Here is a Houzz pic of an alcove tub next to the shower

I can't find a picture of drop-in, not fully decked tub option.

If it were my house, I'd get rid of the tub and build a steam shower, but he wants one. It's a mountain ski home that the whole family uses, and he spends a few months up there through out the year. He also rents the house out, but not a whole lot, mostly to friends of friends when someone in the family is not using it. So he feels like he should have a tub. I might be able to talk him out of it, not sure.

The other side of the bathroom is also 9' and it has a 6' double sink vanity and a toilet. Those will be replaced but not changing the footprint. I don't have a picture of that side. The toilet is across from the shower. There's a walk in closet to the right of the shower in the above picture.

Even with an alcove tub there will need to be some kind of structure between the tub and shower. Typically this would be a standard wall thickness either as a pony wall the height (but much thinner) than what he has now or something low like the inspiration. The primary difference between what he has now and your inspiration is that the tub plumbing is on the opposite wall rather than on the wall between the shower and tub.

I am a shower person so I can completely understand the desire to have a larger shower. Whether a 5' tub will work may depend on the height of the bather (how tall is your father?) and how deep the tub is. I would not use a "standard" alcove tub but rather a nice deep tub either with integrated tile flanges (so you don't have any real tub deck) or an undermount tub so that in either case you can minimize the excess space surrounding the tub itself to maximize the shower. I had a 66" deep soaking tub (20" deep) and my 6'3" husband fit well in it. If your father isn't that tall, maybe a 60" long by 20" deep tub would suffice. A pony wall is about 4.5" thick. So if you opted for tile flange option with 60" tub that would leave you with about 43.5" shower width (assuming exactly 9' wall to wall).

Another option might be to have the tub inside of the shower enclosure so it is all wet space. I haven't ever seen one in person but have seen them on TV before. That might allow you to eliminate the pony wall and have the shower start right where the tub ends. Additionally this might feel larger because there would be no glass wall between the shower and tub so the space would feel more open.

I did think about the option of moving the plumbing, but I haven't yet asked him about that. I was trying to noodle on this a bit before talking to him or the contractor about it.

What can fit in a 4.5" pony wall. Can the plumbing go in there? At home my pony wall has my shower valve and diverter in it, but not the fixture.

I mis-typed. I meant to say that at my house the pony wall has my shower valve and diverter in it, but no tub-related plumbing in it. My tub plumbing is on the opposite side and the tub filler is mounted on the decking. I'm curious what can fit in a pony wall. How much space is required for tub plumbing?

I have tried to talk him out of the tub. I'll keep trying.

If you are reworking plumbing there are many solutions to fit plumbing into standard walls with PEC type lines and insulate them well for cold climates if on outside walls.

There are 2 other tubs (small tub/shower combos) in the house. And there's a hot tub outside. I will make another attempt at deleting the tub, but in the meanwhile, trying to determine the best way to work with this 9' space. Is it a big deal to steal some space from the closet? The closet is right behind the showerhead. What would that entail?

The contractor doesn't want to put plumbing in the exterior wall. This is high up in the mountains. I live way down south, so I feel like I should go with what he says since he lives there and works there all year long. But I will certainly ask him about that on our next call.

Not freestanding tub, but could he build a little ledge like this next to the wall and plumbing could go in there? How much space is required? The current tile goes out to 42" so there seems to be plenty of width.

The closet is really big, and since it's not a permanent residence, it's never filled to capacity. I'll ask the contractor about it. I don't want to spend a lot to gain just a few inches.

Thanks for all your feedback. I am still going to try hard to get him to ditch the tub. He never uses it, so I don't see the point in keeping it. I'll ask a local realtor about it also, just in case of a resale.

I'm going to start a new thread. I fell like if I do a really good drawing I might be able to win him over.

Thanks. He is putting a walk in tub in his permanent residence here locally for my Mom and himself. Since this is a family vacation / sometimes rental home, he doesn't want to do that up there.

I think I am going to be able to convince him to get rid of the tub and install a large shower with a bench, and a linen cabinet next to it.

Thanks for all your feedback. I will probably be starting several threads over the next several weeks because he turned it all over to us, and the contractor is starting demo July 20.

My sister and I have selected all the materials (this is a whole house remodel): flooring, kitchen and bath counters, cabinets, back splashes, shower tile, etc. I'm going to talk to him about deleting the tub tomorrow.

I have been asked by the family to be the "chief of staff and communications director", my DS is the "cabinet secretary of design, organization and shopping."

The secretary of design, organization and shopping is going up to the house next week with her DH to choose stack-stone for rocking the 2 fireplaces and cleaning out the house, tossing/donating to get it ready for demo.

Success!! I did some careful drawings on graph paper showing that for all the thousands of dollars it takes to rebuild a bathroom, he would only gain 7.5" of shower length, over what he has now, if he wanted to have a 60" tub, resulting in a shower with the dimensions 39" x 43.5." Then I showed him a graph paper drawing of some alternatives, getting rid of the tub, building a nice large shower with a bench, and linen cabinet beside that. Before I could even finish one sentence of my "pitch" he said "Yes, lets do that."

My Dad is a PhD mathematician, professor and engineer. I think the graph paper helped : ). He's remarkably modern and flexible, while still being careful and deliberate; not a bad combination. I'm learning more about him from this process than ever before.

Thanks Flo for your encouragement. We also chose all the "hard" materials yesterday (flooring, counters, tile, etc). I'm sure I'll need to start some new threads, especially after things get rolling.

Smart move to draw it out on paper. Really happy for you that you've come to a solution for your dad. I similarly need to see things on paper before I can commit. With other tubs in the house it sounds like this will be a fantastic, luxurious bathroom for your dad. I hope you'll share some pictures as you go.