Closing the Exterior Shower and repurpose it on the Inside shower ?

ShadowKolla · 07-31-2018, 11:31 PM

This might sound like a crazy mod idea ! We use our shower every day, while camping and find the current set up with the shower hose that runs off the bathroom sink in our ShadowCruiser 185, rather odd and not so user friendly. We are thinking to do a mod to the inside shower and equip it with the outside shower connections. Our idea is to cap off the outside shower completely and use those connections to equip the inside shower with its own hot and cold water taps and hose.

Plan is to redo the inside of the shower walls with new covering and get rid of that silly soap holders, a great mod idea I have seen here in the forum. We should be able to do it ourselves with minimum cost, having good knowledge of plumbing.
From what we can see the outside shower is right behind the inside shower. While we take down the shower walls, we might as well putter around with the plumbing back there. The only issue we forsee is what method of doing it, will be strong enough to hold up the inside shower connections onto the wall, as they might be heavy, and how to finish it off that it looks like it was factory install quality.

Have anyone done such a mod and what should we be on the look out for, what is the potential pitfalls here please ? Any ideas will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

profdant139 · 08-01-2018, 09:20 AM

Are you going to cut into the exterior wall of the trailer? That could be a source of leakage.

Other than that, I do not see a major problem with your plan -- you've already shown that you have the necessary mechanical skills!

Good luck, and keep us posted.

ShadowKolla · 08-01-2018, 12:08 PM

LOL I know this mod idea is waayyy out there, but its a thought that we are entertaining now.
We were thinking to just cap off the exterior shower plumbing, so it cannot be used anymore. You will then still be able to open the exterior shower opening, which says "Shower " on the exterior front but it will not be working from the outside anymore.

And then to use the exterior shower plumbing for the inside shower to create a shower with its own taps, independant from the bathroom sink.

The idea is to take off all the inside shower walls and we should then have access from the inside of the trailer, to the exterior shower plumbing and pipes and use those. And cover it up on the inside with a brand new shower wall that goes all the way up to the ceiling, it will be more functional for us.

Chirpz · 08-01-2018, 07:26 PM

We rarely use our shower but I share your dislike of the cheesy valve that controls the shower from the sink. So, having a real set of valves would be great in my opinion.

I think I would just buy some new valves instead of doing the double work of trying to use the outside set.

PaintyLiz · 08-03-2018, 05:22 PM

I think you're onto a great idea! I did a similar thing, without losing my exterior shower. what happened in my case, is the crummy bathroom faucet broke at the point that you attach the shower hose. I started to just replace it with another crappy plastic faucet and realized I could run a separate shower faucet and solve a lot of problems. I actually put in a thermostatic mixing faucet which works amazingly to keep the temperature exactly right all the time. It was less than $35 when I bought it. I have no idea how much they are now. But even if you were just going to put another faucet in, it's a vast improvement. Anyway, I found inexpensive fittings that allow you to tap into the existing hot and cold water lines very easily and you can add a second faucet control for the shower. You might want to look at my blog post here
[url]https://wackypup.blogspot.com/2017/05/no-more-crappy-faucets-installing.html/url] I have pictures of how I tapped into the existing water lines, and how I mounted the faucet. Hope this is helpful.

Liz

ShadowKolla · 08-03-2018, 05:56 PM

Thank you so much everyone with your ideas ! Your ideas are way better than mine. Genius , just run a shower line from the existing tap water lines. LOL
Dahh I never thought of that.
I just went through your blog on Wackypup and I saw all the wasted space you uncovered under die bathroom sink. Amazing ! That is something we will look into here shortly as well. I am so glad I ran our shower mod idea here by everyone, your plans and ideas has helped me a lot.

twinster2 · 08-03-2018, 09:08 PM

I don't know how you bathroom is set up, but in mine the vanity is next to the shower stall and the shower is hooked to the sink faucet by a hose. If I were going to do it, I would tap the hot and cold under the sink and just run the lines behind the new shower wall with an added faucet. I would leave the exterior faucet alone simply because not having one may reduce the resale value down the road.

PaintyLiz · 08-04-2018, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinster2

I don't know how you bathroom is set up, but in mine the vanity is next to the shower stall and the shower is hooked to the sink faucet by a hose. If I were going to do it, I would tap the hot and cold under the sink and just run the lines behind the new shower wall with an added faucet. I would leave the exterior faucet alone simply because not having one may reduce the resale value down the road.

Mount the new faucet on the side of the existing cabinet and you don't have to go behind your shower wall at all and the water lines are shorter.

Liz

ShadowKolla · 08-04-2018, 12:26 PM

That is a genius idea to mod the new shower connections on the left hand side of the bathroom cabinet. Currently our shower head keeps falling to the ground when, on the road. I am thinking to make a shower head mounting for it also on the side of that cabinet, to safely store the shower head somehow there. The original fixture half way down the wall to hold it in place, was broken when we bought our trailer.

PaintyLiz · 08-04-2018, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowKolla

I just went through your blog on Wackypup and I saw all the wasted space you uncovered under die bathroom sink. Amazing ! That is something we will look into here shortly as well. I am so glad I ran our shower mod idea here by everyone, your plans and ideas has helped me a lot.

Glad to help! I have learned so much from other people on the net that I try to post any ideas I come up with and help someone else. Let me see what you come up with! Love looking other peoples mods.

I am slowly putting together a post about hidden and expanded storage.

Liz

PaintyLiz · 08-04-2018, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowKolla

That is a genius idea to mod the new shower connections on the left hand side of the bathroom cabinet. Currently our shower head keeps falling to the ground when, on the road. I am thinking to make a shower head mounting for it also on the side of that cabinet, to safely store the shower head somehow there. The original fixture half way down the wall to hold it in place, was broken when we bought our trailer.

if your bathroom layout is like mine, it has a small square shower and the shower head mounted on one of the walls. Check out how I did my shower and gained a lot of space. If you don't replace the backing it's a free mod, just move the shower head into the corner and change the shower curtain Rail and you'll be amazed how nice that shower is. https://wackypup.blogspot.com/2016/0...ay-for-20.html

(If you're interested, I have a page with most of my mods listed https://wackypup.blogspot.com/p/over...ll-camper.html )

Liz