What kind of shower/tub sump system do you have?

hmason said:

Thread drift alarm, but this seems appropriate:

About 6 months ago while shopping at Lowes I discovered "Method Daily Shower Spray Cleaner." After showering you spray the wet shower walls and floor with the cleaner and walk away. The shower(s) have remained spotless with no further cleaning necessary. The boss and I are amazed.

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Yeah, been using that stuff for years. Works great. It's become standard issue for the crew shower on any boat I run. We try to get the owners and guest to use it as well.

Another product that works great both on shower doors and clean, polished exterior windows is this stuff:

EnduroShield, Glass Treatment Kit with 2 oz. Coating and 4.2 oz. Cleaner for Glass Showers, ESGL020D at The Home Depot - Mobile

Works better than Rain-X and lasts far longer.

swampu said:

Do you have to catch the grey water and then pump or can you just let it go overboard

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On our boat and most that I know of, the black water is captured and the gray water gets pumped (or drains via gravity) overboard.

Ken

Our boat was equipped with a Flojet shower drain pump that failed to pump. It would run, but not pump. I took it apart and found some hair inside, but could not determine if it was functional.

I thought I would not "re-invent the wheel" and ordered another Flojet shower drain pump. Exact replacement. Within 10 showers it failed...it would run but not pump.

I called and spoke to a representative at Flojet. He told me that it would not handle the type of debris one could expect to go down a boat shower drain (e.g. hair, lint). I wasted money on that Flojet shower drain pump.

Vacation was fast approaching and the Admiral put the shower drain on the top of my worklist. After some discussions with knowledgeable boaters, we decided on a standard off-the-shelf sump and pump from West Marine. We have used this thing for at least 50 showers and it works as advertised. I will take the cover off and clean it this spring. It is in the engine space, so we can live with some odor if it goes in that direction as it ages.

Good Luck

Our boat had a shower sump in the floor of the shower. In the sump is that standard Rule bilge pump and float switch. I seemed to replace a switch or a pump every 6-8 months, so I removed the sump in my shower and installed a Whale Gray IC. It is a diaphragm pump and a collection cup with an integrated switch. It has run for over 4 yrs now with almost no maintenance ( cleaned the cup twice). I am planning now to upgrade the wife's shower. The shower floor is dry when not in use as a shower.

Whale Marine - Products

Yes, those whale gulper diaphragm type pumps that can run dry and pump out anything a shower is likely to throw at it does appear the answer. We are like FF, ours drains into the wet bilge and the auto bilge pump takes care of it, but we are not out overnighting that much. If we were, a gulper whale would go in asap. A boat surveyor who lived aboard for quite a time, and used to contribute to one of our boating mags said he found exactly the same thing.

On our boat one shower gravity feeds to the grey tank, and the other shower/sink drain into a rule sump box which then pumps into the grey tank.