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During our planned trip down the Danube to the Black Sea we have to expect to be on the river for longer periods of time without the opportunity to stay overnight in a marina and have a shower there . Marinas are very rare in Serbie, Bulgaria and Rumania . Now we are thinking about a facility to have warm water for the shower without using electrical energy. Do You think it will be possible to use the cooling water from the outboard (Suzuki 50 HP) to warm up the water for the shower via a heat exchanger. We have one allready and are up to install it (see pic). However prior to drill another hole into the hull I´d like to have this matter discussed here. Does anybody have experiance with the use of outboard cooling water for warming the fresh water?



Rainer

Before drilling holes you might consider a hanging bag, as used in outdoor camping It is a three to five gal black rubber/plastic bag hung in the sunlight to retain heat and then has a shower, gravity fed, you can wet yourself down with, soap up and then rinse with. Cheap and doable I have used them on extended camping trips. Good but not great and depends on your weather.

Allan

While a sun shower does work, the results can be less that perfect. We've used one tied forward of the mast setting in the black window stripe with some success.

I think it would be better to go with a small propane unit such as the Zodi if you want reliable hot water.


http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consume ... hower.html

I've always thought it would be easy to adapt one to mount on top of the outboard cowling and plumb to wherever you want. The hot part would be out of the way in a safe place back there. If you are in fresh water you could use a dip tube for the supply.

Or maybe use one of their stove top units


http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consume ... hower.html

We have their more portable solution that works quite well on our galley stove. You can buy just the pressurized tank without the burner.


http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consume ... hower.html

Coleman also make some small propane portable water heaters.


http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanC ... oryID=2200

I'm sure there must be some European equivalents.

Hi Rainier and Dunn.

About the Rainier water system it seems interesting...

But I suggest you to try if before drilling anything.

There is another more simple way of getting warm water... (IF you are in a clean fresh water lake or river).

I installed a longer pipe in the water exit of the engine.

I put the black plastic bag that puggsy is talking about in the swim platform and fill it with the engine water directly.

If the motor is in good condition the water is perfectly clean.

And warm. It's fast and useful when there is no sun...

(I am not sure but I think that your device is for large internal diesel sailboat engines, that produce a lot more heat than our outboards...).

Test it before drilling...

Best regards

JT

Duane Dunn, Allegro wrote:We have their more portable solution that works quite well on our galley stove. You can buy just the pressurized tank without the burner.


http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consume ... hower.html

I have that one too, and it works nicely. Even has a temperature gauge strip on the side so you can see how hot the water is. Like you, we heat it on the galley stove*, and it holds just enough for a comfortable shower for one.

(*Just remember to not seal it whilst heating! )

Hallo Dunn and kmclemore,

thanks for Your hints, I have been on the reflected webpages and think the "Extreme" is of most interest for me (in case my invention does not work ). However what is the size of it, it was not published.
How long does it take to warm it up on the gallay stove? Do You use the Origon spirit?
Does someone know what the average outboard cooling water outlet temperature is, my is in the winter storage and I can´t messure it right now, I assume 95 to 105°F (35-40°C) .

Rainer

Ranier, the Extreme holds 3 gallons of water, and it takes about 5 minutes on our galley propane stove to get hot enough to shower comfortably (~100°F, just right for a somewhat cool summer's morning on Lake Winnepesaukee).

Many folks can get away using only about 1.5-2 gallons for a shower, but women with longer hair will probably use the full 3 gallons. We stow our Zodi Extreme easily under the galley on the 26X.

...just right for a somewhat cool summer's morning on Lake Winnepesaukee).

But Kev, us locals just jump in the lake in the morning & get out at dinner time!

We've used a 6 gallon solar shower on most of our trips. It has a water temperature indicator. We've gotten temps of 116 degrees or slightly higher under ideal conditions, but just a few degrees above 100 is more typical. When only in the mid 90's, it doesn't really feel very warm, and my wife won't use it. Lower solar water temps tend to go along with cooler air temps, lower sun angle, etc. Regarding use of outboard cooling water, I'm pretty skeptical. The pee hole discharge seems to be rather low in volume, and when I've used the "ears" to flush my motor, the discharge water has never felt very warm. Considering the limited production rate and marginal temps, I doubt you could produce enough warm water to be useful for showering.

When ever I want to use our solar shower and it is not quite as warm as would be comfortable, I heat water in the coffee pot and then add it to the solar bag. This saves some energy as the solar shower water is almost there and only needs a little boost as opposed to heating the entire amount of shower water.

I keep it simple, use a 1/2 gal. juice container with a 2 inch cap and drill about 20 1/16 inch hole in it.
Fill with 3 pints water and one pint water I heat on stove.
Thats my cockpit shower for 1 person. You do have to upright it several times for air to displace water but works fine for us.
I could just run a hose from head pump with a 12volt pump but Thats just more things to go wrong.
I done the sunshowers and many other systems, simpler the better.
Dave

We took a little different approach. I put a 5 day cooler (maybe 12 gallons) behind the head in the and then attached an outlet hose to the drain fitting. I attached the drain hose to a demand pressure pump and used that line for the 'warm water' pressure system--regular plumbing going to the shower inside the head and to the hot side of the galley faucet. The head faucet also has warm water plumbed to it. I put in a water deck fill above the cooler and attached it to the top of the cooler with a hose. On sunny days, we fill the sun shower from the warm water side of the plumbing and let it heat up, then dump it into the drain fill tube....then refill, etc. by evening, lots of warm water for dishes and an evening shower. When the sun isn't enough, we just light the Zodi water heater and run water out of the warm water tank (the cooler)--through the Zodi in the cockpit--and back down the deck fill pipe. We run that until the water is the right temperature. Cold water has it's own pump and separate cold water tank. When you use the shower, if the water is too hot, you just turn on cold water like you would at home. Of course, it means that you hear two pumps coming on as each demand system turns on.
This system allows hot water from any source to be added to the cooler. If we are just going for the weekend, I could fill the system with hot water from the house tank. I could use the 'heat the water on the stove method and just pour it into the cooler, too, but I haven't tried it.
I would love to try running engine water through a copper coil in this tank and see if that would warm the water well enough. Keep Experimenting!

SILK

http://macgregorsailors.com/forum/viewt ... man#p74839

Since this was written,we installed a 2 burner propane stove,which ,unfortunately,doesn't work well with the Zodi. I am
thinking of going to the Coleman water heater setup with the same shower arrangement.

I use the Coleman....works fine...a 5gal clear plastic water bag comes with it. Easily enough water for two Navy style suds shower. My lady would like more for her hair, but it is still a buy again item. Takes up some space....when solo or w/o lady , I can get by with a gallon or so if short on water. Jack

We purchased an Instant LPG Gas Hot Water Unit from "wizardst69" on Evil Bay.



You use a pump with pressure switch, when the tap is turned on the hot water unit lights the gas, presto hot water, when the tap turns off, the heater switches off, no tank to wait on, it will be attached to the wall near the galley and vent getting rid of the nasties out the side.

We will also be adding a Plastimo water tank under the rear berth and transom shower on the stern.

Glenn