Sunday, March 17, 2013

Oooh er!

I thought it was supposed to be Spring!  This was the view from Herbie this morning.

snowpic

Rick popped over to look at how we would replace the shower mixer with a thermostatic one.  Now Rick is a great engineer and easily the best DiYer I know ( and he has immaculately refitted two bathrooms in his house), but even he gulped and pronounced it to be a non trivial task.  The problem is access.

shower

You have to get to the back of the taps and even if we enlarge the current “inspection hole” an arm will have to go in well past the elbow the reach the far tap, and the gap between the back of the bath and the hull is only just wide enough to get the bits in.  And the radiator is in the way. What happens when we drop a nut or a spanner doesn’t bear thinking about.  Doing up a compression joint one handed and blind is not my idea of fun.  Come to think of it, what we need is a Vet with plumbing skills.

So we have a plan B.  We will need an access hole rather bigger than would look good in the bathroom, so the idea is to tunnel in from the saloon , where the hole will be covered up by this cupboard

cupboard

Of course I will have to dismantle the cupboard and shelves and disconnect the radio first.  So what should be a fifteen minute job screwing on a couple of tap fittings is now estimated to be a day’s work.  I hope we get the hole in the right place! We’ll have to try and work it out by dead reckoning.  Most of all though, I hope the fittings don’t leak and drip afterwards.

PS if you look closely at the log on the top shelf you might notice that I have not lost my log weight loss measurement fetish!

9 comments:

Sue said...

That's done it!

"Come to think of it, what we need is a Vet with plumbing skills."

I can't stop giggling now!

Anonymous said...

Hi Neil
Yes, it's been a bit grim at Uxbridge too!
Just to say, my thermostatic shower mixer was damaged when it froze last winter, though other pipes and taps were fine. An expensive thing to replace i think and in your case, very awkward to get to, so do look after it once installed! I got complacent after previous trouble-free winters..
Carrie

Halfie said...

I'm gulping too. Your shelves look so ... built-in! It does sound like the only way, though.

By the way, is that your original drying-out-test log?

Vallypee said...

Rather you than me!

KevinTOO said...

Hi Neil,
Are you REALLY SURE that you can't live without a thermostatic shower mixer ???
This seems like a hell of a lot of fiddly work just for a moderately tepid three minute shower!!!
Kevin

Rainman said...

Neil,
Are you sure it wouldn't be easier to remove the shelf above the mixer tap? That would give you reasonable access and you could then set Rick the challenge of making the shelf waterproof but quickly detatchable for future access.

Simon said...

I second Carrie's comment - it's been nothing but trouble! What she didn't mention is that the shower in my house is just a tap off the hot water supply (set to a suitable temperature on the boiler, of course).

S.

Neil Corbett said...

David. If only ....
Not only would we have to dismantle several other pieces of hardwood trim to get the shelf out, we don't think there is room to get a hand in behind the bath at the top. It is backed by a thick piece of board

Mrs. Jaqueline Biggs said...

Ah David,
We know from personal experience, "the knee bone is connected to the hip bone which is connected..."well you know what we mean! We know of very few DIY projects on boats which are as straight forward as they might seem or one would hope. We wait with baited breath to read of your success in installing the thermostat and to see pictures of your progress. Good luck!
Jaq and Les