Daft question about showers on yachts

[ross84]

Just bumping this:

I've seen a Sadler 32 - listed as having hot water and a shower. The shower is basically the tap in the head which can be pulled out. It has hot water too via immersion heater, I think.

At Liverpool Marina, apparently the shower block is terrible (and berthing is not cheap there either!), so if I spent time on the boat I'd really need to use the shower. It seems that consensus says showering on boats is a bad idea.

So would the main problems of condensation be controllable with:

1. Shore Power (to heat water and use dehumidifier)
2. Unlimited water from Marina (for the shower)

Honestly, when I'm cruising, it matters not to me about showering, on mountain trips sometimes I go a week without one. Getting a bucket shower in the cockpit sounds fine to me but not at 7am in the morning on a February morning...

Other aspects of living aboard seem fine to me - lack of space, proper bed, no freezer, etc. but the shower area is one thing I must find a solution to. Any further advice welcome !

 

[ryanroberts]

I've seen a Sadler 32 - listed as having hot water and a shower. The shower is basically the tap in the head which can be pulled out. It has hot water too via immersion heater, I think.

Yup that seems like basically the deal on older boats much under 40'. A bit different to my narrowboat. I gave up ironing years ago at least. Have lived without (using, I have one) a fridge or freezer for years. Really not needed in this climate at least. A compact ice machine will run on an inverter if you have 100W of spare solar capacity or shore power, so you can have cold drinks when it's warm.

Certainly not getting anything like this.

 

[RupertW]

Just bumping this:

I've seen a Sadler 32 - listed as having hot water and a shower. The shower is basically the tap in the head which can be pulled out. It has hot water too via immersion heater, I think.

At Liverpool Marina, apparently the shower block is terrible (and berthing is not cheap there either!), so if I spent time on the boat I'd really need to use the shower. It seems that consensus says showering on boats is a bad idea.

So would the main problems of condensation be controllable with:

1. Shore Power (to heat water and use dehumidifier)
2. Unlimited water from Marina (for the shower)

Honestly, when I'm cruising, it matters not to me about showering, on mountain trips sometimes I go a week without one. Getting a bucket shower in the cockpit sounds fine to me but not at 7am in the morning on a February morning...

Other aspects of living aboard seem fine to me - lack of space, proper bed, no freezer, etc. but the shower area is one thing I must find a solution to. Any further advice welcome !

We live on board our boat maybe 3 or 4 months of the year and haven’t used marina showers in many years. We have two heads/shower compartments with water heated by immersion heater or engine. We have a dehumidifier but haven’t used it for a year or two as we find it’s only needed when it’s pouring down and we are cooking and showering and drying clothes. Mostly a few slightly open hatches and a fan heater in cold weather is fine.

So at anchor in Summer the “cold” water is 20-28 degrees C same as the sea temperature, and no heating is needed. In cooler seasons we will heat water at anchor by running the engine for 20 minutes - mostly as we are using it anyway to come into the bay. Most nights in cool weather we are in a marina so immersion. Equally we will shower each evening on overnight sails even when quite rough as we feel so much better and rested diving freshly washed into a clean bunk, ready for the next watch.

I can never understand people on boats who will traipse down to a communal shower with wash kit, towel and clothes when they have a shower and private clean facilities right in front of them.

 

[vyv_cox]

I assume the shower facilities on a Sadler 32 are pretty much the same as on our 34. There is no dedicated shower room. Most of the heads walls are varnished wood except that the hanging lockers on the starboard side are blanked off with pvc curtains. Cleaning up after a shower would take longer than the shower did. Lots of the water will run aft into the saloon bilges. Very different from a bigger boat with a proper lined compartment.

 

[Bellacruiser]

I can never understand people on boats who will traipse down to a communal shower with wash kit, towel and clothes when they have a shower and private clean facilities right in front of them.

My husband is one of those weirdos. Can’t understand it. Even in the swankiest marinas in the med/Adriatic, by the time I’ve traipsed there in flip flops, dragging my towel, forgetting my shampoo and likely dropping underwear or something on the way back, the hot water’s bloody run out anyway, at least in peak season. Not to mention some heathen will have left hair everywhere or walked sand in or something.

I’d rather trust the boat to heat the water and emerge from the (clean!) bathroom at my leisure, not to a crowd of queuing holiday makers whilst clutching my belongings!

