For Those Who Live Aboard

[sailvayu]

I installed a shelf under the chart table and put my printer there. As my boat is my office I have a larger copier/scanner/printer. It works well under there but a bit hard to get to. I like the wireless ideas as well. I have seen some use the smaller portable printers designed for laptops as well.

As for the heater, the point of use propane ones are not legal nor safe for boat use here in the US. (Not safe anywhere for that matter!) This has been discussed before on this forum and there are some that are willing or foolish enough to risk it. I do not recommend it. Common sense should tell you it is not safe. If you are going to be tied to the dock an electric point of use would work and be safe. For cruising a heater with engine heat exchange works well when away from the dock. To save water get a shower head with a on off valve build in.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, anchorcranker.

[Hi Ho]

We use a HP H470 printer which is very small that fits on a small shelf near the nac station. We really don't need it a lot as we tend to use memory sticks etc to get rid of the paper. We also use our phone to scan and send copies as needed so no need for a large scanner.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by sailvayu

I installed a shelf under the chart table and put my printer there. As my boat is my office I have a larger copier/scanner/printer. It works well under there but a bit hard to get to. I like the wireless ideas as well. I have seen some use the smaller portable printers designed for laptops as well.

As for the heater, the point of use propane ones are not legal nor safe for boat use here in the US. (Not safe anywhere for that matter!) This has been discussed before on this forum and there are some that are willing or foolish enough to risk it. I do not recommend it. Common sense should tell you it is not safe. If you are going to be tied to the dock an electric point of use would work and be safe. For cruising a heater with engine heat exchange works well when away from the dock. To save water get a shower head with a on off valve build in.

I'm at the dock in southwest Florida, and I just use a small ceramic heater. But I don't expect perfect climate control on a boat. It takes the chill off well.

[Jude2010]

We will be situated quite north in the Atlantic near Halifax to begin with so solar showers won't work day to day. I won't risk our safety on something that is dangerous but while on shore power is the electrical water on demand system appropriate? At the moment we have a clunky AirPrint printer and scanner and the wireless functionality works flawlessly. I also tend to take a picture of documents with my iPhone more often than scanning them in conjunction with Evernote. For heating I am contemplating either forced air or hydronic depending on the installation process on the boat we land. Will a hydronic system improve showers over that of the normal 6 gallon hot water heater?

[muskoka]

Solar showers - Quebec winters....

The electric on demands are safe, if installed correctly. But, does the service provide enough power, is the boat earthed properly? You'll really need a boat electrician to answer those questions. They also make propane on demand heaters. But then you have propane, and electrical demands.

On boats, there are no categorically correct answers.

[Cheechako]

Never had a problem with length of shower with a 6 gal tank. Including cold water dilution... you may have 10 (?) gallons to use. I dont usually take long showers anywhere though. You're probably going to have to get a Travel printer. It all depends onthe space you have.

[Butler]

I think my hot water tank is six gallons but since I just do sea showers with a nice pull-out sink nozzel that has a button to shut off the already mixed water I've never run out of hot. If the heater switch has been off or I haven't run the engine than I have to run it for awhile of course (I run it into a big pot in the sink and use that water for dishes or clothes).
I originally thought of this feature as an unecessary waste but have chnged my mind even though I have access to showers all over to SoCal because of my yacht club membership and the reciprocals. My favorite though are the pay showers over at Two Harbors!

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jude2010

Two questions. Those who shower aboard, the standard hot water heater seems to be six gallons, how long can you shower? I have an iMac 27inch and it is very simple and doesn't take a lot of space, but looking at the various nav stations which is probably where I would like it to sit, where on earth do you put your printer? As much as I read this forum those are two things I just couldn't figure out :P

Thanks!

B

A good printer for boats is the HP, Office Jet H470. It is VERY small & portable, runs on 12V, and connects wirelessly if you choose. Just ignore the "ink out" messages...

