Showering in the CockPit

F

Forfun1960

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Oct 25, 2010
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C Dory Year
2006
C Dory Model
23 Venture
Vessel Name
Journey former Noro Lim
Has anyone rigged a temporary shower head in the cockpit using the freshwater washdown connection in the cockpit? Like to rig up something when we are away from showers on extended trips.
 
In the past I have adapted a flex hose hand shower that way, very easy with a little rummaging around the plumbing section of a good hardware store.
 
If your washdown doesn't have hot water to the cockpit, it is easy to use a solar shower on the cabintop to shower in the cockpit.

Our 25 had a freshwater washdown in the cockpit, but the sprayer used a lot of water. Fine if you are rinsing off saltwater and you have easy access to fresh water. When away from civilization for a while, we found the solar shower was more conservative on water use. Easy to clip the sprayer to a bimini support or hand-hold it. If you have a swimstep, you can use it there and keep the cockpit dry.
 
Solar showers work great if there is enough sunshine to heat up the water. If not, I use a half gallon hand held garden pump sprayer. I can heat up water on the stove and put it in the sprayer for a warm shower. It also works great for rinsing dishes using minimal water.
 
On extended road trips I have been known to shower and hose my kids down with a garden pump sprayer. Works great. Good pressure, conservative and controlled water use. Wet. Soap. Rinse. No additional plumbing required. Put your cold water in, add hot until it’s warm. Pretend you are a tomato plant with aphids or a dandelion in a driveway crack.

Just another inexpensive option to consider!
 
I see a fellow vagabond has beat me to it 😂
 
I added a 13 1/2' shower hose, shower head and holder to the existing shower hose from Amazon so we can shower off in the cockpit after diving.

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I removed the foot powered water pump. Added a 3 way brass ball valve in the "mouse hole" where your foot would go for the old pump. The valve is a suction for the water tank and for a hose that runs outside to a bucket or what ever you want to pump. (how about some hot water from a bucket?) Installed a 12v water pump, sink faucet, and ran a pressure water valve in the cockpit. Attached a 25' coiled type water hose. I didn't want to mess with a water heater because we use the boat for so many different types of trips.

My idea with this water pump set up, is to have the option for a second water source. I actually use a 1000 watt 5 gallon bucket heater with a electric temp. cut off switch that I can dial to 140 deg. Turn the 3 way valve and I have 5 gallons of perfect hot shower water to the cockpit hose.

This set up can work as a 3rd emergency bilge pump or a fresh water pump to maybe refill the main water tank from the water bucket to the tank via the cockpit hose. I love this set up. Because you can really save on water by seeing it go down as you take the shower. 2.5 gallons is perfect

Most of the trailer boaters are so jealous at the ramp when I pull the hose out and wash the salt from the trailer brakes and actually the whole boat too! (such a brat)
 
Lots of great ideas. We are into super simple. A 5 quart ice cream pail that we also use in our sink for dishes. A plastic cup that we use for juice. Fill pail with warm water, set on cooler in cockpit and have soap handy. Sailor shower and done. We stay on the C-otter up to 4 1/2 months at a time and this is our primary method. Of course if we are at a place like a campground, Marina or friends house we enjoy a longer shower.

We do have shower curtains that can be hung on our cantilever Bimini in populated areas.

Just another thought....Tom
 
We have done all of the above (sun shower, {with and without foot pump and with hand held 1/2 gallon squeeze bag} garden sprayer, dishpan {which we use for washing on the current 25, and rinse with the shower head}, bucket on deck, wait for the next rain squall, soap up, and find that the rain stopped, salt water, we also have a fresh water rinse in the cockpit in the current 25)

For at the Tom Cat we put in a small show system, with hot and cold, which was in the starboard aft quarter gunnel, so it could be used in cockpit or on the engine bracket.

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This was probably the best set up.
 
We used a solar shower in the past. Works okay if you have lots of time and shower in the afternoon. You can add hot water to it, but we found an easier system. It is a handheld rechargeable shower pump. Ours recharges using a USB connection, although in the year that we have used it I haven't recharged it yet. We half fill our collapsible 2 gallon bucket and add a tea kettle of hot water. We also use it at our wood-fired hot tub on the beach (no electricity) by just tossing the pump into the tub.

The cockpit of our boat doesn't allow for much privacy. We have a little piece of neoprene that we kneel on to get the privates below gunnel level for showering if there are other boats around. I guess in a crowded marina we could take showers lying down. Never thought of that and it likely would not get approval from Beth.

I saw recently that there is a rechargeable handheld that has the on/off switch on the shower handle instead of the pump. That would make it easier to take Navy showers. Even without super easy access to the pump switch, we don't use the full two gallons for two showers. When we are finished, we get on a slow plane and run the bilge pump.

Mark

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We have always been so conservative with water, now with the new watermaker, which with the extra solar midday to run it weighs less than 5 gallons of water, we will look at fresh water a whole lot differently.
No more black painted garden sprayer with a hand shower head.
Now we can use the almost salt free part of our first run water for a warm solar shower.
We can extend the head shower into the cockpit for cool fresh water showers, which will be incredible after a lifetime of salt bathing with a few quarts of fresh for a rinse.
Chartplotters, Radar, Satellite communications, reliable efficient outboards, it's a whole new world of cruising!
 
Correction: weighs less than 2 five gallon water containers
 
Wow, thanks to everyone for your input and ideas. I will be getting with wife to decide what works best for her. Leaning toward the rechargeable shower head/pump and collapsible bucket so we can add warm water.
 
I use a Zodi shower. In remote places(no power) it has a on demand propane heater. Places like the locks on the Trent Severn which have washrooms but not showers we just fill the reservoir with hot water from the washroom. The pump operates on 4 D cells so it can be taken anywhere with the reservoir leaving the heating coil disconnected. I think you can buy it separately as well without the heater. Much cheaper without the heater. We just shower in our bathing suits.
 
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