Peel ply comes off tomorrow after cure and the tank is done.

-steve 

Continuing with the Black Tank

Cold weather has been slowing progress down quite a bit.  Most days I have Pam with me, so we do the ten minute drive to the trailer to turn the heat on and then do something else for an hour or so to let it heat up.  I like to get her off the boat for awhile most days, but she is now in a wheelchair mostly and everything takes much more time.

After glassing the inside, I turned the tank over, filled the holes used in wiring it together, and rounded the edges with a belt sander.  Today I glassed the outside with 3 plies of cloth overall and a couple more where the drain fitting will go.

When the third layer was wetted out, I put a two inch strip of dacron peel ply on the edge.  Peel ply saves a lot of work.  It’ll pull off when cured, leaving a nice surface that won’t need sanding to prepare for the layup to fasten the top of the tank.

Tomorrow I’ll trim the edges and maybe get started on the top and the drain fitting.

I ordered a few laminate samples for the galley counter top and everyone who has seen them has picked this one.  I think I have too.  Water heater and toilet have now arrived as well.

-steve

It is Cold in Western Washington

 

 

And it’s supposed to get colder before it gets warmer.  I kept my epoxy on the boat last night to keep it warm and it took quite awhile for the trailer to warm up this morning.  Got some epoxy and fiberglass work done though.

I’ve got a day for the trailer again tomorrow so hopefully I can get a little more done.  Tuesday looks very cold so trailer work is probably out.

-steve

A Stitch and Glue Black Tank

I'm using stitch and glue to fabricate the black tank which will sit above the subfloor in the rear curbside bath. It should be a good technique for the tank, especially as it's easy to shape it to fit the Airstream curve. Materials will be a 1/4" plywood core, epoxy, filler and fiberglass cloth. The tank will extend through the bathroom bulkhead and under the bed so the little cleanout sprayer fitting can be hidden.




Yesterday I got the plywood pieces cut out and glued the first layer of 1/8" Baltic birch into a rabbet cut into the 1/4" plywood. The birch will let me make the curve on the sides of the tank. Today the bottom and sides were wired together to hold them in place temporarily for the epoxy.





We've got light snow and cold here for the next few days, so I may not get too far with this until it warms up a bit. The trailer heater warms it up just fine, but I can't keep it on unless we're there, so it really gets cold soaked.  It has to be warm for Pam, so we went to the trailer, turned on the heat, and then ran errands for awhile to let it get warm.  Pam is quite frail now and isn’t walking well, so it’s getting much harder to get out with her.  Worth it, though, as she thought those snow flakes falling today were pretty cool.

-steve

I Have to do Plumbing Pretty Soon

I know I can do it—the system is pretty simple, but I just don’t like plumbing.  But, cabinets are going back in and I know it’ll be much easier to make plumbing runs while those cabinets can still be moved.

So this marks the official beginning of plumbing, still probably to be delayed as much as I can.  The streetside rear corner was originally the outlet for the power cord, but all that stuff is in front now.  I’m using the hole to plumb a cleanout sprayer for the blackwater tank.  The inlet is a Perko marine city water hookup and chrome plated bronze, very nice quality.  I’ll use another one later for the trailer’s city water hookup.

The black tank will sit on top of the subfloor in the rear curbside location of the bath.  I’ll be fabricating the tank using epoxy and fiberglass cloth with stitch and glue techniques.  I’ll start on the tank soon.

Meanwhile refinishing is ongoing with the original bed frame and its nice curved corner the current work in progress.

-steve