Showering on deck

Frankie-H said:
A huge vote for the garden pest spray.
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+1


we have a couple of solar showers too, but ended up using the garden sprayer most of the time



If you buy a solar shower, I'd advise to take one with two openings: one for filling and one for the hose; there is a model one with a single opening (the hose is attached on the same fitting) but I found it definitely worse to use, imho
 
I hated filling and hanging up a solar shower. So I bought a 30 litre olive oil barrel, mounted it in front of the mast and connected it via a small pump to the shower.
The boat is a wooden classic so the barrel is no pain in the eyes. It is made of UV resistant food grade plastic, but looks wood. Has a big filling opening. I also use it as a first decanter for rain and drink water. It is connected to the tank system so by flipping some valves I can divert water from the barrel to the tanks or to the shower.
The water in the barrel does not get as hot as in a solar shower ( Fine in the Med ) and the inside of the barrel can be easily cleaned. Solar showers get real dirty inside, I bet the slime is not very healthy to. I know, you do not drink it, but it gets sticky.
Small boat, always on anchor, no watermaker, so most water comes on board by jerry can and dingy. Decanting all water in the barrel, it is surprising to see what comes out of some water supply’s.
A lot of yachties think that if the water comes out of a hose, it is OK. Believe me it is not. In one of the Göcek bays, some private island owner had a water supply made up for his island ( zeytin adasi ). In summer one or two big boats carry water all day long to the island. They made a pontoon, big hose with a tap. Lots of yachts go get their tanks filled there. Curious me, wanted to know what and how, so I followed the 2,5” hose. After crawling some 300 meter trough some dense forest, about 20 meters above sea level they had dammed off a small river, created a reservoir. I surprised a wild hog bathing in it.
Italy west coast, some half finished marina. A guy offered water if I took one of “His” berths. Lots of lira’s . Just to be sure, I followed the garden hose, and behind some demolished buildings the hose disappeared into an open tank mounted on top of a small truck. A ladder stood against it, I had a look inside. Two dead pidgins, floating half rotten in the reservoir. I did not pay the maffioso for “His” berth.
 
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hot water

Nostrodamus said:
What is the best way to shower on deck when anchored out and you cannot heat water for on board showers. I do prefer warm water to a cold shower.

There are the usual proliferation of solar bags hung from the boom but I wondered if anyone had found a different or better method.

Just a black bucket left in the sun. What about one of those garden weed sprayers pained black so you can build up a bit of pressure?

Anyone have any alternative methods or are the solar bags the best bet?
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Presume you run the engine periodically to charge batteries. If you fit a calorifier heated by engine CW then you can have a shower afterwards. Calorifier well insulated also retains it heat for a long time if you use hot water sparingly . I put shower gel on first and then spray water to economise on use .
 
We do have water heated by the engine but try not to use the engine to charge batteries (solar and a generator). Besides using the hot water from the boat means running pumps and using electricity. The idea is to shower by not using power.
At the moment we are looking for the garden spray type thing as it can be used for other things.
 
I did this by fitting a dedicated 5l calorifier with one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-VOLT-I...arden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item1c035b74ee. I use a 150W immersion and it has it's own dedicated tap at the sink. We don't use it for showering but you get a sink full of hot water every evening. Takes a number of hours to heat the tank but I've even used this effectively in the UK with my solar/wind combination; I have a 270W combination of solar and an Air Breeze.
Its satisfying that all that energy from the sun and wind is not going unused.
 
Last winter did some basic plumbing.

T piece both the hot/cold pipes (easy) - run it to the stern , elec pump, switch and a shower head. Job done. Uses the normal boat water supply (hot and cold) from the calorifier which is obviously hot if shore supply elec or engine has been running for 10 mins or more.

Job done.
 
Carl Edwards said:
I used a solar shower in North Wales.
I attached a watering can rose to the outlet and hoisted it on a spare halyard.
It was perfect but I did get some dodgy remarks from my shipmates.

The wife was embarressed, my mates girlfriend thought it funny and my mate found it quite arousing.

No photo's I'm afraid. I would love to have shown you the rig in action !
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I would have thought you could just strip off and stand on deck ready for the next rain shower.
 
The instructions are missing a line...

If you look on any solar shower sold in the UK it will have instructions printed on it:-
1. Fill with water
2. Put in the sunshine, black side up for a few hours
3. Enjoy a warm refreshing shower

What's been missed off is the instruction to: 'Sail 500M south of the UK'

We've used them successfully for years, but we were beyond Penmarrch before we stopped topping them off with some water boiled up in the kettle, though down in the Med we often have to put them in the shade to cool down before use in mid summer; a far less onerous task.
 
We have an Eberspacher D4W which heats the boat and/or hot water via a sealed system & matrix heat exchangers very like a domestic central heating system. There is a dual coil calorifier (+ 240v immersion when on shore power), one coil of which works when the engine is running, the other when the Eber is running. So, by switching various valves, we can have boat heating + hot water, boat heating only or hot water only.

Not a simple solution but great as it was designed into the boat when it was being fitted out from new.
 
When I was without 'mod cons' I boiled the kettle, tipped water into washing up bowl, added cold to suit, then used a sponge. Very little soap required.
I will probably still do the same even though I now have 'mod cons' as it uses very little water.
 
I did not use this on a boat but when camping in a small RV.

Childs paddling pool. [ Small ]

Whale baby foot pump

approx 7 feet of hose feeding a T piece with a loop sized to fit over the head. The loop had multiple small holes..

Procedure Boil kettle add to water in pool till desired temp. Stand in pool place loop around neck and pump in pool. Operate pump as required.

To prevent holes in the bottom of pool stand pump on a piece of high density foam.

Satisfactory shower can be had with a gallon of water. Hair washing used to need more. Nowadays the gallon would do for both.
 
timchapman said:
I did this by fitting a dedicated 5l calorifier with one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-VOLT-I...arden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item1c035b74ee. I use a 150W immersion and it has it's own dedicated tap at the sink. We don't use it for showering but you get a sink full of hot water every evening. Takes a number of hours to heat the tank but I've even used this effectively in the UK with my solar/wind combination; I have a 270W combination of solar and an Air Breeze.
Its satisfying that all that energy from the sun and wind is not going unused.
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That is exactly what I was looking at but the 250w unit. We have slightly more power coming in than you. So it does work then!!! Excellent. Free hot (warm) water.
 
Solar Showers are quite good for warming water as long as you keep the bag flat and ideally covered with clear material/acrylic/hatch cover etc. I usually decant into a pressure sprayer, with a "hanging basket lance" cos it's curved at the top! Much more economical on water with a proper spray pattern
 
WestWittering said:
What about one of these?

Hozelock Shower

It gets great reviews!

Di
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Ordered one of these from Amazon.co.uk last Friday. Dispatched on Tuesday (due to the bank holiday and arrived today in Greece (free supersaver delivery if you spend over £25). It's had its first outing and is so much better than all the other garden sprays we've used. I used 2.5 litres of water to shower and wash my, fairly long, hair. Definitely recommended.

No connection just a very satisified customer!
 
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