Woo hoo! I finally got some mileage out of the five years of high school and college French I took, thereby avoiding a post entitled "Bathroom". (Apologies to any readers from France, Quebec, and various African and island nations.) It's the "room" in my motorhome where I'll spend the least amount of time, but its importance merited considerable design effort. This continues my detailed review of the "rooms" in my RV design, in preparation for final submission to Sportsmobile.
For every RV that I toured, I made a point of "trying on" the shower. Not one of them was what I'd call comfortably large, and some were like straightjackets. This was true whether they were a "wet bath" design where the toilet, sink, and shower are all in one small room, or a "dry bath" design that has a separate shower enclosure. In the shower, I like room to turn around without banging my elbows, and to bend over to reach my legs. To make matters worse, many of the higher-end showers that came close to having enough room use folding glass doors or sliding screens of stiff plastic in place of a shower curtain, so you are completely hemmed in by unyielding walls. It seems that you can't get a shower that approaches the size of one in a house unless you look at luxurious Class A (bus-like) RVs. It appeared that giving up comfortable, enjoyable showers was a compromise that I was just going to have to accept.
Sportsmobile offers several sizes of showers up to 27" by 48":
All the designs are the "wet bath" variety, though some use a portapotti that can be set outside while you shower. Wanting the largest space available, I chose the 27" by 48" model for my first Sportsmobile design. When I went through a redesign to accommodate a second bed, that bathroom would no longer fit the allocated position, between the back of the van and the wheelwell. And none of the standard bathrooms were made to enter from the front, which was what my plan required.
I began formulating elaborate plans to have a custom showerpan made to fit the location of the wheelwell:
I planned to ask Sportsmobile if they could fabricate it, but there was no indication on their website that they could do custom fiberglass, and in fact they seemed to go to pains to avoid it. Failing that, I'd either commission a fiberglass shop to make it for me, or even try laying it up myself, though I had no fiberglass experience. I began reading how-to websites on fiberglass, and watching instructional videos.
Luckily, in hunting down all Sportsmobile information available prior to making my own visit to the factory, I came across a YouTube video where a guy videoed his entire tour of the factory. One of the vans he looked at had an unexpectedly novel implementation of a shower:
Just a box on the floor, wrapped in marine vinyl flooring, enclosed by a shower curtain. Not visible in this photo, there's a drain in the floor, too. Without the video, I wouldn't have imagined this was an option - much easier than custom fiberglass, and, from the context of the video, clearly offered by Sportsmobile. You can see in the far left corner, they even accommodate a portion of the wheelwell.
Sure enough, when I did visit the Sportsmobile factory, their designer confirmed that covering a custom showerpan with marine vinyl would not be a problem. However, as described in a previous post, a weight issue with my overall design forced yet another redesign. That led to the current plan for the shower:
Notice the angled notch in the lower right corner. This is at the very back of the van, and there is a structural member there. Usually, interior furnishings must end 5" in front of the rear doors. The notch allows my shower pan to run right up to the doors. The gray rectangle at the upper right of the image above represents a face-height (for me) mirror. The cabinet at right is kept dry with the shower curtain closed, but accessible when it's open. I'll keep towels and toiletries there. The hooks on either side of its door are for hanging towels. The window at the bottom of the image will have a roll down vinyl curtain that's not shown here. For ventilation, I can turn on the exhaust fan by the galley, and open the window behind the shower's vinyl curtain. Plenty of air will flow around the sides of that curtain. Here's a view with the shower curtain in place:
I really like how the design turned out, incorporating features of both a wet and dry bath design. The space enclosed by the shower curtain is 24" by 36"; not huge, but two and a half of the walls are pliant shower curtain, which means if I need a little extra elbow room, it gives where I poke. The portapotti is normally outside the curtain, but if I want a sit down shower, I can just pull it forward and close the curtain behind it. A year and a half ago, I threw my back out so badly it was painful to stand for nearly a month afterward. I was glad my shower at home includes a bench, and I'm glad my RV shower will have that option available. The ability to reposition the portapotti is just one of its advantages.
I dealt with the issue of choosing a portapotti in a previous post. I began leaning in the direction of using a portapotti rather than a permanently affixed marine toilet after viewing a video showing what's involved in emptying the holding tank for a permanent toilet. It involves getting down on your knees, reaching under the van (with gloves on!) to make a sewer hose connection, and opening a valve. This seemed particularly unattractive if the ground is wet or the weather is inclement. Emptying a portapotti, by comparison, is relatively easy and tidy. While a permanent toilet must be emptied into a RV dump station, the holding tank for a portapotti (the lower half of the unit) can be carried like a suitcase and emptied into any convenient toilet. Also, when it's time to empty, I can just reach in through the open rear door, undock the holding tank, and pull it out. Here's the model that I bought:
Using it on a tent camping trip, I determined it was stable and comfortable. Though it does have a battery-powered pushbutton flush, sometimes it needs a little help to get completely clean. For that, the showerhead and hose are conveniently at hand.
The narrow wall at the front of the shower provides a place to mount the showerhead, faucets, and corner sink; it also finesses the issue of how to fit a shower curtain over the bump of the wheelwell. Here's another view of that front wall:
The faucets are mounted high so the hose doesn't hang into the sink. There'll be some plumbing visible on the back side of the wall, but that's just a closet anyway. I debated for a long time whether I really need a sink in the bathroom, since the kitchen sink is just two steps away. But it does seem more hygienic not to wash your hands in the kitchen sink, and the cost in dollars and space is minimal. It's just a small fiberglass corner sink. There'll be an additional clip for mounting the showerhead immediately above it. The showerhead I've chosen is one by Oxygenic:
Oxygenic is known for providing a powerful stream at very low water flows, and is praised in RV forums.
At first, I was satisfied with a flat floor in the shower. I could use a squeegee to get most of the leftover water down the drain, and let the rest air dry. Then I realized, I won't be able to park the van perfectly level all the time. That could make getting all the water to the drain difficult, and having standing water - particularly around the toilet area - could be a real problem. So, I'm going to ask for a slight slope toward the middle of the shower. Here are a couple drawings I'll provide to Sportsmobile suggesting a possible implementation:
There's a 1" rise from the center to either end (That's a 2 degree slope to be specific). Given the wheelbase of the van, that means that as long as the wheels are within 6" of level with each other, water will drain to the center of the pan. I'll have leveling blocks to put under the wheels to correct for uneveness more than that.
That's it for the bathroom. Next stop on the tour is a real sleeper.
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