Showerless Bathing

[Perithead]

WHen I think about bathing on a sailboat (a smaller sailboat) that doesnt have enough water to sustain the bathing of a couple people for days on end, I wonder how people stay clean?

Does anyone ever jump into the ocean and bathe with soap and shampoo? When you get out do you still feel dirty?

With a limited water supply would it be feasable to bath in the ocean whith soap and shampoo and then maybe get back onboard and do a final rinse to get the salt off? Would that be considered a nice bath?

How do you do it on you big or small boat?

[scallywag]

I have heard of a couple of methods. The first involves a bucket of ocean water, soap(it lathers in salt water), and a wash cloth. With the wash cloth, get wet, then lather with the soap and then washoff. Some people use a solar shower in a bag to rinse with warmed fresh water. Other people use a garden sprayer to rinse. Another method is to just wait until the afternoon showers. Again some people collect the rain water using a tarp collection system and funnel the water into a temporary system of jugs for the purpose of taking showers. When the jugs are emplty there is very little weight to sail around. Yes, there are others who have only heard of marina showers. Nice warm water and a place to wash the salt out of your hair.

John

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Perithead

Does anyone ever jump into the ocean and bathe with soap and shampoo? When you get out do you still feel dirty?

With a limited water supply would it be feasable to bath in the ocean whith soap and shampoo and then maybe get back onboard and do a final rinse to get the salt off? Would that be considered a nice bath?

How do you do it on you big or small boat?

How long till the greenies get this banned? Carrying enough water is always going to be a problem with a small boat. Washing with salt water and rinsing with fresh is probably the best option (untill they ban it)

[JusDreaming]

we actually took salt water showers. We got ues to it and did not really notice the salt after a couple of days of doing this. The admiral uses the wash down pump for her showers. Also remember when in the islands, snorkeling counts as a bath

[cat man do]

Garden sprayers are good.

I could have a shower and Caro can have a shower and wash her (long) hair on less than 5 litres total between us.

Thats without the salt water wash first.

Our last cat only had 50 litres of fresh 2x25l and that would last for weeks at a pinch.

Dave

[delmarrey]

When I'm out for more then a week or two I use one of these (below) to catch rain water and devert it to my water tanks. But mostly I use the saltwater washdown system to shower in and then rinse my hair with fresh.

BTW For the ladies, rain water makes your hair real soft.



The Filipino way is to stand/squat in a 18" or larger tub and use a hand pale to dip and rinse. Soap up, and then dip and rinse. You can bathe in about 3 gallons of water, warm if you like.

[GordMay]

Salt-Water Bathing:
Whilst there’s nothing as luxurious as a hot (or cold, when it’s very hot out) fresh-water shower, even the Naval variety uses copious amounts of precious water.
Hence the salt-water bath.
Soap*, scrub, & jump into the briny.
Dry off, scrubbing all salt from you body immediately - don’t wait for it to dry, expecting to brush it off later, like sand.
Maggie used a warmed fresh water rinse on her long hair (about a quart or two).
* There are numerous (Joy etc) liquid dish soaps that lather in salt water.
Although I’ve used them for years, Proctor & Gamble specifically told me that “though gentle & safe, Joy is not intended as a body wash”.

[Entlie]

We now have a new water heater, but when the old one wasn't working, I found I can take a great shower with only one gallon of water. Fill a 1 gallon water jug 2/3 with fresh water. Heat a little water on the stove, and finish filling the bottle. Viola! Nice warmish water, no salt to deal with, and it's plenty to get soap out of your hair. We also have a sun shower, but the gallon bottle system is easier to use in the head.

I told SSB we really didn't need to replace the water heater, but he insisted. What a guy!

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

[OldYachtie]

Soap doesn't work in salt water. You have to use detergent. "Joy" dish detergent is traditional, but any brand should do. Expect to get a yeast outbreaj in those intimate crevices, however. I'd use some fresh water to rinse under my drawers, at least. Otherwise, take some ointment for athlete's foot.

[Mike Banks]

Hardwater soap does lather in salt water. Works fine. It is in cake form. One suds up with this stuff after wetting oneself with salt water--bucket on rope works OK if weather hot, then rinses off with salt water, then rinses a second time by using a sponge and bucket of fresh water. Use the sponge and then squeeze it over the side or into another bucket if you want to use it foe anything else like rinsing the salt from clothing. Use the last of the clean water to thoroughly rinse hair.

I do not bother much with fresh at all being near nekkid almost all of the time, so I just use saltwater soap. It is quite economical in use--but costs about five times as much as cheap sunlight bar soap. I have also used detergents but I do like the hardwater soap.

If you want to make a dinky little shower for yourselves a windscreen washer pump from a truck works very well and costs little from a wrecker. I use a car wash detergent container, 20 litres, and get about four showers from it. If you paint one black then shield it from the wind, you will have a nice hot shower fin de jour.

Mike

[svnakia]

Here's how wee stay clean on NAKIA:

Jump in the ocean and get out. Soap up using head and shoulders shampoo. Jump back in to rinse off the shampoo and wash the areas that are not polite to wash in a crowded anchorage. Get out and rinse off the salt water with a sun shower.

A note about the sun shower: I used some silicon sealant to close off half the holes in the nozzle. This way we only use about a gallon of water for both of us to rinse off. Not a gallon each, a gallon total for both Linda and I.

John

[Vasco]

We cruise six months a year. Our boat has 130 gallons fw and the two of us have a shower every evening. Once you cruise the routine changes from morning showers to evening showers. This way you get to sleep without a lot of salt getting into the bedding. We sometimes use a sunshower, often boil a kettle and use a sinkful of water. Many use the black garden sprayers and they're very good for getting a hot shower and also useful for a quick and economical fw clean of dodger windows. We just cruise the Bahamas and there's plenty of fw available if you know where to get it. No need to buy water. If motoring in the ICW we've got plenty of hot water but the run to the forward head is pretty long so we fill a gallon jug that we re-use so as not to waste water. Water conservation becomes a way of life.

[rebel heart]

Since we're on the topic:

A guy with a big cat he built himself here in San Diego has a rather large Boston Whaler dinghy; maybe 12' or so. Anyway, he has a big water tank in it. He goes to the dock, fills it with water, and then it has a pump with some hose so he can fill his tanks from the dinghy.

I towed him one time when his dinghy motor went out, so he thanked me by filling up my water tanks via this method. Certainly a peculiar way to do it, but it worked for him.

[Vasco]

Yeah, a guy in Georgetown does this. He has a big bladder in his dink and hogs the only fresh water fill in town. if you're behind him in line to fill up, forget it. Most folks have a few jugs and take no time at all.

[Auspicious]

Not to argue with any of the solutions above, but when water is tight there is nothing like a clean-up using baby wipes to make you feel clean without using water.