Water

[colemj]

A rain catcher during most of the typical Bahamas cruising season will be mostly a waste of time. Works well if it also provides shade, though.

The Bahamas exist also outside of the Abacos (in fact, most of the Bahamas are outside of the Abacos). In many of the rest of the Bahamas there are no marinas or fuel docks and you will be jugging water if you find it at all.

While you are never more than a day or two from water, in much of the Bahamas it will become very inconvenient to travel a day or two and then return to the place you like.

But like I mentioned earlier, it is very possible to cruise the Bahamas without a watermaker, and probably the best option for the OP at this time.

Mark

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by salty5

I have enough drinking water however I was thinking about water to shower

ShaktisBoy and Vasco have asked the most important questions: how much water do you carry and how many people will be aboard?

Originally Posted by ozskipper

As for the washing. Wash in salt water first then rinse with fresh.

I definitely disagree. Tingum has it right. If you wash laundry in salt water you'll use more fresh water to rinse the salt out than you would use to just wash in fresh water.

What works for me is washing with ammonia in fresh water. It gets the clothes clean and the ammonia out gasses while the clothes dry with no rinse required. There is no residual odor. Remember to wipe your lifelines clean of salt before hanging your clean clothes to dry.

Towels and linens wait until we can do laundry ashore.

I carry a spare fresh water pressure pump with long power leads. When I jug water to the boat I can leave the jugs in the dinghy and pump the water into the boat tanks.

We carry 120 gallons of water in tanks, 10 in jugs, and a couple in gallons. Two of us easily last a week and with some care for two weeks. We drink, cook, and shower (daily, before bed to help keep the sheets clean as long as possible) from the tanks. We always top up on water whenever we can. I'd rather move 10 gallons a day than five or six dinghy trips to catch up.

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by ShaktisBoy

Need a little bit more info. How big is your boat and its potable water supply? How many people aboard? Where do you plan on anchoring out? All the post above are correct about your water filter idea,"that wont work". I think you should ask yourself how often you want to head in for water and be realistic about how much you use. Water is what sets you free. You can wait for wind to get you where you want to go. Solar will keep your batteries up pretty well if you are careful making water and food your limiting commodities. We learned this lesson the hard way years ago when a faulty diverter valve made us believe both of our water tanks were full when in fact we had only half the water we thought. That cost us 2 full days of hard earned vacation and solidified for us the need for a water maker. I know its expensive but without one you seriously limit yourself. there are plenty of purist on this forum who will take only sponge baths and meter out water as if it was liquid gold and that will work if you like that kind of limit. We use water much less sparingly on Mulligan. My wife and I agree the other is way more attractive after a shower I don't like salt on my decks and hardware so I frequently use the fresh water deck rinse. There are several DIY water-maker plans available but its still not cheap if you ultimately decide to go that route. If you do there are two basic schools of thought.

1. High power draw high output.
2. Low power draw low output.

We have both systems installed on two separate boats. Our mono Tropical Depression has a CruiseROwater system. It runs off of a Honda 2000i gas generator producing 30+ gph and will top off her tanks in just a little over 2:45 it is loud so we plan on being in the water or shoreside when we use it The guys at cruise are great and responsive to questions.

On Mulligan we went with a Spectra 150. It produces about 7 gph and runs on 12 volt. On good days our wind and solar charging more than keeps up with its demands. It is much quieter than the CruiseRo

I don't favor either system over the other now having had both for a couple of years.

If You have an installed genset on your boat and use it regularly for toping off the house bank then your choice becomes even easier because you wont need to carry a gas genset in addition to the water maker system components. I will note that the Honda 2000i has no additional capacity when its running the CruiseRO water maker, where as a large diesel genset has excess capacity to charge batteries etc.

Last but not least most of the places we go in the Bahamas water is not cheap, we have seen water in excess of .30 cents per gallon.

Good luck with whatever you chose.

There is plenty of water in rum and that's cheap down here

[salty5]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

ShaktisBoy and Vasco have asked the most important questions: how much water do you carry and how many people will be aboard? I definitely disagree. Tingum has it right. If you wash laundry in salt water you'll use more fresh water to rinse the salt out than you would use to just wash in fresh water. What works for me is washing with ammonia in fresh water. It gets the clothes clean and the ammonia out gasses while the clothes dry with no rinse required. There is no residual odor. Remember to wipe your lifelines clean of salt before hanging your clean clothes to dry. Towels and linens wait until we can do laundry ashore. I carry a spare fresh water pressure pump with long power leads. When I jug water to the boat I can leave the jugs in the dinghy and pump the water into the boat tanks. We carry 120 gallons of water in tanks, 10 in jugs, and a couple in gallons. Two of us easily last a week and with some care for two weeks. We drink, cook, and shower (daily, before bed to help keep the sheets clean as long as possible) from the tanks. We always top up on water whenever we can. I'd rather move 10 gallons a day than five or six dinghy trips to catch up.

Thank you all for the information, I'm a single cruiser and have decided to go with 4 portable water containers and now I have a solar shower unit.

[salty5]

Originally Posted by MBLittle

There is plenty of water in rum and that's cheap down here

Thank you all for the information, I did research and found that for me 4 portable water containers and a solar shower unit will be enough for this single sailor.

[DumnMad]

We have friends who sometimes spend months at sea during an ocean crossing and only use 1.5 litres/day. Cook 1/3rd seawater. Shower in seawater and spray rinse with a household squeeze spray bottle. Don't collect rainwater and arrive at destination with plenty to spare. 600litre tank storage. They've made it a challenge they enjoy.

[colemj]

What ocean are they crossing that takes months at sea? Are they going non-stop from California to New Zealand?

Everyone has their own challenges that bring them pleasure. There is no way I would find brutal ascetic water usage when plenty is available to be fun.

Mark

[DumnMad]

4 months Durban to Nelson and becalmed in Indian Ocean, south of Tasmania and still not much wind. 3 knots across the Tasman Sea. According to S&R they were 1 month overdue but according to them they had no due date, only an expected time of arrival.
They've been travelling 33 years and know what they are doing.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

They've been travelling 33 years and know what they are doing.

Well the Pardey's poop in a bucket so a marine head is a waste of time also.

My wife and crew wouldn't have lasted a month on water rations and salt water showers, plus on boat romance would have ENDED without daily showers!

[colemj]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Well the Pardey's poop in a bucket so a marine head is a waste of time also.

Not to mention an engine

Mark

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by colemj

Not to mention an engine Mark

They poop in the engine too? That's dedication...

[colemj]

Diesels will run on anything - dino fuel is silly when there are beans aboard!

Mark

[atoll]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Well the Pardey's poop in a bucket so a marine head is a waste of time also.

My wife and crew wouldn't have lasted a month on water rations and salt water showers, plus on boat romance would have ENDED without daily showers!

you guys have never lived!

throwing buckets of salt water requires "showering with a friend"

[SVRapture40]

Personally, watermakers are expensive, but I wouldn't go cruising without one. I have better things to do than jug water to my boat every other day. Just my opinion..

[westsailwill]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

We have friends who sometimes spend months at sea during an ocean crossing and only use 1.5 litres/day. Cook 1/3rd seawater. Shower in seawater and spray rinse with a household squeeze spray bottle. Don't collect rainwater and arrive at destination with plenty to spare. 600litre tank storage. They've made it a challenge they enjoy.

Sounds like almost too much fun!