 

[doug748]

"At Liverpool Marina, apparently the shower block is terrible (and berthing is not cheap there either!), so if I spent time on the boat I'd really need to use the shower. It seems that consensus says showering on boats is a bad idea.

So would the main problems of condensation be controllable with:

1. Shore Power (to heat water and use dehumidifier)
2. Unlimited water from Marina (for the shower)"

People reporting lovely showers on boats are mainly talking about summer, often in the Med and likely on boats 40ft plus.

Get something for your money and shower ashore, at least it will be warm. Don't even think of washing on board until the temperature is 70 F.

On a Sadler 32, in winter, in Lancashire, you would freeze your gonads off before, during and after. The boat would smell to the Gods, the wood work would rot and poke up your bum hole as you bent over. You would spend a fortune on heating a trickle of water, the condensation would be terrible, your towels would reek and your underpants would, without question, fall into the stinking excuse for a shower grating.

In short, forget it. Or maybe give it a go, it will only be the once.

 

[ross84]

People reporting lovely showers on boats are mainly talking about summer, often in the Med and likely on boats 40ft plus.

Get something for your money and shower ashore, at least it will be warm. Don't even think of washing on board until the temperature is 70 F.

On a Sadler 32, in winter, in Lancashire, you would freeze your gonads off before, during and after. The boat would smell to the Gods, the wood work would rot and poke up your bum hole as you bent over. You would spend a fortune on heating a trickle of water, the condensation would be terrible, your towels would reek and your underpants would, without question, fall into the stinking excuse for a shower grating.

In short, forget it. Or maybe give it a go, it will only be the once.

So dehumidifier + some open hatches would not solve this issue?

Be interested to hear from anyone who liveaboard in British winters!

Maybe I should buy a narrowboat after all :/

 

[ross84]

I assume the shower facilities on a Sadler 32 are pretty much the same as on our 34. There is no dedicated shower room. Most of the heads walls are varnished wood except that the hanging lockers on the starboard side are blanked off with pvc curtains. Cleaning up after a shower would take longer than the shower did. Lots of the water will run aft into the saloon bilges. Very different from a bigger boat with a proper lined compartment.

So I can assume that the 32 would probably be the same... with the use of a curtain, would this issue be solved? Can't the bilges be cleared using the pump?

Thanks

 

[ryanroberts]

Maybe I should buy a narrowboat after all :/

Getting a ticket from a car clamping firm for pinning up in Kingston to go to the shops because you didn't book using their app mentioned on the sign you can't read from the back of a 60' boat on the river or cruising past the Armitage Shanks bog factory while some scoat p*sses on you from a bridge loses its lustre after a while.

 

[dgadee]

Crew refuses to use shower blocks. French ones, full of hair after being "cleaned" put her off. We spent a couple of weeks in A Coruna over a wet winter with weather like home and the boat was wet with condensation. She refused to give up showering on board. We had no dehumidifier but I think a Meaco would have dried things up.

This was a smallish 37 footer.

 

[RupertW]

My husband is one of those weirdos. Can’t understand it. Even in the swankiest marinas in the med/Adriatic, by the time I’ve traipsed there in flip flops, dragging my towel, forgetting my shampoo and likely dropping underwear or something on the way back, the hot water’s bloody run out anyway, at least in peak season. Not to mention some heathen will have left hair everywhere or walked sand in or something.

I’d rather trust the boat to heat the water and emerge from the (clean!) bathroom at my leisure, not to a crowd of queuing holiday makers whilst clutching my belongings!

Exactly - and seeing your sig l miss Croatia as we’ve spent 5 of the last 10 seasons based there. I’m not complaining right now as the last two days have been in the mid-20s but feeling hotter with little breeze and no clouds at all. But Canaries are a Croatian spring all year, with no full Summer.

 

[V1701]

Ross we full time working liveaboards, almost all of us here in the UK, traipse to the showers here in UK, it just becomes part of your routine. There may be a few who have a larger, modern boat with a separate plastic wetroom which may have a proper shower cubicle who might consider regularly showering on board but I don't know a single person who lives in our marina (a big one with hundreds of liveaboards) who showers on board. Dehumidifier and open hatches are an either/or and neither would be sufficient to properly dry out and keep dried out a head on a Sadler 32 where the shower was used daily. Wood will suffer, the bilges will smell and require regular proper cleaning not just pumping out. The amount of effort to keep things ship shape just so you can shower on board would be untenable for most but give it a try, almost any conditions can be endured. Your electricity costs would significantly increase if you did attempt it. Go have a look at the shower block and if it really is so bad have a rethink...

