Jump to content

Cost of moving a bathroom


Featured Posts

Hi everyone! 
 

I’ve recently bought and moved on to my first boat. My first job is going to be building a new, full width bathroom across the back of the boat, between the engine room and the living area, and removing the shower and toilet compartment to improve the kitchen. 
 

I’ve got all the bits, and what I don’t have I’ll pick up second hand so I’m more interested in the cost of materials and labour for modifications to the boat itself (new drainage points, and a new wall) 

 

I hope that’s makes sense. I’d also love to hear any tips and advice from your own experience 

 

EDIT: As much as I appreciate the good intentions of those warning me not to do it, I’d much rather you didn’t. 

Edited by RiverPuffFairy
I can see where this is going...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a NB that had the same done to it. It was done by a boatyard and the invoices in the pack of papers showed it cost £11,000 in labour. (£60 + VAT per hour)

 

It costs 2x or 3x as much to 're-build something' rather than starting from scratch, (an empty hull) when there are already walls, toilets, etc etc in the way half the time is taken carefully ripping out what was there before actual 'constructive' work can start.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, matty40s said:

Just turn the boat round, it's far easier and cheaper.

We've been planning a new galley for 18 months....

Not sure what you mean? There is a shower cubicle and a room for the toilet squeezed into the kitchen, I can’t leave it how it is...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I bought a NB that had the same done to it. It was done by a boatyard and the invoices in the pack of papers showed it cost £11,000 in labour. (£60 + VAT per hour)

Did they break it down? That’s about 153 hours, so I’d be interested to know what that went on. I’m probably going to do most of the work alongside my dad, who can turn his hand to most things I’ll need to do (plumbing, wall building) but won’t touch the hull. 
 

If it was reasonable I’d pay for the majority of the hard work to be done, but by the sounds of your papers maybe not ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, RiverPuffFairy said:

Did they break it down? That’s about 153 hours, so I’d be interested to know what that went on. I’m probably going to do most of the work alongside my dad, who can turn his hand to most things I’ll need to do (plumbing, wall building) but won’t touch the hull. 
 

If it was reasonable I’d pay for the majority of the hard work to be done, but by the sounds of your papers maybe not ?

I'm fairly sure that there was a breakdown, but I sold the boat (with all its paperwork 4 years ago), I just remember the 'headline' figure.

The bed was made into a cross-bed, a wardrobe/cupboard was made to take 2 folding bicycles, the bathroom wall was moved to make it larger, a pump-out tank was removed and a cassette toilet installed and the area redecorated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Touching the hull probably only involve drilling a skin fitting hole preferably above the waterline, and fitting a skin fitting. Failing that using the old shower outlet, but extending the waste pipe, to it behind the lining.

Fitting a bath to a boat and relying on gravity to empty it is a huge challenge.

Dare I say cassette or pump out loo. The difference in cost to change a pump out is likely to be phenomenal, both in cost and pleasantness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, RiverPuffFairy said:

Did they break it down? That’s about 153 hours, so I’d be interested to know what that went on. I’m probably going to do most of the work alongside my dad, who can turn his hand to most things I’ll need to do (plumbing, wall building) but won’t touch the hull. 
 

If it was reasonable I’d pay for the majority of the hard work to be done, but by the sounds of your papers maybe not ?

If you are doing it yourself then labour costs are Zero, just lots of tea for poor old dad, If the boat is that badly laid out why did you buy it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not much helpful to add - just make sure that the drain in your shower tray is towards the stern (assuming the stern usually sits lower than the bow.).  Otherwise you will always need to mop out water that does not drain drain by gravity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

If you are doing it yourself then labour costs are Zero, just lots of tea for poor old dad, If the boat is that badly laid out why did you buy it?

We could probably do it all; it would be great if I could afford help. I got her for a good price, and I could see the potential with some relatively minor changes. 

1 hour ago, roland elsdon said:

Touching the hull probably only involve drilling a skin fitting hole preferably above the waterline, and fitting a skin fitting. Failing that using the old shower outlet, but extending the waste pipe, to it behind the lining.

Fitting a bath to a boat and relying on gravity to empty it is a huge challenge.

Dare I say cassette or pump out loo. The difference in cost to change a pump out is likely to be phenomenal, both in cost and pleasantness.

Thanks, that’s promising. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a new hole drilled. 
I had been thinking about a bath but that’s definitely something to consider. As for the loo, it’s a cassette: just a case of sliding it into a new room! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The bed was made into a cross-bed, a wardrobe/cupboard was made to take 2 folding bicycles, the bathroom wall was moved to make it larger, a pump-out tank was removed and a cassette toilet installed and the area redecorated.

More than just a bathroom added to an empty space then? I doubt my final bill would come near to that even if I paid for the whole thing, but thanks for the information! 

1 hour ago, Opener said:

Not much helpful to add

Useful info though, I hadn’t put much thought into it and now I don’t have to ☺️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I bought a NB that had the same done to it. It was done by a boatyard and the invoices in the pack of papers showed it cost £11,000 in labour. (£60 + VAT per hour)

 

It costs 2x or 3x as much to 're-build something' rather than starting from scratch, (an empty hull) when there are already walls, toilets, etc etc in the way half the time is taken carefully ripping out what was there before actual 'constructive' work can start.

 

Strewth, I've just paid less than that in labour for my bathroom at home to be completely stripped back to bare walls and rebuilt!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

There's no way gravity is going to empty a bath/shower on a boat unless it's fitted above the waterline. Either need a Gulper or a pair of step ladders to solve some practical problems. 

