Using Sea Water in the Galley

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Hiracer

Agree about Joy being hard to rinse. Thanks for the Trader Joe recommendation.

Hey no problem. You end up using a bit more of it, because it doesn't glue itself to the scrub brush quite as well either. But it smells better, and anything is good if my morning oatmeal doesn't take like Joy.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by SurferShane

This is exactly why I have temporarily removed the saltwater tap from my galley. The big problem for me is that I only have a small holding tank, which often overflows into the steel hull. This part of the hull would not usually be exposed to saltwater and as you note this is a corrosion concern. Getting rid of the saltwater tap also gave me a bit more usable bench/sink space. If funds ever allow my plan is to attach the saltwater seacock to a water maker.

Given the low freeboard on the boat it is just as easy for me to get a bucket with rope and use the saltwater in the cockpit. As I commented above, I also have a smaller bucket in the sink as a 2 stage method of catching any excess freshwater.

I do not have any of my grey water plumbed to go through the holding tank. The water from the sink in the galley and the lav in the head are both drained striaght overboard.

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by SurferShane

Given the low freeboard on the boat it is just as easy for me to get a bucket with rope and use the saltwater in the cockpit.

Only when the boat is not moving. For an ocean crossing, I would want the extra hole in the hull to access ocean water for washing dishes in the galley sink. Otherwise you have to stop the boat to get ocean water.

Actually, I have that hole in the hull but it's used for an anchor wash. My to-do list includes redirecting the ocean water to the galley.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well, no one gave me any money and I can't think of more unpleasant things to go through to get it than what I had to do (work 'till you drop), so I sure object to spending money on stuff I don't need. I'm also Dutch, need I say more? ;-)

Our watermaker paid for itself many many times. I mean that if I wouldn't have had one over the past 7 years, it would have cost me much more money than the investment in the watermaker. This is like with many things, where in the end, people who can't bring up the upfront investment end up spending more money than the ones who can a couple of years down the line.

This might be hard to imagine when you have a slip in your home marina.... but when you go out there, you get to places where they will charge you a 1-night slip fee if you come in for water, even if you only want to stay 1 hour. Or they might charge you anywhere between 4 and 10 cents per liter (say 30 cents per gallon) on the fuel dock or the faucet ashore, like in the ABC's where all water is RO water. Saving a couple hundred dollars per year by not paying anything to anyone for water is much easier then you might think.
I invested $4,200 in my watermaker so after 7 years I am down to $600 per year. I'll need to replace the membranes soon but even with that I am sure I will be around $350 per year before ever the thought of replacing the watermaker with a new one comes up. You can do much worse investments!

But like I said, not having enough money is the sole reason for using seawater inside the boat for things other than the ones I listed (and some of those could be dealt with in other ways).

cheers,
Nick.

Being Dutch you will appreciate this link to the source for Membranes at around half the price. It will take some work to figure out what membrane you have but they are much cheaper. Applied Membranes, Inc. Manufacturer & distributor of Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems Membranes and Components

OTOH I have to disagree with you on the uses of saltwater. I did a year or two of cruising about 20 years ago and everyone had saltwater plumbed to their sinks. Typically it was not in a pressurized system but a foot pump at the sink. This saved an enormous amount of water for washing dishes. You have to be cognizant of when you use that water. Not in harbors or silty water but I did a passage from Mexico to Tahiti washing all our dishes everyday and no one got sick. We didn't even use the freshwater rinse. If someone used the freshwater rinse with the squeeze bottle filled with a bleach solution there would be no chance of getting sick from the dishes. As far as the smell goes there are a few solutions 1) Easiest -- use it everyday, 2) engineer a system that would allow you to drain the hose when not in use and/or fill the hose with fresh water. 3) plug your nose and then pump enough water thru till the decays matter is no longer in your hose

Water makers are a great luxury and I have one myself. I feel that the maintenance on watermakers are is a greater cost (meaning total effort not just money) than the luxury they afford considering the way that I use my boat.

[s/v Jedi]

Hi Charlie,

yes of course, watermakers only make sense if you're using them all the time.

ciao!
Nick.

[daddle]

Standard daily bath. We have a great watermaker. But this is way nicer.

1. Stop the boat at the finest sunny hour of the day. Easy in the tropics. If it's blowing a bit, or not at all and the sails are still up, drag a buoy on a 100' line.
2. Jump in. Maybe you remembered to put out the swim step?
3. Get out. Lather up. Joy works well. Lather up your crew too, if you're lucky.
4. Jump in. Swim around.
5. Get out. Use a tiny bit of fresh water from the cockpit shower to rinse off.
6. Happiness and small carbon footprint. Open another beer.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Ofer

Is there use for sea water in the galley?

I want to conserve on fresh water.

I imagine its OK to use for steaming maybe boil potatoes...what else?

Adding seawater to the galley was our most significant increase in our cruising range yet!

Our 440 litres tankage would last a few weeks, 3 weeks max on long passages.
Now with salt water in the galley we have run the 440 liters for 3 months!!!

We don't use salt water at all in cooking as even with a small percentage it makes food taste too salty.

ALL detergents sud up in salt water, just adda few extra squirts. Heat the salt water in a saucepan for heavy dishwashing.

Other things we have used to significantly decrease our water consumption is to use spay bottles everywhere. the 500mil bottles of fresh water are great for hand washing, squirting veges etc, cleaning... we even have sea baths with them! 2 spray bottles does me for a 'shower'... that a shower for 1 liter of water.

Mark