Solar Shower

[Coaster]

Thanks Cimo, much appreciated.

 

[Kelpie]

What I'd like would be a foot-operated valve (bit of string tied to big toe??)
Or even better, a version that sits on the cockpit floor with pressure provided by a foot pump to a suspended sprinkler head. No more fiddling around tying it onto the boom.

Anyone fancy manufacturing one, I'd buy it!

 

[neil_s]

Plastic watering can hanging from the boom is good. just pull down on the spout for shower!

Neil

 

[prv]

Or even better, a version that sits on the cockpit floor with pressure provided by a foot pump to a suspended sprinkler head. No more fiddling around tying it onto the boom.

Anyone fancy manufacturing one, I'd buy it!

If you don't mind a hand pump rather than a foot pump, get to a garden centre for a (new, clean!) weedkiller sprayer. You don't need to pump continuously, just a few strokes to pressurise it and it keeps running.

You could paint it black and heat the water in situ, but in UK conditions where every little matters you'd probably get better results heating in a flat black bag and then pouring into the sprayer tank.

Pete

 

[Kelpie]

If you don't mind a hand pump rather than a foot pump, get to a garden centre for a (new, clean!) weedkiller sprayer. You don't need to pump continuously, just a few strokes to pressurise it and it keeps running.

You could paint it black and heat the water in situ, but in UK conditions where every little matters you'd probably get better results heating in a flat black bag and then pouring into the sprayer tank.

Pete

I like the sound of that.
Actually, in the dozens of times we've used our solar shower, I think we have twice heated the water in the sun. The rest of the time we just use a kettle.

So a Scottish version of the solar shower would be a stove-toppable container to hold the water- no more decanting required. Have an integral thermometer; it's more efficient to warm up a big pan than to boil a smaller amount and then dilute it with cold.
Sit this container on a cockpit seat, and plug in an outlet which goes down to a foot pump and then up to a shower head. Voila, hands-free showering.

I don't have the skills/time/equipment to fabricate this so I'll just have to hope that someone else decides to build it for me

 

[prv]

plug in an outlet which goes down to a foot pump and then up to a shower head. Voila, hands-free showering.

As I said, the better way to do this is to hand-pump some air pressure into the container, to force the water up and out. My weedkiller sprayer (for the weeds, not the boat ) only needs a few pumps after filling and then it will do the whole back garden hands-free.

If you could find an old brass one (no idea if such a thing was ever widely made) then you could just change the long sprayer nozzle for a shower head with on/off valve (available on eBay no doubt) and job done.

Pete

 

[richardsnowstar]

Having read this thread I thought it was a good idea to try one of these. Checked ebay and ordered one for £5 incl p&p. From the picture it also looks like the flow control is in the shower head, not at the bag.

There are also 40 litre versions on ebay too.

 

[greenalien]

If you'd used one in the Solent this afternoon, you'd probably have got scalded!

If you don't mind a hand pump rather than a foot pump, get to a garden centre for a (new, clean!) weedkiller sprayer. You don't need to pump continuously, just a few strokes to pressurise it and it keeps running.

+1 for this idea - used one in the Mediterranean regularly for getting the salt off after a swim, without using too much precious fresh water. Want hot water? just pop the whole thing in a black polythene bin bag for an hour or so.

 

[simon barefoot]

Used one for several years, had to remember to fill it before work, by the time I got home it was usable (maybe with a top up!). It was strangely comforting and satisfying washing in solar heated water. £2.50 from Tragos in Falmouth.

 

[wave runner]

Do ya'll think more of a tube shape, that was taller, would give you more pressure out of the shower hose? The weight of the water would be greater and thus more pressure, correct?

 

[elton]

Do ya'll think more of a tube shape, that was taller, would give you more pressure out of the shower hose? The weight of the water would be greater and thus more pressure, correct?

It's not the weight of water that increases the pressure, it's the height of the source relative to the outlet.

 

[prv]

It's not the weight of water that increases the pressure, it's the height of the source relative to the outlet.

Well, height of the top of the water. So storing it in a tall, narrow tank would give you more pressure by raising the surface of the water. But you could have exactly the same effect by hoisting the existing tank higher.

Pete

 

[richardsnowstar]

Well, height of the top of the water. So storing it in a tall, narrow tank would give you more pressure by raising the surface of the water. But you could have exactly the same effect by hoisting the existing tank higher.

Pete

...and fitting a longer hose.

 

[wave runner]

It's not the weight of water that increases the pressure, it's the height of the source relative to the outlet.

Ahhh thank you.