 

[ross84]

Ross we full time working liveaboards, almost all of us here in the UK, traipse to the showers here in UK, it just becomes part of your routine. There may be a few who have a larger, modern boat with a separate plastic wetroom which may have a proper shower cubicle who might consider regularly showering on board but I don't know a single person who lives in our marina (a big one with hundreds of liveaboards) who showers on board. Dehumidifier and open hatches are an either/or and neither would be sufficient to properly dry out and keep dried out a head on a Sadler 32 where the shower was used daily. Wood will suffer, the bilges will smell and require regular proper cleaning not just pumping out. The amount of effort to keep things ship shape just so you can shower on board would be untenable for most but give it a try, almost any conditions can be endured. Your electricity costs would significantly increase if you did attempt it. Go have a look at the shower block and if it really is so bad have a rethink...

Thanks for the informative answer.

Assuming shower situation is poor - I guess I could just use a sink/flannel and in the warmer weather use a bucket in the cockpit when the bimini is up. I actually don't even have a shower now because it broke years ago, so I just use a bucket while crouching down in the bath. There are also showers at work too.

It's good to know these things!

 

[RupertW]

Ross we full time working liveaboards, almost all of us here in the UK, traipse to the showers here in UK, it just becomes part of your routine. There may be a few who have a larger, modern boat with a separate plastic wetroom which may have a proper shower cubicle who might consider regularly showering on board but I don't know a single person who lives in our marina (a big one with hundreds of liveaboards) who showers on board. Dehumidifier and open hatches are an either/or and neither would be sufficient to properly dry out and keep dried out a head on a Sadler 32 where the shower was used daily. Wood will suffer, the bilges will smell and require regular proper cleaning not just pumping out. The amount of effort to keep things ship shape just so you can shower on board would be untenable for most but give it a try, almost any conditions can be endured. Your electricity costs would significantly increase if you did attempt it. Go have a look at the shower block and if it really is so bad have a rethink...

I do agree if there was any wood in the shower apart from the varnished door it would be difficult but otherwise two people showering daily works fine and is a lot less steamy in the saloon than cooking. But both heads/showers have opening top hatches and each compartment is otherwise sealed plastic - but I think thats fairly standard for most boats in the last 30 years.

 

[PlanB]

I lived aboard for 12 years in the Med and only used the on board shower when too ill to get to the shower block. Why pay for water and elec when you can use the free ones, not to mention cleaning afterwards.

 

[RupertW]

I lived aboard for 12 years in the Med and only used the on board shower when too ill to get to the shower block. Why pay for water and elec when you can use the free ones, not to mention cleaning afterwards.

I do understand this - most of the marinas we’ve been based including the one I’m in now include electricity and water as part of the deal so no extra costs - I would find using the communal facilities as slumming it more than I could take - but do see that if there was a price to be paid then I would at least consider whether the comfort and privacy was worth that price.

 

[capnsensible]

Has anyone considered, in this age of awareness, the effects of pumping shower waste into the marina?

Might be worth checking in the terms of the marina contract too.

 

[ryanroberts]

The effect of that is going to depend a lot on the products you use. I think the largest environmental impact of grey water is processing huge volumes of it in the same system as sewage. Water processing has a huge carbon footprint (2 million tonnes annually in the UK). I'd be pretty happy with my impact using hippie soap and a separator toilet.

 

[jordanbasset]

I prefer to use marina showers, normally gallons of hot water which I can luxuriate in to my hearts content and no faff of pumping out the water and cleaning/drying up the shower after

 

[V1701]

The effect of that is going to depend a lot on the products you use. I think the largest environmental impact of grey water is processing huge volumes of it in the same system as sewage. Water processing has a huge carbon footprint (2 million tonnes annually in the UK). I'd be pretty happy with my impact using hippie soap and a separator toilet.

I had an electric fresh water flushing toilet with a 200l holding tank on my CW34, what a bloody nightmare for FT living aboard. Now I have a separator loo and a large tool locker...