how much water per day

[chillers]

hello mates, I am new to leaving the florida coast,how much water per day should you alot for per person with half of crew woman and 6 day sail.Thanks chillers

[tenknots]

Well, half a crew woman would need half the water of a normal crew woman, I guess

It really depends on how efficient you are at using water. On the low side, our family of 2 kids (maybe the same as a half woman crew?), one full woman crew and one full man crew could get by on one gallon per day total if dishes were washed in seawater, showers were in the ocean with a fresh water rinse from a sprayer, and everyone was careful.

On the other hand, with large tanks and a watermaker, the sky's (ocean's) the limit. A happy medium is probably 3-4 gallons per person per day.

[CSY Man]

Depending on how thirsty you are...

Pretty much any boat should have big enough tanks for a 6 day cruise.

Ya said half the crew is women..?
How many crew? 20 people, half of them women, or just one couple?

I figure 7 to 8 gallons per day per person when we cruise the Bahamas....Seems to be plenty and never had any of the crew complain.

[sadie]

Our boat carries 100 gallons, and with the two of us being conservative and using fresh for showers we can go a month.

If it's hot, figure a gallon per person per day. You can get by with less, but you're only talking 6 days so you shouldn't have to worry too much.

Bring as much as you can carry and an extra jug or two just in case.

[Sonosailor]

Any of you folks know about the typical Joy bath? It can make a small tank of water last a long, long time.

The last swim of the day is followed by the application of Joy or Dawn dish detergent, via hands or face cloth. Both/either suds up in salt water. It can be used for washing all body parts and hair. Indeed, dish detergent and pretty much all shampoos use the basic soap formula, so one can replace the other in any situation. After rinsing in the ocean, use the face cloth to remove most remaining water droplets. With most water gone, so is most salt. And, without using a towel, you decrease the laundry use of the water. If you are not satisfied, take a clean face cloth and a cup of water, and wipe yourself down.

It takes a little work to get all crewmembers to try it, but most are quite satisfied.

[Pblais]

In the end the water down the drain is where most of it goes. After that 1 gallon per day is generally required to cook and water down dirty crew.

As CSY Man says 6 days unless my wife is aboard and then it's 4 days. It really is how much you use to clean em up and make em look presentable.

[Strygaldwir]

Isn't this another how big, how much questions? Everyones answer is going to be different. Having said that, maybe some typical expenditures would be in line. For us our useage breaks down as follows:

o Drinking water - about 1/2 gallon per person per day

o Showering - about 4 gallons per person per shower. 6 gallons for the two of us when we share!

o Washing hair - about 4 gallons for my wife. I get it in with my shower

o Washing dishes - about 4 gallons per day, but we could get away with a lot less.

o Miscellaneious cleaning - showers, tables, walls, mostly interior stuff - About 7 gallons for all.

o Tooth brushing, face and hand washing. 1/2 gallon per person per day.

Now depending of course on how much of each of these you'll do, will let you determine how much capacity you should have.



Keith

[CSY Man]

our 157 gallon water tank lasted 4 weeks: 2 crew and fairly conservative using salt for dishes, but not using rain-collector system.

That equals 5.7 gallons per day, not per person.

We could have gone with half of that if needed, say crossing a big ocean or drifting in the doldrums.

[Rick]

I kept records of a few years of cruising in the Carribbean and two of us averaged 5 gallons (for both of us) per day. That included fastidious freshwater rinsing of the dishes and fresh water navy showers.

Yes, one must be trained and disciplined to keep consumption low and, therefore, day visitors cannot be expected to comply.

Laundry is another matter!

So much for all the traditional cruising guides estimation of 1 gallon per person per day. I think 5 gallons per day with moderate conservation sounds comfortable. While living on a gallon per day would not be too difficult, it would certainly take some of the enjoyment out of cruising.
I will say that in the area that you are cruising, I would seriously consider a catchment system.. Then you can use as much water as you want.

[sv_makai]

We are water pigs. We use fresh water to shower(not quite a house shower, but not a navy shower either), wash dishes,shower underway, and to do laundary.

We use our watermaker to keep the tanks full and love it. it gives use 6 gallons an hour all off solar, so no engine time.

We decided that when we came crusiing it was not going to be a camping trip. This is our home and we enjoy the comforts while traveling. I don't mind the extra maintenance work.

6 gallons per hour?!? How big is your solar array? And, what kind of water maker do you have?

[Alan Wheeler]

So cpt Bil, with poroducing that much water a day, how often do you have to change out filters?? What other maintanace costs on the watermaker do you see??? This is very interesting. I have held off from a watermaker, because firstly of there rediculouse price (maybe justified but still rediculouse) and two, because I thought we would hav e to have a truckload of filtersthat I also imagine would be expensive.

[sv_makai]

depends on what you call crazy. Our SK was under 3000 and we love it. We have seen poor water that has cost 75 cents a gallon. You also have to go out of your way to get it. There are costs involved with that as well. We can stay out as long as the food holds.

The SK unit is very low maintenance and can be repaired anywhere. It is a cat pump with off the shelf parts that can be found. Though in 2 years we have not had a single problem with the unit.

The filter changes depend on water quality. If there is more alge in the water we end up changing about once a month with a bi weekly flush.

In Bonaire we change it once in 3 months as the water is very clear.

We have 480 watts with an MPPT controller charging a 680 amp house bank. We usually are fully charged by 10-10:30 AM. Anything after that is wasted energy. The SK takes about 1.5 amps per gallon. We generally start the water maker at 10 AM and run until 2PM 3-4 hours gives 18-25 gallons.

We are looking to move up to 15-20 gallon by the same maker.

WE LOVE OUR WATER!!!!!!

[ssullivan]

I can't believe you have such an amazing solar array and great watermaker. If it isn't too much trouble, could you list the approximate costs of this setup?

We are very interested in moving to a similar setup, but haven't found something that was affordable and/or practical to mix with the existing stuff on our boat.

Unfortunately, we did have to buy a genset to run the AC at anchor since we will be chartering. After we pay off this boat, we plan to go your route.

BTW: Did you have a wind generator as well, or not? I remember in Bonaire, it blows all day long, every day - but I don't remember seeing if you had a wind generator or not.