Fitting a shower

roly_voya

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Hi all, tried this on the liveaboad forum with no replies so perhaps it is better here.

Going to be fittin a shower, never had one on a boat before and not sure how much water they take. The aim is to reduce dependance on marinas so that we can cruise for about a week to 10 days between stops for provisions. Will also be living on board at times when working so might need a quick daily shower.

Fitting it is no problem but I could do the conformation about tank sizes. I was thinking of fitting a 55L calorifier and then increasing water tankage from 250L to 450L bu adding a 200L flexible tank. Does this sound about right, lots or to small?
 

pvb

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Impossible...

Impossible to answer sensibly, I'm afraid. It all depends on personal showering habits. My wife can consume more water showering than you'd ever believe, whilst I (of course) am incredibly frugal. Fit the biggest water tank you can reasonably fit in, and get a shower head with an on/off valve - these are great for conserving water.
 

fireball

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Re: Impossible...

PVB - don't you just use a water filled sugar shaker for your shower ? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 

Salty John

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450l should be fine for what you want to do, unless you are into taking marathon showers. We had 100 gallons capacity on a 33' boat on which we cruised full time for 3 years.
 

roly_voya

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Re: Impossible...

Think I am in the same possition, previosly always use a kettle full of water in a bowl + flannel but new partner is muttering about 'camping' and needing 'proper' facilities to feel at home. It seams this is mainly a decent sized fridge and a shower that will properly rinse your hair (not somthing I have worried about for some years!) But if thats what makes the crew comfortable I am quite happy to do it.
 

roly_voya

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Year can do all the water conservation and on passage thats what we will do but when sauntering along the britany coast or round the hebredies where we can call in for supplies pretty regularly I want to have as many home comforts as practical without ffinnishing up marina hopping. The sort of sailing Iwant to do is to be ably to more off sky, do a trip into the Cullins and when we get back to the boat have hot shower, get sorted and be ready for the next trip.
 

ytd

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as long as you get people to adopt the 2 stage shower process you can keep water consumption down to 10-20 l per shower. Getting the hot water might be more of a problem. Our calorifier needs the engine to run under some load for an hour to heat a full tank - and battery charging isn't enough load. The water only stays hot enough for a shower for 24 hours once the outside temp is below 20.
 

AlanPound

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No-one really likes to use the hot water until it is actually coming through hot.

A trick I heard about (if you can be bothered) is to plumb in a second tap off the hot water supply in the shower, but piped to return the water to the fresh water tank. You can then run the hot tap to pull the hot water through, without actually wasting it.

As soon as it is running hot (feel the pipe), switch it off and take your shower via the shower head in the normal way...
 

Alastairdent

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I used to live on a mooring with no water supplies. 2 adults permanently on board, 4 kids 2-3 days a week.

A 390l tank easily lasted a week. 2 weeks with care.
 
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