 

The work is not massively over complicated, and as cheap as you can make it, if you do it yourself; with time, tools and patience, and planning. Bulkhead, floor, plumbing...' what budget do you want to work with? Under a £1,000? 

 

 

 

Edited by Higgs
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are thinking about fitting a bath, not only do you have to remove the water, (easy with a pump) it also has to be filled, which greatly depends on how big the on-board water storage is. (Main water tank and hot water tank)

 

Bod.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How will an totally exposed person get from the bedroom to the new bathroom?. If you have an overnight guest on the sofa etc would they have to pass them?, anyone coming from the shower will also have to pass through the boat to get dressed, there is a reason bathrooms are normally between the bedroom and accommodation spaces.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Detling said:

How will an totally exposed person get from the bedroom to the new bathroom?. If you have an overnight guest on the sofa etc would they have to pass them?, anyone coming from the shower will also have to pass through the boat to get dressed, there is a reason bathrooms are normally between the bedroom and accommodation spaces.

 

Have you tried using a bathroom, when access was from a boatman's cabin, through the engine room and through a bedroom to get to it. Unless you're very friendly with the person in the bedroom, you walk around the outside of the boat and back in through the front; I have. Difficult week. 

 

 

Edited by Higgs
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

Touching the hull probably only involve drilling a skin fitting hole preferably above the waterline, and fitting a skin fitting.

 

And don't forget to block the old hole in the hull!

A wooden plug hammered in from the outside, cut off flush, and blacking over the area, will do until such time as the boat is out of the water and the hole can be welded up (say next time the hull is blacked).

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Higgs said:

 

There's no way gravity is going to empty a bath/shower on a boat unless it's fitted above the waterline. Either need a Gulper or a pair of step ladders to solve some practical problems. 

 

The work is not massively over complicated, and as cheap as you can make it, if you do it yourself; with time, tools and patience, and planning. Bulkhead, floor, plumbing...' what budget do you want to work with? Under a £1,000? 

 

 

 

Thanks for your insight, I would like to keep it under £1k and if it’s relatively uncomplicated  like you say that shouldn’t be difficult. The less I spend on labour the more I have to play with when it comes to things like tiles etc. 
 

The current shower has a  (gulper?) pump which I’m hoping to reuse... would that work for a bath? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Detling said:

How will an totally exposed person get from the bedroom to the new bathroom?. If you have an overnight guest on the sofa etc would they have to pass them?, anyone coming from the shower will also have to pass through the boat to get dressed, there is a reason bathrooms are normally between the bedroom and accommodation spaces.

Quite easily actually, as I hope you can see from my (very quick) first draft of the plan. The idea is also a bathroom which someone could dress and undress in, which is completely impossible at the moment. 
 

In regards to people passing me in the night to use the bathroom, I don’t think I’ll have a guest to stay who I would feel uncomfortable passing my bedroom at night ?

3FDA7A11-7B78-4628-86D2-7591E83E2BEA.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Under your new design will you be able to exit the boat from your bedroom without going past the kitchen?.

I have memories of rescuing an idiot neighbour who’s boat was on fire. He had blocked off the forward access with steel shutters, locked from the outside, and the fire was in the engine compartment he had to cross to get out.

If we hadn’t put the fire part out from outside the boat, he would probably have been much more badly burned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do the dotted lines denote ? are they the Gunnels or the tumblehome ?

 

Either way it looks as if the doorway from the Bathroom to the engine room is only about 12" wide.

The bed looks very narrow and appears to go under the gunnels (?) How high off the floor is your bed going to be ?

 

I have found in the past that 'things on paper' rarely work out in practice - I remember designing an exhibition stand for the company and when we actually got on site the table and chairs 'fitted' in the space, but there was not enough room to actually pull the chairs out from under the table to be able to sit on them. 

 

Once you have the hull stripped out make some mock-ups of furniture, toilet, bed, doors and walls out of cardboard / cardboard boxes and see how they all fit together. Better to spend time getting it to work, than spending huge amounts of money and being unable to 'make the dream'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

What do the dotted lines denote ? are they the Gunnels or the tumblehome ?

 

Either way it looks as if the doorway from the Bathroom to the engine room is only about 12" wide.

The bed looks very narrow and appears to go under the gunnels (?) How high off the floor is your bed going to be ?

 

I have found in the past that 'things on paper' rarely work out in practice - I remember designing an exhibition stand for the company and when we actually got on site the table and chairs 'fitted' in the space, but there was not enough room to actually pull the chairs out from under the table to be able to sit on them. 

 

Once you have the hull stripped out make some mock-ups of furniture, toilet, bed, doors and walls out of cardboard / cardboard boxes and see how they all fit together. Better to spend time getting it to work, than spending huge amounts of money and being unable to 'make the dream'.

Thank you for the concern but I did say this is a rough first draft, the only reason I shared it was to demonstrate the layout in terms of where everything was. 
 

I understand that it isn’t technically correct and there are many things to consider before I start building but I’m really here for tips and cost estimates for the bathroom... thanks! 

1 hour ago, roland elsdon said:

Under your new design will you be able to exit the boat from your bedroom without going past the kitchen?.

I have memories of rescuing an idiot neighbour who’s boat was on fire. He had blocked off the forward access with steel shutters, locked from the outside, and the fire was in the engine compartment he had to cross to get out.

If we hadn’t put the fire part out from outside the boat, he would probably have been much more badly burned.

That sounds scary! There is a hatch, bedroom-side of the kitchen which will do perfectly as a fire escape ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.