The simplest, most reliable hot water heater for showering, is a 2.5 gallon black plastic garden sprayer with a dish washing nozzel on the hose. It sits on deck getting solar heated during the day, or in winter, we pump it up & use it to fill the tea kettle. After the kettle whistles, we put that amount back into the bottle. We are now good for two perfectly warm cockpit showers, (or down below), and use only 1 gal each. I don't know the lifespan... after 16 years, ours still works fine. Cost? < $25!

M.

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. Welcome aboard. We have a six gallon water heater and both of us manage to shower and do the dishes on one heat cycle. A couple of things to consider:
1. Most electric water tanks have the thermostat set around 140 deg F. I replaced ours with a thermostat that can be adjusted and have set it around 175 deg F. This allows you to use less hot water from the tank when you make the adjustment for your shower temperature at the tank.
2. Insulate and try to minimize the length of the hot water hose run from the tank to the shower location as much as you can. This will help to eliminate wasting hot water waiting for it to get to the shower head.

We also have a propane hot water system and have used it successfully over the years. The key is proper installation and like any other boat systems, doing the occasional maintenance to keep it in fine working order.

We believe that a hot shower is one of the keys to making the live aboard lifestyle sustainable for a long period of time. All the best. Cheers.

[kaimusailing]

Our shore base is a cottage with a 6 gallon water heater and we've learned to schedule showers, maybe an hour apart, and shower first, then do dishes or laundry and almost never have a "coldie"(not the beverage). The boat has a 20 gallon tank, but it's electric, so at sea I am planning to use a swimming pool solar heater to heat the tank with its heat exchanger. We do not have a water cooled engine, so the heat exchanger won't work that way. The solar bag of water works fine, if you have sun. We also have a camping on demand water heater that has a 6 volt internal battery operating a pump and uses a small propane cylinder to heat the water. The shower attachment is an accessory. It is the size of a sewing machine.
I added a small printer shelf in the nav station. It's about 16 by 22 or so and a Brother tabloid printer fits there, and it prints 11X17, large enough for hard copy of harbor charts in case the electronics fail. It is cheap, is not net capable, and we attach it to a laptop with USB cable. It is a business printer with larger ink cartridges than the usual consumer models.

[nknowland]

As a full-time liveaboard/cruiser, my love affair with long, hot showers had to be stashed away with my crystal! Don't forget, the shower on the boat is not nearly as comfy as the shower in the house, so using hot water to wash off salt water and sweat is a quick affair. We also have a solar shower hung on the bow. Re: the printer: went w/o one for awhile and then found space under our nav table.

[Jude2010]

Originally Posted by matauwhi

We believe that a hot shower is one of the keys to making the live aboard lifestyle sustainable for a long period of time.

I'm glad i'm not alone in this, to me, personally, showering at home is a basic essential. While cruising water consumption will become a priority and showers will be dramatically shorter, but while working full time and putting on a suit a warm easy shower is a priority. I would be quite happy with a simpler boat and going south to take advantage of solar showers, but my wife wants a nice new shiny big (39ft) sailboat to live on that she can be comfortable and proud of, which is fine with me because she will be paying for it Logistically we will also need time to learn a lot before such a big adventure. Thank you again for all the thought out responses and for sharing how you do it. We actually went a couple years without any printer and it drove my wife nuts, i mostly just use the ipad and rarely print anymore.

[Jude2010]

Originally Posted by nknowland

As a full-time liveaboard/cruiser, my love affair with long, hot showers had to be stashed away with my crystal!

I have been weaning myself off 20 min showers for the past year, other than living in a small room with a kitchen that makes a galley on a 27 ft boat look like a dream kitchen, its about all i can do to prepare at the moment I'm down to about 8 min showers... I dont know what it is but the moment i step in there my head goes to the clouds...

[matauwhi]

I forgot to mention the printer. We started off with a Canon BJ-70 and a scanner cartridge when we left in the late 90's and still have it. It spends most of the time in the computer bag waiting to be used. I usually make sure it works, by printing a copy of the 1040 to send to Uncle Sam via snail mail once a year. Cheers.