Showers..

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RobertMartin

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What is the normal size of water tank most people would build into a yacht for crusing and is it really worth having a shower on a cruising yacht?

Bobby aka Seawolf..
Freedom is the song of your soul..
 
I must admit, since I were used to it, I would find it hard to having a yacht without a shower.
We try to avoid marinas as much as possible, so a shower on board makes us more independent.
Also, when in a marina, it´s nice not to have spend time in queing for a dirty shower.
We carry 500 litres of water and with 4 persons on board this is sufficient for about 7 days. This is in Scandinavian waters and if forcing everyone into shorter showers we can probably extend this up to 10 days.
Before our planned 18 month cruise I will expand our tankage with at least 250 litres.
 
We only have storage for 300 litres which is not enough. However, we do have a shower and would not wish to be without it. We have a calorifier so we have hot water whenever we run the engine.

Once the sea warms up in the Med (June) the demand for water lessens. We discovered sometime back that Dove Bath Cream lathers in salt water which makes a huge difference to keeping clean on board. We don't shower off after swimming/bathing like some folk do but keep a towel for drying off the salt water before in crystalises over the skin. When the towel can stand up on its own we seek out a tap somewhere and rinse it well!
 
size of tank obviously depends on size of yacht... 300 litres for a 42" cruiser is quite normal.As to the real importance of having showers on board I guess it depends a little on where you are cruising.I lived for 8 months on a yacht with no shower and wasn't less happy for it.On the other hand now I would think twice before setting off without one.Even if you can only shower like 2 times a week on a passage , it's still worth it!
 
the concept sounds great....but what is the reality....where does it drain too...where does the steam go.....where do you site them down below to make use practical.....are the cubicals purpose made in glass/plastic or do you just have a heads compartment converted......we had the later when we bought her and it was intended to drain into the bilge...really it seemed a non-starter....what are other peoples experiences and layouts please.....
 
Our shower is in the heads which has a shower tray as part of an internal fibre-glass moulding. The tray has a teak grid to stand on and drains to a Whale Sump Box from which the water is pumped out. We have a small 12v extractor fan but steam is not really a problem as we can't afford the water to run it long enough to produce much steam! We rig up a plastic curtain on a length of bungee to cover over the cupboards, wash basin and loo roll so that we have very little cleaning up to do afterwards. SWMBO can stand up to use it but, being 6ft 3", I sit on the loo!
 
Solar shower.

We just got a solar shower and it seems to work well allthough its not robust and it remains to be seen how long it will last.

It is 25 litres and seems to be enough for 2 quite reasonable showers. I reackon it uses much less that our "proper shower". Of couse you need some sunshine ...
 
Aboard HYLAS I have about 400 liters of water.. ususaly we use less than 5 liters for each shower.. and as a full time liveaboard, I will not live without one.. I also have a solar-shower and it is very convenient during summer time, but there are a lot of places where during winter, it is not warm enought to take a shower outside..

In summer time, when at anchor or when soft water supply is limited, you can take take a salt water shower (no limits.. :0) ) and after just a small soft water shower.. you will use no more than one liter...
 
Summer, solar showers, brilliant, winter normal showers on board, 150 gals water, 3.5 litres an hour water maker, for next year, wouldn't be wihtout showers on board.
 
Something we discovered was get a 'trigger shower head' sort of thing that comes up through a work surface for washing off plates. It reduces water used and if required you 'flick' it the otherway for continuous. Standard fitting on big fighting ships and can be had from someone called Penguin Engineering they had big choice
 
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