Transom Showers?

Hi,
I am totally new here and not sure where to post this. Unfortunately my grandfather wasn't around long enough to teach me much more then the ropes and the basics of sailing. I was looking through my current Defender catalog, and saw these things called "Transom Showers". This seems like a dumb question but, what exactly is a "Transom Shower"? I know what a transom is, and a shower, but what are they used for? Some come in hot and cold. Are they what I'm thinking? A shower for washing off? The idea of outdoor showering on deck sounds great to me. Are these meant to rinse the boat off or for a nice hot outdoor shower?

The Pressure's On...

A lot of modern boats have pressure water systems, and many have the capacity for inside showering. Some have provision for hot water via an insulated tank (usually about 6 gallons) that can heat up the contents by a pipe inside the tank that moves coolant thru from the closed cooling system on the inboard engine, or can heat the water with a 110 volt AC element when the boat is plugged into shore power.

Since it's nice to shower off after climbing aboard from a swim, or even take a regular shower in the cockpit if you anchorage is private enough, these pull-out shower assemblies have become popular.

The water tankage in a 26 foot boat is often under 20 or 30 gallons total, so luxuriating in a long hot shower is... never gonna happen...

Even unheated, a little clean pressure water does wonders, though, when you climb back aboard after a salty swim or just feel really sweaty after a long day in the sun.

Is your boat one of the 80's era E-26 boats? This might be a doable luxury, but would require great forbearance to avoid running out of water the second day into a week-long cruise!


Cheers,
LB

It's a 1970 E26. I would like to add a small range, a holding tank for the head, a small cooler/freezer, and small electric heater. I wonder if these would bee too much on a 26 footer. I wouldn't need much more then that, but a way to shower every once in a while on like a week or longer trip would be great. The misses would like to have these luxuries a little more then me. I want to be able to take the boat out even in the winter and be comfortable for week stays.
I like the shower idea. Would it be too much to add all these on a 26ft?

Scandsailor said:

It's a 1970 E26. I would like to add a small range, a holding tank for the head, a small cooler/freezer, and small electric heater. I wonder if these would bee too much on a 26 footer. I wouldn't need much more then that, but a way to shower every once in a while on like a week or longer trip would be great. The misses would like to have these luxuries a little more then me. I want to be able to take the boat out even in the winter and be comfortable for week stays.
I like the shower idea. Would it be too much to add all these on a 26ft?

Click to expand...

Since the Mk1 E-26 is an outboard motor aux. boat, you can certainly have anything else in a water system except the benefits of tank heating via inboard engine.
If you have pressure water, it would be relatively easy to run a hose line aft to the cockpit and put in a shower head there. Taking a cold shower, you will not be inclined to waste much water...


Actually, one of the best ways to have a hot shower on a small (and even a larger) boat is to buy a new pump sprayer with plastic tank and replace the spray nozzle with a showerhead fitting. You heat water in your kettle on the stove and blend cold with hot in the tank to suit. A two gallon tank will provide a nice shower in the cockpit for your Admiral.

LB

Another cockpit shower alternative is the so-called solar shower, which is a big plastic container that you fill with water and then leave out to heat up in the sun. After it is warm you hang it on your boom (or arrange some other way to elevate it) and gravity feed sprays you with hot water. There is a model that uses a 12 volt pump as an alternative to gravity feed. You plug it into a 12 volt cigarette lighter style outlet.