Showering on passage using seawater drawn up by a bucket on a line.

fisherman

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Beware. Crewman on a FV took a turn round his fist and the bucket took him overboard. Given the private nature of his need to do so he wasn't missed for a while. They went back and found him using the upturned bucket for buoyancy.
Another one was dragged off the quay when he lowered a heavy weight onto the rail then took a turn, the guy below slid it off onto the deck, the descending mate nearly brained him. Hold a bight of rope in the fist, loop upward with your thumb through it.
 

38mess

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Beware. Crewman on a FV took a turn round his fist and the bucket took him overboard. Given the private nature of his need to do so he wasn't missed for a while. They went back and found him using the upturned bucket for buoyancy.
Another one was dragged off the quay when he lowered a heavy weight onto the rail then took a turn, the guy below slid it off onto the deck, the descending mate nearly brained him. Hold a bight of rope in the fist, loop upward with your thumb through it.
I still have a shoulder injury from around 30 years ago from doing just that. Buffer told me to sling a bucket over the side to mop down some fish guts off the deck. Trouble was the ship was doing around 6 knots, it didn't actually drag me overboard but it near enough dislocated my shoulder. I can't really do anything heavy with my left arm till this day
 

MisterBaxter

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I believe that on the Thames sailing barges, when the time came to haul on a halyard when underway, the lad would take a couple of turns round the drum of the windlass, tie a bucket onto the tail of the halyard, then chuck it overboard.
 

BobnLesley

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The finest invention for passage showeringwaterbottle.jpg punch some fine holes through the cap (the chart table dividers serve well) and fill it with water (pre-warmed if you're in temperate climes) Once you've got the holes right, you can turn it upside down/drop it and barely a drop will escape, but when squeezed it gives a great shower spray. Even on the rollyest passage you can shower on the cockpit floor, though that will still require you to get that bucket of seawater to sluice the cockpit afterwards - use the saltwater tap for that; another 'must have' for ocean crossings.
 

Aja

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I got the worst lower back sprain of my life from pulling up a bucket of water on a rope. I chucked it in and casually yanked at it, not quite registering that five gallons of water is twenty-five kilos...

What size bucket? It must have been huge!
 

Blueboatman

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I believe that on the Thames sailing barges, when the time came to haul on a halyard when underway, the lad would take a couple of turns round the drum of the windlass, tie a bucket onto the tail of the halyard, then chuck it overboard.
I have GOT to try this
Inspired
Could even be a special bucket I suppose ?with a flip bottom that opens when the halyard comes up taught with a jerk..
 

Blueboatman

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I won't be trying it.

I don't want to see my halyard winch plucked off the mast and flicked over the side.
So, apart from that……?
It’s a very good point though.

So, just for fun anyone.
6knots, one robust 40cm diameter bucket, immersed @ right angles to the surface , how many newtons of force can be garnered ? ?( before something breaks )
 

Corona Mia

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My apologies for being slightly off the OP‘s original topic.

I was standing beside our local fishing harbour some years ago when one of the trip boats returned.
Several lobster red young gentlemen were having difficulty disembarking……

Possibly it was due to a surfeit of Mediterranean sun (and lack of sunscreen) or maybe because of the
Trip Boat’s ‘everything you can drink is free‘ policy.

2 reached the quay on their knees…..the rest didn’t look much better even though they were still standing!

The trip boat skipper got a bucket with a line, and proceeded to anoint each of them with a bucket of water
’fresh’ from the harbour……..and eventually they all shuffled off.

Which (maybe) goes to prove the restorative properties of sea water………
Especially when enhanced with a sheen of diesel and oily fish guts?
 

Poignard

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Why not have some kind of scoop that you could lower into the water which, provided you were moving at a decent speed, would force water up a pipe, on the inboard end of which was a shower rose.

The same princple as steam locomotives used to replenish their water tanks from a trough.

Water trough - Wikipedia

Alternatively, fit a pump :rolleyes:
 

phanakapan

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I have a small, strong black bucket with a looped metal handle. I don’t try filling it when cruising at speed. Also have a copper jug I made at school- I fill that with fresh water, leave it in the sun. Shower and rinse with seawater, followed by a final rinse of hot fresh water from the copper jug.
We had a salt water foot pump, but found that we used it so infrequently and the run was so long that the seawater stagnated and stunk the boat out. We don’t have a shower or hot water aboard- usually a kettle full of warm fresh water and a flannel for face, pits and bits keeps us going until we hit a marina.
 

wonkywinch

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I moored alongside an old schooner a while back and the old skipper invited me onboard for a cuppa, while we were drinking it he proceeded to have a pee in a plastic bucket in the galley which he later ditched the contents over the side, he then filled it with seawater and washed the cups up in it?

Reminds me of taking back a charter boat in Greece. I'd already filled the water tanks but the checker-inner took the hose out and poked a foot of it into the pump out nozzle on deck to fill/flush the holding tank. I asked about cross contamination and she replied she'd wash the end of the hose in the sea afterwards :sick:
 

john_morris_uk

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Filling a bucket when underway?
Chuck it - head down so it fills quickly - ahead of where you are standing.
Haul in on the lanyard and get it clear of the water before it comes abreast of where you are standing.
Simples.
Very similar to the technique an old barge skipper taught me. Get the lanyard the right length first so the bucket would be just at the surface when released. Then throw the bucket down at 45 degrees with open mouth of bucket facing f’wd into the direction of travel. As it hits the surface and fills, immediately pull the lanyard up. With practice you get a full bucket of water without the bucket ever pulling hard on the lanyard.
 

Frank Holden

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Very similar to the technique an old barge skipper taught me. Get the lanyard the right length first so the bucket would be just at the surface when released. Then throw the bucket down at 45 degrees with open mouth of bucket facing f’wd into the direction of travel. As it hits the surface and fills, immediately pull the lanyard up. With practice you get a full bucket of water without the bucket ever pulling hard on the lanyard.
Still pays to have an arm around your lowers - just in case :)
 
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