RAM PROMASTER VAN BUILD - DIY Shower Pan 

My tennis ball idea was just a way to save a failed plan. I thought for sure I was going to have to remake the thing - nope, it worked better than we could have imagined. Cheers

ha ha ha ha

thank you!

Cool, good luck with your project. I’m not sure how we came up with the ball idea… I guess after our plan “A” didn’t work, we needed good plan “B”. We are having a great time building our van. Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated. Dwayne

@@LifeIsShortDIY I started constructing my shower pan yesterday- I'm following your process to the letter, but I'm left with two questions. My first question pertains to how the shower pan makes contact with the floor beneath it... the way the tennis ball creates a concave area around the drain, how did you control how deep of a depression the tennis ball created so that the deepest part, where the drain is inserted doesn't protrude past the floor of the shower pan - I'm guessing that the deepest part must be flush with the bottom of the pan for the drain insert to be snugly fitted and for the entire bottom of the shower pan to be flush when it rests on the floor of the van. How did you get that concave part so accurate? I''m concerned about making an error and then having that concave area of 1/4" wood crack, either during installation of the drain, or by accidentally stepping on it when showering. My second question: Can you tell me, how did you attach the finished shower pan to the van floor? I've got sheet vinyl as the top layer of the floor, with a 5/8" layer of plywood as my subfloor, which is screwed and glued to 2 x 2" joists scattered throughout the van floor- I have no control over where those joists will line up beneath the shower pan- the shower pan can only fit into one, pre-determined spot in the van so I have no guarantee of hitting the joists with any screws. Did you screw and/or glue the shower pan to the subfloor? How did you handle this part of the installation? I'd be so grateful for a reply, I really want to avoid making a mistake and hope to take advantage of your experience with this project. Thank you for a brilliant design idea! (Please forgive me, I've posted this comment in two different places in the hopes that you will find it- I don't mean to be rude by making a duplicate post.)

I would love to hear how that turns out. Keep me in the loop. Cheers Dwayne

@@LifeIsShortDIY I ended up re skinning all the walls with new plywood, sloping the floor to the drain 3/8” to 1/2” per foot. I caulked all seams well and used 4-5 coats of redgard over all surfaces creating a seamless room and topped it all off with exterior house paint. I still want to put some penny tiles on the floor. For the drain I used 2 - 12” by 12” by 1/2” pieces of plywood. On the bottom upper plywood piece I routed out 3/8” deep by 8” circle and used the drain to draw it into a well. The void between these two pieces was filled with subfloor adhesive for a little extra support.

@@White000Crow sounds good.

Thank you for the feedback, and I appreciate the advice. kindest regards.

Thanks for the feedback and great ideas. Appreciated. Cheers

Hi there, thanks for the feedback. Water sealant - I have heard from others that adding water sealant on the seams is not needed and could actually compromise the integrity of the flex seal. Apparently the flex seal doesn’t stick to it? I haven’t experienced that problem yet, but that was one point shared with me, so I will pass it on. I think the groove or indentation in the wood is necessary to finish the work properly. This ensures that no water can pool right by the lip of the drain. Our plan “B” as depicted in the video worked really well. I think we just go lucky! 🙂 Kindest regards Dwayne

Thanks for the question. Two things, 1) the flexseal seems to get dirty easy 2) it also seems to wipe clean easy, with just a damp cloth or a little soap and water. So far no issues I did hear from another fellow, and he said it doesn't stick to the seam sealant I used, so if he is right, that might be a step to skip. So far for us, no issues cheers

Hi, thanks for your question. I don’t have an update for you. Although we have been using the van, we have not used the shower yet as we are largely still in “build” mode. I’m currently working on the installation of the water tank and plumbing. Sorry I don’t have any updates for you. Kindest regards Dwayne

Hi Sheri, thank you for your questions. Plywood, even thin plywood, does not bend easily. Even with the 100+ lbs. we had on the tennis ball, after three days it barely warped the plywood, which was perfect - just enough for drainage but not enough to protrude past the plywood frame. I think we could have left it a week with the weight on it, and it still wouldn’t have gone any further. The ¼” birch plywood is VERY strong. There is no concern at all about stepping on it. We have sheet vinyl as the top layer of our floor as well. That is video 13 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OqjFu2AhzwU.html in our van build series. Our flat-bottomed shower pan is going to sit directly on top of the floor. Within the shower basin we will place a porta potty, and then cover the entire basin and porta potty with an open bottom padded box to conceal the basin and porta potty and to provide additional seating as well as a step up to the bed. I have illustrated this layout plan in video 6 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Hbalc4x_vIc.html. The section in question starts about 4 minutes in where I start to talk about the shower. As far as securing the shower basin to the floor, we have nothing planned yet, other than the drain itself. The drain actually holds the basin quite securely. At the end of video 7, I tightened up the drain to the floor bottom before the flooring was in. I was surprised by how secure it was, it wasn’t going to move anywhere. At that point in time, I wasn’t sure if I was just going to leave it there and build the floor around it, or remove it later, install the floor and place it on top of the floor. I’m currently working on walls and cabinets, so I have most things, including the shower basin, removed. In the end, if I have to secure it with something more than the metal drain itself, I will likely use a small “L” bracket on the sliding door side of the basin, to help secure the basin to the floor. Sheri, I hope all of that helps, and good luck with your build. Kindest regards, Dwayne

@@LifeIsShortDIY This helps very much and I'm grateful to you for the prompt and very thoughtful, detailed reply! I made the mistake of installing my flooring before adding the shower pan so it changed up a number of things for me. The wood is now set with the tennis ball and weight- but not 100 pounds - I was wary of cracking it, after your reply, I think I'll add some more weight! Your comments help tremendously, thank you very, very much!

will do. looks like a solid product so far.

Yeah, there are always items that come to you in hindsight….

Sorry to hear that. We have had no issues with the product on our shower pan, however it was virgin wood. Time will tell though.

Hi, I don’t have any additional experience with the product to provide at this time. We are still very much in the “build” stages of the van. Cheers

Instead of Flexseal I would fiberglass it with epoxy resin.

Good morning, Sasha, I think that is a great question. I think fiberglass might be a great solution. There is more than one way to cook an egg. I think fiberglass would be a great solution. Cheers Dwayne

Good to know. Thanks for the heads-up. We will keep an eye open for that. Cheers

Will it peel off.of 100% silicone?