Hot water at anchor?

RupertW said:
Being somewhere with the sea at 30 degrees so water tanks similar and that's refreshingly cool after a hot day
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Oh sounds nice, I remember doing my diving courses in Winter in Loch Long with dodgy dry suits , and diving to 20 meters with the water temp showing -2 degrees with water leaking all over then surfacing to a blizzard .
Cold showers after that seem insignificant now ;)
 
Suitcase genset powering the immersion heater. Solar showers need the tropical sun to work. Hang them up rather than leave on the deck, convection will than warm the whole bag rather than just the top.
 
Steve_N said:
Eber DW5 on the second calorifier coil for me. Usually 'shower' in the cockpit with a bowl of warm water and a jug though!
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Last boat had a D5W with a fan powered radiator in the saloon. The hot water heater a 20l calorifier quite effectively. Enough for a quick hot shower as the pressurised water system pushed cold feed to the bottom of the hot tank. Current boat uses engine heat. It only seems to take the time motoring to an anchorage/quay to heat up most of 40l. It is rarely ever run for hot water or charging alone. Saloon/cabin air heat is by a Planar 44D nowadays.
 
No hot water at home onboard for many many years now... not since the calorifier packed up ages ago, when it worked ten minutes would be enough to heat up some water. Otherwise jump overboard if anywhere warm away from the cold north atlantic current . Or solar shower.
 
In summer we shower on the transom after swimming, using freshwater only to rinse off the salt (after washing in saltwater, which works absolutely fine - no special soap needed). It's plenty warm too, at least here in the Med.

In winter we're usually paying for a marina berth, which includes showers with a large supply of hot water at no extra cost. Keeps the moisture out of the boat too, and best of all, someone else cleans the place.

We have a hot water tank heated with an AC immersion heater or the engine coolant. We virtually never use it, and it was broken all last summer (now fixed that we're in port and have access to spare parts) without bothering us in the least.
 
On my previous yacht I had a Webasto “wet” system which heated the calorifier and fan blown matrices in saloon and cabins. I fitted an over-ride switch to the main thermostat, so that even in high ambient temperatures I could run the heater. Two valves in the water circuit were used to isolate the feed to the heating matrices leaving the Webasto to only heat the calorifier. Only took twenty minutes to produce 40 litres of hot water. Worked very well indeed.

Mike
 
A previous boat had a Webasto Thermo-Top that heated the calorifier and three radiators-toasty!

Current vessel has a Webasto hot air and an 8KW Genset. Get a tank of hot water and a good top up of the batteries for 45 min. run of the genny each morning. First Mate does appreciate her shower every morning, and you all know how important it is to keep management happy!

Now and then I'll run the genny for 240v power or the microwave.

We anchor a lot these days, spending up to 5 months aboard each UK summer. I must be close to getting the capital cost of the Genset back by not needing marinas so often and still having the creature comforts First Mate likes. Previously we had one of the excellent Kypor 2600 suitcase gennies which did almost the same job. I prefer not carrying lots of petrol on board, 5 litres for the outboard is enough, extra for the genny was a concern.
 
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We have a domestic gas boiler - instant hot water. It is no more unsafe than your gas oven, except the boiler is vented to the cockpit and the oven not.

I have found that my tolerance for cold water showers has reduced with maturity and also find my granddaughters will not sail without access to hot showers twice a day. I believe it a birthright of young ladies of today (at least 2 showers a day - they do know what a Navy shower is) . The days when 50% of UK families had no bath (1960s), let alone a shower, have long passed - it is the 21st Century. Live in the 19th century if you must - I quite like it now :)

Jonathan
 
We spend most of our time at anchor. We have a black watering can that has a lid and a 3metre hose and shower head fitted. Gets hot during the day. Hang it up from mizzen halyard and shower in cockpit. Alternatively, 12mins on the diesel generator gives us enough hot water for a couple of good showers. I bought a hydronic heater but never got around to installing it as the generator does such a quick job of heating water it seems unnecessary.
If we have had the engine on when leaving of arriving at anchor, we get enough hot water for a couple of days worth of showers
 
On the old boat we used a combination of a kettle via an inverter, saucepan on the gas hob and sometimes the 2kw generator. On our present boat we have a domestic gas boiler producing instant hot water. We enjoy hot water, however, hot water is hot water, it doesn't matter where is coming from.
 
CLB said:
Melting glacier, luxury. When I were lad I had to roll around in a muddy puddle.
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Muddy puddle? Muddy puddle? Tha durrent know tha’s born, tha durrent! When I were a lad it were all we ‘ad ter get t’cows to lick us clean wi t’ongue!
 
What a lovely thread.

Varieties of nice British humour, that many of the 'non British' might not understand but some other nice British humour that is more intelligible.

And no-one is claiming anything better than anyone else - its all about options and compromises (I'm ignoring the idea that some claim to be more hardy than others - been there, done that).

We can all learn.


We have used black polythene bags, but we (and the female crew members) prefer 21st century options. Apparently there is nothing worse than running out of hot water with one's hair full of soap - I am totally unsympathetic - 'hair, what is so important about hair!, I a quite happy bereft' (or is that slightly contradictory?)' :)

Jonathan

I do like female crew members with long flowing locks.
 
One of the conditions for SWMBO to stay on the boat was/is to have hot running water amd a shower.

So I fitted a gas instant hot water heater for days without mains power ans a mains and engine heated hot water tank.

I have a solar heated swimming pool at home and have considered using a similar setup to heat water on the boat.
 
We used to have pressurised h and c, calorifiier
Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...r&p=6627384#post6627384#Y1FA1tqq4i1bPiPi.99We used to have pressurised h and c, calorifier and shower. However, we found that using the shower except in dry and warm conditions made the boat feel damp for ages so SWMBO washed her hair with the shower but used warm water and flannel for the rest.
I come from the tradition of flannels and wet wipes and don't feel the need for a daily shower provided that shore facilities can be accessed every few days.
 
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