Cruising on our '91 Cape Dory 30' powerboat is a delight, but there's always been one fly in the ointment. For some reason, there is no shutoff valve on the faucet in the head.
There is the usual telephone-type spray handle on an extension, for use as a shower, but once you've wetted down, turned the water off, and soaped up, it's necessary to once again spend many seconds (and a few gallons) finding that delicate balance of the hot and cold valves that leaves you feeling neither like a lobster in its final moments, nor an olive in a chilled martini.
This adjustment is all the more difficult because, like most boat faucets, the expensive Grohe faucet used on our boat is not particularly good at maintaining even flow at the low pressures found on boat water systems. The inexpensive accumulator tank we added has smoothed out the flow once it's set, but it's hard to get to that point.
I don't know how many Cape Dorys have the same faucet, or don't have the shutoff valve. The faucet has more or less triangular knobs, sticking out at about a 45 degree angle to the vertical, with a red dot in the center of the hot one and a blue dot in the cold.
And I can't fathom why the shutoff was omitted. Maybe Andy figured that if powerboaters can tote around 60 gallons of water, they don't need to conserve it. Or perhaps he thought powerboaters don't shower. Or maybe someone just swiped the valve off the faucet.
Anyway, there is a happy ending, and it comes from five magic digits: 28035. This is the Grohe part number of the shutoff valve that was omitted from the base of our faucet. I ordered it from a local Grohe dealer, but if there's none nearby, calling Grohe at 800-444-7643 will turn up the nearest distributor.
Now we can press the little button, reduce the water flow to the trickle necessary to maintain temperature, and enjoy cruising in comfort - and good odor.
- Walt
bilofsky@toolworks.com
Singin' in the Shower: A Shutoff Valve
Moderator: Jim Walsh