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Expanses of rust beneath shower. Disaster?


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Greetings all, hope you enjoyed the rain this morning!

 

 

So I've pulled out the bed (that was seemingly made from American white oak and old pallets), and dismantled the room. We now have access under the shower tray, and the bilge below. The marine ply is a little warped here. Might be from water damage? Also found some semi-precious stones that belonged to previous owners...

 

The pump is connected to the water system as well as the waste.... I suppose to allow the system to be drained? The hose that you see leaving the pump connects to a copper pipe of around 10mm diameter to pass through the hull. Is this normal?

 

tumblr_np3z4xuZgN1s2l2leo1_1280.jpg

 

Upon inspection, I've discovered that there's rather a lot of brown, flaky stuff down there....

 

tumblr_np3z72pWRv1s2l2leo1_1280.jpg

 

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The bilge is dry to the touch. The shower tray holds water, and unless you operate the pump, water will remain in the waste for days... so my guess is that the damage was caused either by poor tiling, or that it's from a previous installation.

 

There is some thick black plastic on the bilge floor (2nd image) , that doesn't seem to extend beneath the waste. The waste is in contact with the steel.... this seems odd to me. I'd want to put the plastic beneath the shower...so I wonder if it's been plled up in order to deal with a leak? Or, perhaps condensation is forming when the waste has hot water in it?

 

I had a scrape... and there's a fair bit of rust... an interesting experience - knowing that the canal is 10mm away, as you scrape a good 3mm away!

 

Didn't show up in the survey.

 

Probably have to pull the entire shower installation out to get to the bilge here - which I want to do anyway. The inspection-hatch at the stern is dry and rust free..

 

Any suggestions on what course to take?

 

I considered cutting away the warped ply, and treating as much of the exposed bilge as possible, before pulling apart the adjacent bathroom.

Edited by Rendelf
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Had a similar problem, although we found the wet area under the shower before we purchased. Had the surveyor pay special attention. It was ok but we still knocked a wad off the offer price to cover necessary work.

 

I ripped out the shower and set about the area with wire brushes, sanders etc until all loose rust had been removed. I then treated the area with Aquaseal rust inhibitor and then treated it again and again. I then left the area open for a about a month to make certain the rust had stabilised prior to top-coating. The shower tray has not been replaced yet (not a liveaboard) and the area is still clear of rust some three months later.

Edited by Traveller
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The rule of thumb seems to be that rust is 8-10 times thicker than the steel it came from. So your 3mm is really 0.3mm.

 

If you can get a decent chunk out in one piece, then measure its area and its weight, An earlier posting suggests that 1.2 g/sq cm means you have lost about 0,1mm of steel.

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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The rule of thumb seems to be that rust is 8-10 times thicker than the steel it came from. So your 3mm is really 0.3mm.

 

If you can get a decent chunk out in one piece, then measure its area and its weight, An earlier posting suggests that 1.2 g/sq cm means you have lost about 0,1mm of steel.

Thanks, this is reassuring. :)

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