What is a boat bath?
A boat bath is a traditional footless bath that is lowered directly to the floor or, more generally, is placed on a pedestal that is glued or bolted to the main part of the bath. A pot bath will have a plug and an overflow in the middle of the bath along the length, making it a double ended bath, occasionally pot baths may have a plug hole that is also in the center of the bath across, but this is less common. Boat baths are generally raised slightly at both ends of the bath and have an edge that curves down towards the center (the length of the bath). Boat bathtubs are typically roll-top bathtubs, which means that the rim of the bathtub has a profile that approximates a section of the circumference of a circle. Boat toilets are a kind of boat toilet that has bath feet instead of a plinth.
Types of boat toilet construction
Most of the boat baths manufactured today are one of four main types of construction: cast iron, stone cast resin, fiberglass, and acrylic sheet. There are good and bad quality bathrooms in each of these building categories. Cast iron has the advantage of keeping traditional building materials if that’s what you want, but it’s heavy, a floor-to-floor cast iron boat bath is likely to weigh 200-250kg. Cast stone baths are lighter but still heavy at 100-150kg they are very stiff but apart from this they have no real advantages over a good quality acrylic or fiberglass bath, cast stone baths are made from a mixture of mineral powder and some type of resin that may in fact be acrylic, so the surface of these baths is often not as different as people imagine from the surface of an acrylic bath. Fiberglass baths have a resin and fiberglass body, similar to some car bodies, which is then coated with an acrylic gel to give an acrylic surface. Baths constructed this way are often stiffer than equivalent acrylic sheet baths, but are still lightweight (40-60 kg). Acrylic sheet baths, if sufficiently reinforced, can match the stiffness and quality of fiberglass and gel coat baths, but large stretches of acrylic sheet can sometimes be more flexible than fiberglass equivalents.
Fitting taps in the cockpit of your boat
Boat bathtubs are typically roll-top bathtubs and as such cannot have faucets mounted to the edge of the bathtub unless they have a faucet platform. A faucet platform is an area on the edge of the bathtub that is flattened so that tap holes can be drilled in the bathtub and faucets mounted on its edge. Because ship bathtubs are always double ended bathtubs, the faucet platform, if any, is invariably in the center of the bathtub above the overflow. Where there is no tap platform, you will need to install wall or floor taps. Floor mounted faucets will be mounted on vertical pipes, the vertical pipes cover the pipes that carry the water to the faucets, usually with chrome pipes and are strong enough to support the weight of the faucets. The vertical pipes are in contrast to the pipe covers (also called bathtub legs, but not to be confused with the legs that support the bathtub, they are completely different). Pipe covers are used when the faucets are mounted to the rim of the bathtub and are intended to provide a decorative cover to the water intakes, but not to support the weight of the faucets. Pipe covers are generally designed to be extensible and can fit bathrooms of a variety of heights. Boat baths are generally relatively tall, and if you are installing pipe covers or placing your faucets on vertical pipes, you should verify that they are tall enough for your bath. As a general rule of thumb for water fountains, you should try to use water fountains that are as tall or taller than the part of the bathroom that they will stand against. Typically this will mean using 700mm risers. You should also be careful if you fit taps on vertical pipes to ensure that the reach of the spout is sufficient to go over the top roll-up edge of the bathtub. If in doubt with both height and reach, look for leg crank hits, a crank hit has a movement in the leg that pushes the tap up and forward giving extra height and reach.
Choosing a debris kit for your boat’s cockpit
Because boat toilets are generally considered a traditional bathroom style, they are most often equipped with a traditional plug and chain drain kit. Usually pop-up or click-clack debris can also be installed, but there are specific issues related to some pop-up and click-clack debris that cannot fit in bathrooms beyond a certain thickness and you need to check the thickness of the bath in the overflow and plug hole and the maximum thickness that the waste kit you are considering can accommodate, it is less common to have this problem with chain debris, but the best advice is to get the toilet and waste equipment from the same supplier , which should then accept responsibility for its compatibility. Also note that the installation of drain / fill combinations that fill from the overflow can have its own problems, especially in relation to the size of the fill portion of the drains outside the bathroom, which in extreme cases can be too wide and tall to fit without colliding. with the roll on the edge of the bathroom.
Exposed and hidden debris kits
The main parts of the drain kit are the plug and drain pieces that are visible on the inside of the bathtub, the overflow pipe and associated accessories on the outside of the bathtub, and the trap and drain pipe found under the bathtub. Typically, only the overflow pipe and associated fittings will be visible, as the trap and the outlet drain pipe will be hidden within the basement of the boat’s toilets. In fact, if the bathroom is to be installed against a wall, then none of the external pipes to the bathroom will be visible and you can use a hidden drain kit, this is a drain kit where those external parts are plastic. On the other hand if the bathroom is away from the wall you will need an exposed overflow, which is one that is expected to be visible and therefore decorative, usually chrome, but again the trap and the drain pipe can be plastic such as is it so. usually hidden under the bathroom. There are two exceptions to consider about these general scenarios, firstly, even if the bathroom is against a wall, the overflow pipe may be visible, especially if the bathroom is against a long wall so that you can stand with your shoulder against the wall. same wall and look between the bathtub and the wall, this is a judgment you must take. Second, although the trap under the tub will normally not be visible, you may find that if the clearance under the tub is 120mm or less, the only trap you can find that will fit will be an exposed trap, i.e. chrome, which has been specifically designed for the freestanding bathroom market.
Overflow pipes extended
All boat baths have two ends, that is, the plug hole and the overflow are in the middle of the bath lengthwise. In most cases the plug hole, although central throughout, will be towards the back of the bath across the width, however in a small number of cases the plug hole can be found in the dead center of the bathroom, which is central both in length and width. breadthways. If this is the case, a standard-size overflow pipe may not go far enough below the bath to meet the drain pipe extending down from the plug hole. In cases like this, you will need to install an overflow extension pipe, such extensions are connected to the overflow pipe with a compression fitting, that is, they are simply pressed and sealed with a rubber gasket already placed on the extension. You will probably have to get it from a freestanding bathroom specialist.
Laying the drain pipe
If the clearance under your boat tub is such that you have to use an additional shallow trap, you will find that the drain pipe that connects to the trap will be approximately the same height as the overflow pipe and you will not be able to drive the drain pipe comes out the same way the overflow pipe goes in, as they will want to occupy the same space. This is usually not a problem as the trap will be connected to the drain pipe from the plug hole with a captive nut which allows the trap to be positioned protruding at any angle so it can be positioned so that the drain pipe outlet drain does not interfere with the overflow tube. With that being said, your plumber should be aware of this possibility to make sure no work is being done laying underfloor drain pipes that cannot connect to the trap outlet drain pipe.
Fixing your bathroom to the floor
It is advisable to fix the bathtub firmly to the ground, the most common way to do this is with a boat bathtub is to glue the base of the bathtub to the floor using silicone resin or a patented product such as No More Nails from Unibond. If you think the tub may need to be moved, put a six-inch bead on each end so that, if necessary, you can cut it out and move the tub. If the tub is more likely to not move, put in a bead. around the base of the bath.
Special Considerations for Antique Ship Restrooms
There are special considerations if your bathroom is old, in particular the plug hole and / or overflow hole may be larger than in a contemporary bathroom and this may mean that the normal accessories that fit inside the bathroom will be too small. , so they fall straight down the hole. Aside from salvaging old scrap kits (not guaranteed to fit anyway) or remanufacturing parts, there may not be an easy answer. In general, the best advice is to avoid bathrooms that have overflow holes or oversized plugs.