The plumbing will be done probably a little at a time. I will be using 3/8” Pex plumbing with “Flair-it” fittings for all the plumbing which seems to be used on almost all RV’s now-a-days and it’s very easy to work with and modify in the future if need be. I have put a
plumbing layout at the bottom.
The Cowboy shower is installed and put in the first stall. To tackle the issue
of draining the water from the shower area, a shower pan will be made from a
utility tub that I found at Lowes. I got the idea from
here. Unlike this though, I will not be putting a hole in the floor of the horse
compartment to drain the water. Instead I will be building a base for the tub
with a cover so when the shower is not being used, we can put our hay bags and
such on it and, so it can also be removed, I will have a long drain hose under
it and drain the water out of the door to a collection tank. I
’ve made a curtain for it as well and all can be stowed in the pan when not in
use.
The sink is a stainless steel bar sink with faucet. Guy at work gave it to me
and it was a mess but the faucet and fittings seem to be in good shape and it
was nothing to clean up with steel wool. Looks good as new. I made the sink
cover from the cut out where the sink goes. I just cut it to shape and sanded
it down, and coated it with polyurethane. The counter top will be covered with
tile so I have yet to clamp the sink down. As far as draining the water from
the sink, I
’ll be going through the floor, but only for the sink. I’ll be using 1 1/2” PVC from the sink and going to 1” through floor, with an elbow attached to that under the trailer and the rest of
it coming out just before the side of the trailer. That pipe will have a
fitting on it to accept a hose that will go into a portable, collapsable
grey-water collection tank(s) made from the clear collapsable water containers
found at any Wal-Mart.
As I said before, I will be tiling the counter top with some nice 4”x4” terra cotta tiles that I found at Lowes. To do this, I will be gluing some stuff called Hardieboard (1/4”) on the wood base. I was told that the wood would buckle from the adhesive used
to apply the tiles and hence make my tile work look like doodie. I
’ll be using 1” half round around the counter to contain the grout.
I have the water tank and the pump in the boot box. It is 23 gallon
polyethelyne tank. I had to modify it a bit because of where the old fittings
were.
I’ve added a new fill spout and a new 1/2”MPT fitting. The fittings were easy to put in as they are a compression type
fitting. Drill a hole, slide the fitting in, start twisting and it seals
itself. Really neat! The pump is an on-demand Flojet pump and puts out 2.3 GPM.
It will work great for my application. It is hooked up to a switch so when not
in use, and can be turned off.
I’ve also installed a pressure tank. It was made from 14” long 1 1/2” PVC with a cap and bushing to accept a 1/2” MPT Flair-it fitting. It’s purpose is to help out the pump a bit by creating pressure so the pump doesn’t have to run as much.
Click on pictures to enlarge them
SInk installed but not clamped
SInk cover that I made from what was cut out from the sink.
Cowboy Shower closed and uninstalled
Cowboy Shower open uninstalled
Big gaping hole. I used my sabre saw to cut the opening.
The opening from the stall side.
Cowboy Shower installed. Used 5/8” self tappers to screw it to the wall.Will seal it off with RTV.
Cowboy Shower installed open.
Cowboy Shower installed with a back view. Did not expect it to stick out this
far. Will probably run the plumbing up over the top so it won
’t get tangled up in whatever we put in this closet. There will be a shelf built
and I just might enclose this part of the shower.
This is Hardiboard, a cement board used for tile work. This will go over the
sink base so I can lay my tile.
Hardiboard mounted to the sink base. I also attached the spout to the sink. Now
I have to get my plumbing and tile.
Plumbing Layout
Click to download
The Flojet on-demand water pump
The water tank itself with the new fittings. It’s 23 gallons.
Water fill installed in vertical wall. This may get replaced with one with a
bigger fill.
Water tank in boot box with fill hose connected
Closeup of replacement fitting for the water tank. This is 1/2” MPT
3/8” Pex tubing will be used throughout the trailer for the plumbing.
The pump next to tank not quite hooked up yet.
This is a 90º elbow from the pump line to the fixtures. It goes thru the boot box wall.
As the water line continues...
The elbow to the left of the electrical fixture will eventually be replaced with
a tee. The city inlet is just to the right. Just below the elbow is a pencil
circle, that
’s where the drain from the sink will go through the floor.
This is a Flair-It fitting.
Drain hole with rubber fitting.
Drain hole from underneath trailer.
Drain with flex pipe from sink.
Drain complete. The pipe and fittings under the sink are 1 1/4” with a rubber 1 1/4” to 1” boot attaching to 1” which goes all the through the floor. There is a rubber fitting which goes
through the floor and the 1
” pipe is clamped to that.
Drain pipe from underneath trailer.
Drain pipe from underneath trailer. I used a threaded end so a cap could be
placed in the pipe.
Hard to see but that is the pressure tank in the back. It’s made of 1 1/2” PVC with a cap and fittings .
Bottom of pressure tank. Has a Flair-it fitting. The Tee goes into the sink
fixture.
Tile laid out without the sink. They are a 4”x4” terra cotta ceramic tile.
Tile grouted and finished.
Here’s the drain. The valve is a 45º brass cutoff valve from HD.
Utility Tub used for shower pan.
$19.00 at Home Depot.
Frame with tub. The tub is secure to the frame with L-brackets at the bottom.
Shower from the escape door set up. I attached 2-1”x 1/8” strips of aluminum to the roof beams to hang the curtain.
PVC frame for shower curtain. Eyelets will be screwed into the corners so it can
be hung with bungees.
The raised part is the shower pan. The angled part comes off to store stuff
inside. Have not gotten the plumbing totally finished yet but the tube you see
drains out the back door into a container. It will be set up so a long hose can
be removed easily.
Shower curtain stows easily in the shower pan. Set up takes a only a few
minutes.
Shower from the escape door with the covers in place. We put our hay and such on
top when in transit.
Shower set up with portable toilet. It’s the perfect sitting height.
