I wish I would of started my boat adventure at your age. I was 50 when I started and I’m in my 22nd year as a livaboard. Can’t even imagine moving back on land. Love your videos.
Most showers on boats seem like an afterthought of the designers. Unless you have a very large boat with a dedicated shower stall and large water tank. Otherwise, there's always bucket baths. These are pretty easy and they get the job done. Heat up some water on your stove and divide it between two clean buckets. You then add some cold water from the shower to adjust temperature. One bucket is for the wash and one for the rinse. A bowl or large cup can be used to ladle water out, as needed. I did this for years and it was no problem at all. Practice makes perfect. We're all pretty spoiled so it takes time.
Showering is a great pleasure. I love trying different showers, but despite having great facilities at the marina here I shower permanently aboard. My advice though is for when you do shower aboard more that you make a separate shower sump. Soap in shower water builds up in sumps very quickly and bacteria just love it so allowing that to occur the length of the boat would be a mistake in my opinion. My shower has a floor pan with a timber grate over it and it takes about 20 liters to fill above the grate. That is how I gage my shower time, I turn on the pump when the water rises to the grate level. I clean the pan every 2 weeks, and it is pretty yuckey by then. For your boat you could connect a hose to the drain and have a 30 liter sealed container a bit further aft with a pump built in. The other thing I discovered quickly was a 1 kilowatt fan heater in the shower for an hour dries the head quite well. I have a built in fan heater now, which means I have a warm toilet to use in winter. There are off the shelf tank and pump combinations but just looking at them they seem over expensive. But you can make grey water tanks in a mess free way by using PVC sheet, cutting to size and welding with a 2kw heat gun. PVC welding is kind of fun, look it up, and the end product is really tough, and you can fiberglass over PVC later when you’re happy with the result and want it to be more permanent.
I love your artful and heartfelt videos that give us insight to your kind soul. I have a similar boat and wet-shower. Although I don’t live aboard, I’m getting the shower ready for when I need it. I have a gallon garden sprayer for water that will minimize use and overspray. Wet, soap, rinse. It’s painted black to solar heat but you could also heat water in the stove in winter. I epoxied a small sump under the drain and have a 1” cylindrical immersion pump that fits down the drain with a waterproof switch. I turn it on when the water rises above the drain hole, then off. The pan will hold a gallon so no risk of flooding. It’s simple and resource efficient but manual. I also would like more counter space in the galley so I mounted a cutting board on hardware that flips it up an locks in place. Instant counter with no loss in space
If you think you have a condensation problem now just try using the onboard shower. You will need gills. Tip: for long passages of more than a few days, wet wipes or baby's wipes ! Clean privates and sweaty bits and don't worry about hair. Hair will actually clean itself if left long enough and brushed. Best wipes are the larger floor wipes with a mild soap already impregnated. Washing hands with wet wipes is better to save drinking water.
There is also waterless shampoo. Although i may be inclined to cheat and rinse my hair out when i get the chance. My setup on boat is like theirs and i see it as spray myself down soap all over and on again to rinse. Not a case of the water running more than 10 or 15 seconds to soap up and again to rinse.
When it’s warmer, use a 5 gal camp shower you can hook to your mast and add more tubing to it and run to your head window to shower while out sailing and at anchor. Both of you can shower on that 5 gallons if you get wet, turn it off wash your hair and body then rinse off.
I've just started watching your vlogs. I live on a narrowboat (44ft ×6 ft 10ins) in the UK. I spend the winter in a fabulous marina on the river Nene and always use the facilities building for showers, it is free to use and no timers. It's kept wonderfully clean and although it's only 10 years old they are actually replacing all the showers at the moment. I use the boat shower in the summer when I'm on the canals. The boat does have a proper bathroom with a separate shower and a fairly large freshwater tank. The boat is steel so not much of a condensation issue. It's quite a bit narrower than a yacht and pretty compact and very slow, max permitted speed on canals is 4 mph!
Thanks for sharing, it's so interesting to hear from other liveaboards! That marina sounds fantastic. Having nice facilities makes a world of difference! It sounds like such a great adventure traveling around the UK :D
The way I look at it, if your at sea use the boat shower, at port use provided facilities, basic common sense I would think. I still like to see and hear all about your life on board, and look forward to you under sail.
YES! Those marina facilities which have a toilet, a sink and a shower together are the best. First time I saw it was at Port Louis in Grenada and gosh they're wonderful. There the shower isn't on a timer but the lights are. So every couple of minutes (yes, some showers are long) I have to hop out, do a little dance and then hop back in as the lights come on - in my private room. I'll be leaving the boat yard soon and heading to a marina with my new Beneteau 30. Seriously hoping that they've got facilities like these!
