Leaky shower solution?

We have had an ongoing problem with a leaky shower ever since we bought the boat. One of the toilets also has a shower which leaked around the edges at floor level. Not only did that mean some water ended up in the bilge which is not highly desirable, it damaged the walls of the two cabins that are on either side of the shower. First, Catherine dug out the old mastic (see photo below - the dark bit shows the extent of the gap!) and replaced it. That solution was only temporary; the mastic eventually pulled away from the wall. C then dug out the mastic she had put in and used another product she had discovered; a two-part, plasticine-like product, which hardens on drying. That product was ‘rigid’ and looked promising for a while but then it also separated from the wall.


Catherine then decided that the problem was the floor flexes when you walk on it so she decided to see what was underneath the floor. Easier said than done. It involved lifting a hatch in the ‘hallway’ lying flat on your stomach with most of the body at an angle on the floor of the main cabin. What did C see? You guessed it, no support whatsoever under the floor! No amount of mastic would ever be a solution. The big question was, how to put any support in place remembering the hull slopes and the floor of course is horizontal… without the major cost and disruption of taking up the floor.

The available access space is 15cm high but the gap between floor and hull is 25cm. The support had to be placed a full (Catherine’s) arm length away and she had to work by feel. We considered many ideas before deciding that two small car jacks might do the trick. (Thanks to Sean, who told us about car jacks being used as piles in his friend’s newly purchased bach! That gave us the idea.) C made a couple of wedges to put under the jacks and we had on board some timber to place on top of the jacks to maximize the effect. The French version of blue tack was used to keep things in place until the jacks could be raised. All of this had to be done by ‘feel’ and it took many false starts (and no small amount of cursing) before the awkward procedure was successfully completed. (We got most of the blue tack back as it was of course squeezed out when the jacks were pumped up) Time will tell if this is the definitive solution but it does seem more promising than previous ones. The floor doesn’t move now when you stand on it so we are cautiously optimistic. I wonder how long it will be before we stop holding our breath each time we step onto that floor…