Hot Water Options

[Sabbatical II]

To get hot water, my current boat has been built with a hot water system that requires either the engine to be run or to be hooked up to AC power. This is usually fine when travelling because even running the motor to get on and off the hook at the start and end of the day seems to be sufficient. But one of my pet hates if I'm staying somewhere for a while (seldom in a marina) is having to run the motor to make hot water. What inexpensive options do I have?

[belizesailor]

Solar showers are certainly inexpensive.

Along a similar line: I've thought about building a small solar water heater element that could be plumbed into the heat exchange circuit on a typical marina water heater, but don't know of a product like this.

[Sailmonkey]

you could also try one of the 12v heater coils for the water heater, if you have lots of solar and wind and a controller capable of dumping the extra power.
Granted they don't really heat quickly.
Divert Loads | svHotWire

[ReMetau]

They are not approved by most insurance companies, but you could look into a propane instant heater.

[goboatingnow]

Hydronic Diesel heating systems , like Espar ( Ebespacher) , or Wesbasto. For LPG , there are several room sealed units.


Dave

[Cheechako]

A solar shower or even a dark colored garden hose gets very hot in the sun... and warm enough with some overcast.
Do you nee to run the engine for battery charging anyway or do you have wind/solar?

[rebel heart]

We have one of the duckworks bug sprayers; it works well. If we're in a hurry or there's not enough sun we'll just heat some water up on the stove and dump it in there as well.

As a backup we have a normal solar shower rolled up for use.

It's not ideal, but it's better than a built-in heater (for us).

[Sabbatical II]

I was already thinking solar shower and its clearly a cheap option. When on the hook we like showering out the back because it keeps the bathroom dry any way. Thanks for your input.

[Pauls]

You can build what used to be a pretty common approach. Build a metal water tank, typically wide and low. Paint it flat black and mount it on the cabin top. It will do a good job of heating the water (if the sun is out) and will deliver the water into your cabin using gravity. No pumps, no wires. If you're trying to conserve on fresth water use you can fill it with sea water.

The hot water is also nice to have in the galley.

[oblivionboyj]

The solar shower bag is going to be the option that requires the least infrastructure.
Very simple and effective.
If you wanted to get a little more complicated you could build a solar coil and plumb it to your hot water tank with a small 12v pump.
This way you could keep the water in your hot water tank hot.

[MTLandlocked]

Heard good things about this solar shower
Pump-up Solar Shower

[oblivionboyj]

Here is a commercially made solar water heater panel with a coil...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0041VM58E

The rest of the installation would be pretty straight forward

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by ReMetau

They are not approved by most insurance companies, but you could look into a propane instant heater.

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what is not approved by most insurance companies? Are you saying that solar thermal water heaters will cause you to loose your boat insurance? Or were you referring to 12V heating elements? If you were refering to Solar thermal water heaters could you please refer us to the source of your information. Or perhaps you were referring to home made Solar thermal water heaters. Since I am considering putting one on my boat I would appreciate the information.

[aclmck]

Hi,
Goggle a company "heliatos" They produce a solar panel (small) which is plumbed directly into your Hot Water storage tank, the units are simple ,they work and use only a small 12 v pump to circulate the water as required, i think they should be standard inclusion on most boats.You only need one panel to make the water hot enough in a small storage tank like in a boat. The pump can fun directly off existing solar or they supply another small panel to run it.

[cfarrar]

They are not approved by most insurance companies, but you could look into a propane instant heater.

Maybe an ambiguous pronoun, Bill, but I think it's the propane water heaters that are seen as unsafe. Too bad. We had one on our Nonsuch, and it was very convenient.