installing a sink in the bathroom

[PGDriver]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I found the all-season mats from the Rav make a good surface when using the outside shower. Keeps dirt from splashing up.

baglo

And it keeps your mats clean....

[Hokie Escape]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I found the all-season mats from the Rav make a good surface when using the outside shower. Keeps dirt from splashing up.

baglo

Good double use of something you already have along on the trip. Great idea!

[Thane]

These are pictures of my prototype sink in the down and up positions. The bolts will be flush mounted and the shelf for the faucet will painted enamal white with a soap dispenser and tooth brush holder. The sink is easily removed via two hinge pins. Everything metal is stainless steel.

[Thane]

These are pictures (hard to take a pic in the bathroom!) of the sink in the approximate place it will be mounted. When up it clears my shoulder seated and the kids can leave it down when they use the bathroom.

[escape artist]

Hi: Thane... I get the picture...but how does it drain Is there a cross member 1x2 in the wall by the stove counter to mount the sink into? Look in the oak paneling for tell tale signs of staples. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[gbaglo]

I don't get how it drains in the up or down position.

baglo

[JeffZ]

I totally dig it.. It's a usable sink!!

The drainage issue could be a flexible plastic tube (ridged) that forms a P-trap near the "hinged area" when the sink is down and when the sink is up the P-trap basically "un-curls" allowing the sink to be in the Up/stowed away position.. If that makes sense.. just an idea..

[Sandra L]

Thane is a master of ideas and their implementation. Check out his postings from November of 2008!

[Thane]

Jeffz has it right and thanks SandraL for the kind words.

A flexible drain hose similar to this http://www.rvupgradestore.com/index....OD&ProdID=2361 (except without the shown fittings) will go from the sink to a white PVC pipe mounted on the wall. The white PVC pipe will go through the wall and over the furnace; it will have a thermal sleeve to protect it from any furnace heat. The white PVC pipe will connect to the existing black PVC vent pipe next to the furnace; this vent pipe is under the cooktop.

When the sink is down the flexible drain hose forms a P trap. When the sink is up the flexible drain hose is somewhat taut and the sink stopper will keep out odors.

This picture shows blue tape where the wall next to the cooktop is supported by framing. The top tape lines are for the support for the cabinets above the cooktop. The bottom tape lines are for the support for the galley countertop. The vertical tape lines are for a support for the wall.

The white PVC pipe for the flexible drain line and small hot and cold water lines will penetrate the shower wall below the bottom tape lines. The hot and cold water lines will be rigid white trailer plumbing that connects to the water lines under the galley sink; they will have a thermal sleeve to protect them from any furnace heat.

The sink will be mounted to the right of the vertical tapes lines, at about that the same level.

The only part that worries me is increasing the strength of the aft shower wall. I’ll need to cut it open and slide a structural support (plywood or marine plastic sheet perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick) between the aft shower wall and the original framing. The structural support will attach to the framing supports noted by the blue tape lines. I may add a few bolts to attach the structural support to a wooden spice rack that I may add above the cooktop. I’ll patch the shower wall with a sheet of pre-cured fiberglass sheeting perhaps the approximate size of the entire aft wall so that it would not be obvious.

It’ll probably work; I just don’t want to cut open my beloved trailer.

[JeffZ]

I know this sounds crazy.. but what about an aluminum tube (square) that can be bolted on the inside of the shower (width wise) an attach the sink to it.. (Visualize a towel rack).. Not to sure if that's easier to deal with, but the aluminum would kind-of match the sink and maybe just as secure.. That way you wouldn't have to patch up the wall..

anyway just a thought..

[Thane]

Good idea but I couldn't figure out a way to tie the support into the trailer frames. Let me know if you think of way; I am always open to suggestions.

If you push softly on the outboard and aft shower walls you'll note that (at least on mine) the wall flexes and there is a gap between the shower wall (the fiberglass liner) and the rest of the trailer. That gap is fine as it keeps the fiberglass liner from rubbing on the rest of the trailer but it makes it hard to mount anything heavy on the wall.

For a while I considered injecting foam into the hollow wooden wall between the cooktop and the shower (from the cooktop side of the wall) and then injecting foam into the space between the shower liner and that same wall (from the shower side of the wall). I would mount the sink in the same area and add bolts through the walls and into a wooden spice rack to cover the injection holes above the cooktop and provide a tension support.

I am not sure how a foam installation would hold up. It would be easy to do and if it failed I could go back to cutting a hole to remove the foam and use my original thought of a stuctural support about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Sorry this is may be hard to read, it's difficult to put the concept on paper.

[Sandra L]

Are there any structural horizontal pieces of wood in that general area? (I don't know what to call them, even if they exist.) Maybe a call to Reace might help.

[Garand]

Originally Posted by Thane

Good idea but I couldn't figure out a way to tie the support into the trailer frames. Let me know if you think of way; I am always open to suggestions.

If you push softly on the outboard and aft shower walls you'll note that (at least on mine) the wall flexes and there is a gap between the shower wall (the fiberglass liner) and the rest of the trailer. That gap is fine as it keeps the fiberglass liner from rubbing on the rest of the trailer but it makes it hard to mount anything heavy on the wall.

<snip>

Just talking out loud here, but it seems to me if you foam it and the foam doesn't provide enough support, you'll play hell getting any wooden support in there. I'd consider cutting a rectangular hole in the wall just large enough to fit a slab of wood in the gap. Coat the wood with gorilla glue and use some small (temporary) screws to hold it in place. Do you know the depth of the gap between the walls?

Dave

[Thane]

Thanks for the thoughts. If the foam didn't work then I would I would have to cut a pretty big hole in the fiberglass shower liner anyway to install a support like a sheet of plywood that was big enough to mate with the existing supports for the cabinets above the cooktop and the galley countertop. Taking out the failed foam would be fairly easy, though messy.

The gap to fill is small, 1/4 to 1/2 inch but the problem is making sure everything ties into structural supports, not cabinet facing material.

I sort of have a way to maybe cut a 15 inch wide by 12 to 24 inch high hole in the fiberglass shower liner and snake in a piece of plywood 14 inches wide by 48 inches or so, but I fear I'll need a much taller hole to do it right. Anyhow, thanks for the ideas.

[gbaglo]

I can't read this thread any longer. It is causing me too much pain.

baglo

No holes were drilled in reaching this conclusion.

[Hokie Escape]

I'm with you Glen. My bathroom sink is looking bigger and bigger with every post!

[escape artist]

Hi: HokieEscape...Dan In your line of work you should be quite comfortable with a drill...and using a small sink Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie p.s. Our Maps of Virginia came in the mail.

[Milly]

Terrifying thought....holes in the trailer. Especially since they went to such effort to keep it holeless...yes, I know the outside. But I also understand why you want the sink....little friends like e coli. I think if you can find any stuctural areas to one diagonal board it would probably require the least demolition and provide more support than plywood would. But as you said.....it's cutting that hole..........that removeable sink is a fabulous thought and find. As everyone has pointed out ....call Reese......imagination will only take us to how big a hole you are going to cut.