Alternatives to Sunshowers?

[KatKokomo]

Does anybody has an alternative idea to sunshowers? The material of the bag does not last long and after a few month of daily usage they start to leak everywhere.
We do not have a water heater, so we rely on sunshine.
Any suggestions?

[stevensc]

Some sort of water jug inside a black garbage bag or painted black?
Steve

[Vasco]

Black garden Sprayer

[DaveOnCudjoe]

I have the same problem but on a smaller boat. I've decided to put a tank below with a small solar collector and solar circulating pump. Key word here being small,3-4 ga tank. A thermo syphon may even work. I have a problem with the water getting too hot so mixing with cold is attractive. Dave

[cat man do]

I've seen things similar to this on boats before

Solar Thermal Water Heater For Less Than Five Dollars

using this style of tube

http://www.popeproducts.com.au/produ...rip-eze-tubing

[cabo_sailor]

We have the small 2 gallon garden sprayer, with the nozzle replaced by a "telephone" handset. Generally we use it with ambient temperature freshwater to rinse off after diving. The option, al a Pardey is to put a quart of boiling freshwater in it and top off with cooler freshwater for a shower.

To my surprise, in either mode the two gallons were more than sufficient for both of us.

Rich

[elf]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

To my surprise, in either mode the two gallons were more than sufficient for both of us.

Yep, us too. If DH and I both take a shower with our 2-gallon garden sprayer, we have to work to use it all! Since we can turn it off between soap ups and washing hair, etc, it makes for a very efficient use of water!

[capcook]

Can't help you with the Shower question, and appologies if I asked this before (they say the mind is the first to go and I am getting worried)... but where did the "Kokomo" come from you your user name... my home town is Kokomo... Indiana.. ha, I am sure you must not be from there..

Cheers

[mikereed100]

My system is the same as Rich and Elf's. 2 gallon stainless steel (conducts heat better than plastic) sprayer with the nozzle replaced by a kitchen sprayer. The sprayer is mounted on it's side on the stern pulpit in an acrylic case which keeps the wind out but lets the sun in. Works great. As mentioned above, if its foggy or raining a kettle of hot water does the trick and it's plenty of water for 2 showers. It has doubled as emergency drinking water on a couple of occasions when I forgot to top off the tanks.

[mikereed100]

Another recipe lifted from this forum a while back:

Find some thin-wall black tubing (probably at a local hardware/garden supply) 9-13mm ID - You will probably need 8-16m. I found some at Home Depot for less than $6 that was designed to carry water to ground sprinkler systems.
Make a coil of this stuff on a piece of plywood (if you are going to mount it to the deck, add 12mm or more of insulation below it or elevate it at least 12mm off of the deck). IMPORTANT - Make sides and a clear top to enclose the coil, as any wind passing over the coils will affect the heating process. It will probably look like a thick solar panel when you are done - actually, it is a solar panel, but for water.
Find a small tank (3-10 galllon polyethelene is fine) and insulate with at least 25mm of insulation and foil tape the edges. The tank needs two openings at the top and two at the bottom - on the side of the tank at the top and bottom works best.
Connect one side of the coil to a bottom fitting (draw) and one on the top (return). Put a very small, low volume pump on the "draw" side. The pump should be able to keep the water moving, but at a slow rate - < 2 liters per minute. Shurflo makes a very small DC pump that draws less than 2A. If you cannot find a slow speed pump use a resistor on the power wire to slow the speed of the pump.
The other top fitting is to supply water to the tank, and the bottom fitting is to draw hot water to the tap.
Now the choice is yours. You can use a pressure pump to pressurize the tank so that the water in it is resupplied as soon as it is used - same technique as an electric marine water heater. You could also manually supply water to the tank and manually draw water from the tank with a manual pump or somthing else. Depending on the installation you may find that you need to install a check valve on the water supply side to prevent your cold water from being heated.
I may also be advisable to install a heat sensor thermostat (one that will cut power to the circulation pump) on the supply side to the coils as the water temperature in the tropics can exceed 200F degrees - most pumps and tubing can only tolerate 180F degrees. You may also find it necessary to insulate the tubing that runs from the coil to the tank that is inside the cabin. This tubing will be very hot and and will heat up the cabin quickly or burn someone that is unaware.
Typically you only circulate the water during the middle of the day. Depending on your latitude and how much hot water you use, 2-6 hours of circulation is usually enough to get the water to 160F degrees or more. THAT'S HOT!!
Total system cost should not exceed $150 US buying quality parts. Add a 35 watt solar panel to completely support this system for about another $250. You will even have some surplus power.

[rtbates]

Duckworks Boatbuilders Supply

[cantxsailor]

I bought a small propane powered camp shower from a company called ZODI. Coleman also makes a similar one.

It runs of a 1lb propane cylinder and (originally) a 4 D cell powered pump. I converted the pump to a (6volt) cigar plug so I can plug it into house power and use I the BBQ pit propane feed line so I don't have to use the small tanks.

It takes about 3min for warm and 2min more for HOT water.

The storage box doubles as a shower water container.

If you're like me you can get the water way to hot(boiling)first and brew a cup of tea and add some cold for your shower while the tea steeps.

The box holds more than plenty for 2 showers and 2 tea..........m

[imagine2frolic]

We have a 5 gln water tank under the vanity. There's a hole in the vanity covered with a funnel. A teak kettle from the stove adjust the water temp. I agree with the others above. Way less than 2 glns for a shower works. We also have the kitchen sink spray nozzle, so the water is not constantly running........i2f

[Highlander40]

The kitchen sink spray nozzle is the way to go.
We do have hot water aboard but prefer to shower outside when we can.

Before that we did use a solar shower, just buy a new one every couple of years.

[Cormorant]

We have one of the $35 Duckworks pump-up showers, linked above. This is just a thumbs-up vote for it. Really a pleasure.