More shower fun with single wall showers.

If you have a single wall shower in a bath tub like me, and you not capable of keeping all the shower water inside of the bath tub, than you'll have a very wet bathroom floor. In fact you have a problem, because there are no good solutions for this in the market.

Basically there are two systems.

1) A U-shaped rail attached to the wall. For example like this. The entire curtain hangs on two screws. The momentum of the curtain is very big, and the forces on the screws must be gigantic. It either bends or breaks. Yes, there are extra sets to get some support from the ceiling, but my ceiling is not strong enough to support anything.

2) A so called spider. Like this. A much nicer construction, but still way too expensive for what it actually does: keep up a shower curtain.

In addition there is another big problem with shower curtains and that is space vs. hot air. Shower curtains react heavily on the vacuum, generated by the rising hot air of your shower. This (everybody knows) sucks the cold curtain against your freshly cleaned body. Yuck! This is for sure in my top 10 list nasty feelings.

This becomes worse if you'd like to shower together, which - I think - is a good thing to do in a healthy relationship.

Your problems are over now with the WET TURTLE! For less than 20 euro's you can build one in an hour or so. It can be folded in a second. It's out of the way, hygienic and sufficient space for two people to shower. No sticky shower curtains, you can (re)use your current shower curtain without adjustments.

Materials:
1 shower cutain.            €20,00 I used a 200 x 180 cm curtain.
17m PVC pipe 16mm    € 8,50
14m PA Rope 5mm       € 7,00
2 Ring Screws               € 1,50
                                      €37,00

Tools:
- Electric Drill
- Hacksaw.
- Candle.

Step 1: Cutting the PVC Pipes

Tip: read the entire manual before you start! Understanding is the best tool there is.

Determine how big you want your shower curtain to be. I made it 120cm wide and 80 cm deep, which is a lot of space.

Cut the PVC needed for the frames. In total there are 5 frames. 4 are U-shaped and 1 is a closed rectangle.

In my example I need 4 pieces of 280cm and 1 piece of 400cm.

Cutting of PVC pipes is best done like this:
- enrole the pipe in a piece of paper at the desired position
- mark the line of the paper all the way around with a marker
- cut the pipe while turning bit by bit.
- like this you'll get a nice straight cut.

You might need to join pipes. This can be done with the socket that was already there on my 2m pipes. Other wise you can make socket like this:
- slowly turn the tip of the pvc pipe above the flame of a candle until it's soft. Be carefull not to burn it. PVC smoke is very unhealthy.
- shift it over another pipe.
- the tip should be a bit hotter so it opens up easily
- the base should be a bit colder so it doesn't collapse
- practice first. If something went wrong you can re-heat the tip, it will shrink back to it's original shape (more or less).

Step 2: Bend the PVC Pipes

Bend the PVC pipes by slowly turning the pipe ±5cm's above a candle's flame. Again be carefull not to burn it. When it's soft bend it 90 degrees and wait a minute until it's hard again.

Like this you make 4 U frames and 1 rectangular frame.

Step 3: Drill the Holes in the PVC Pipes.

Drill 5mm holes vertically through the PVC pipes in the short ends, about 2,5 cm from the ends. Ignore the second hole in the picture. That was a mistake.

Step 4: Put in the Screws

Drill two holes in the wall. ±20 cm above the head of the tallest person that will use the shower. The distance between the holes is 120cm in my example. Put in plastic plugs and screw in the ringscrews. Make the circles stand vertically.

Step 5: Prepare the Base Ropes

How to cut nylon rope.
- never use scissors, your rope will become a fluffy mess.
- hold it ±5 cm above a candle's flame and slowly turn it, be carefull not to burn it.
- twist it, don't pull it.
- at some point it becomes weak and you'll just twist the rope ends apart
- while the tip(s) are still hot quickly squeeze the tip.
- make your fingers wet, and don't be affraid.
- yes it's scary
- a good tip is not thicker than the rope is.

Prepare the base ropes of about 132cm long. First make a loop that is slightly bigger than the ring of the screw in the wall. This is an easy knot. Do it like the pictures show.

- Pull the string to the holes in the frames.
- The closed rectangle is the top frame.
- Block the frames from falling out with a normal flat knot.
- The length of the rope should be the same as the short end of the frame, in this case 80cm.

Do this on both sides and hang the whole construction on the screws.

Step 6: Attach the Spacer Rope

- Prepare two ropes of approximately 220cm.
- Attach these to the rings.
- String it through the holes
- The distance from the wall to the first frame is 25 cm in my setup.
- Make a knot under each frame every 40cm.
- This depends on the size of your curtain, play a bit with it.

Step 7: Making the Clips

- Cut 18 pieces of 8cm PVC pipe.
- With a hacksaw cut them open length wise.
- Guide the saw with your thumb. Be carefull and be patient.
- Cut away the corners on both sides.

Step 8: Attach the Curtain

Clipping on is a rather annoying step unfortunately. The PVC clips are hards to open. But the good thing is that if they clip, they clip for real. Your curtain is steady as a rock.

To open the clips I crammed in a pipe wrench and then shifted the clip onto the curtain. Slowly sliding the pipe wrench out. The upper and lower pipe need four clips, and then on every frame on the side.

- Before you begin make sure that your curtain is nicely aligned in the center.
- Don't do it alone, like I did. Do it together. Then two people are frustrated :)
- Fold the sides neatly inwards.
- The lowest clip is best done inside out so not so much water collects in the lowest part

Step 9: Pull Up Rope

As an important extra you can add a pull up rope.
- Attach it to the left corner of the lower frame.
- Directly go to the hook in the wall through the outside.
- Lead it to the right hook
- Make shure the curtain is up
- Lead it to a low fixed point e.g. the water tap
- Go back to the right hook
- Lead back the rope to the right corner and attach it
- The pull up rope can now slip out through the right hand hook (if you did it right)
- To prevent this make a nice big loop in the pull up rope
- Test if your turtle opens and closes smoothly.