When did deck showers become a standard fitting on yachts? It was certainly after our Corsair first wet her keel in 1986 but not, I’d guess, by many years. The evolution from reverse counter to sugar scoop sterns provided a perfect platform for showering and made the internal plumbing easier. Many of our friends’ boats have them and, when crewing, I really appreciate the chance to rinse off after a swim or just wash my feet after coming back on board after a walk ashore in sandals.
We already have a platform on the back of Tamarisk for boarding from the dinghy. If you don’t, you’ll need a longer flexible hose for use while standing on the aft deck. As a late Mk 1 Corsair, Tamarisk has the wash basin with the head on the starboard side. I cut into the hot and cold supplies under the basin and teed both supplies to a mixer thermostat and on/off valve mounted on the forward side of the aft heads bulkhead. The one mixed supply pipe then goes through the bulkhead close to the heads inlet and outlet, runs to the aft side of the fresh water tank and then crosses to line up with the port side of the aft transom locker. It then runs up through the lower compartment, where we have the SSB antenna tuner, and joins the flexible shower hose. The shower head and holder were bought from the Osculati catalogue. I fitted a piece of 110mm clear plastic tube beneath the holder to contain the folding hose and to keep drips out of the locker.
All the pipework is standard 15mm Speedfit. I used locking collets on the connections and insulation where it would fit. You cannot change the temperature while showering. For that, both hot and cold supplies would have to run to the transom. We set ours to ‘warm’ at the start of the season and have never felt the need to change it. With all the hot weather we had in July and August, the shower has seen plenty of use this summer. One guest’s verdict: ‘How did you ever manage without it?’