Hi Rushell, The msg you sent me got cut off and mucked up.... was telling you to possibly connect with Kiki on Uma, since ya'll are from semi neighboring countries. She would be a wealth of info for you !!
Some of the stuff people leave in the shower block is just a disgrace. And sometimes their behaviour in the changing room is also distasteful. In the end I fitted up a shower on board and never looked back. Good sailing guys, you are so engaging!
Maybe in the future think about purchasing a reverse osmosis water maker system especially if you guys decide to do some long sails. The best portable one on the market is the Rainman, it's totally self contained, it makes about 37 gallons of fresh water per hour. They have several different ways to power them, you can get one that would plug into a gas generator, or one that plugs into your boats 12 volt system, or one that has it's own little Honda engine that runs the system. We have the Honda powered one on our Corsair, our boat has very small fresh water holding tanks, so when we leave for the Bahamas in November The Rainman well be a blessing, to purchase fresh water in the Bahamas can get very $$$$$$$$. Theses units are very portable and take up very little room, you can expect to pay around $5700. Lots of video's on RU-vid about the Rainman system.....
Yes that would be a super cool addition to the boat! Thanks for the info, we'll keep that in mind for future upgrades! Have a great trip too! The Bahamas sounds like a great way to spend the winter :D
I didn't like using my wet head either for showers....so, I got an extra long hose to attach to the shower head, and fed it through the head window and showered on deck (in the summer). It worked great. See you on the water!
Spring time in Canada apparently means you can wear sandals, but with a hoodie and warm coat. I loved that you described the weather as being warm and still wear three layers. I'd move there in a heartbeat. Loving the videos. Much love from Cornwall, UK
Wouldn't take much to put up a *DartAnt Flexible Ceiling Curtain Track* and shower curtain, it would protect commode and counter top. Use velcro strips to hold curtain to walls. I would paint all the wood surfaces with waterproof paint ie *Rust-Oleum 207000 Marine Coatings Topside Paint, Quart, Semi-Gloss White $16 qt*. For the floor search Amazon for *shower tub non slip mat* , many products to chose from. Try Bed, Bath & Beyond Be safe, Cheers !!
One bonus of NOT using the onboard shower- less wear and tear of your boat systems. Especially the woodwork on the walls. Wood doesn't like to get wet. 😉
I really like the way you both find alternatives in the way you accomplish things! Less is definately more! Its really refreshing to see you both living your life the way you want to and adapting as you go. Go, enjoy! BTW: great editing again!👏👍👌⛵🌏😊
I’m surprised your boat doesn’t have a shower curtain? All of them had a circular one in there at one point or the electrical outlet by the through hull hatch would zap you in a bad way. Look into that before you use it. We just got back in the water so maybe this weekend I’ll do a video how ours is rigged up. You can also put a longer hose on it and run it through the top hatch onto the deck. Also, tip, if you are going to use it, invest in a hatch fan or something to suck the moisture out or you’ll really have humidity issues..
This is one of things that RU-vid boaters don’t talk about. Leading us to think all is good living on a boat. Most of us has never had limited water or drain water storage. Living on land it’s all just a nonissue. And waste water is a nonissue but on boats it is and no one tells about that what it takes to take care of it and when you do it. And how and when you get rid of it away from the dock.
While on anchor I find a garden sprayer very economical on water usage. Jump in the sea, get wet, soap and shampoo all over, jump in the water rinse off (go easy on the shampoo), climb back out and rinse off with fresh water from the sprayer. The drawback is that on a busy anchorage it does lack privacy.
I don't know much about Boat showers but I've done Camper Showers a lot. The one bad thing is the small Hot Water Heater. Your Shower Head should have an on and off switch so after you've gotten your hole body wet, you turn the water off and soap up and wash then turn the water back on and rinse. You shower like this for very long and go back to a regular shower you'll feel like your wasting Hot water.
Thanks for sharing, I can relate. Sometimes I wish to have a bigger boat with two heads and a laundry, (and another foot on the beam, a second cabin, and ..... ) The facilities work fine for me too! 😉
Haha, the possibilities are endless when you start dreaming of more boat room!! We could spend hours daydreaming about what we would do with the extra space! Thanks for your comment :D
Thank you so much :D We plan to do plenty of sailing this summer! Our plans were changed a bit with travel restrictions in our area, but we are both very excited to get back on the water :D
I miss the 2 of you together. But you’re holding down the fort while he’s away! I hate making multiple trips anywhere so your shower/laundry system gets an A+ from me LOL. Also, the color of your eyes really popped in this video. I guess I never noticed how light they were. 😊
We had a 81 Cat 30 for 10 years at West Port (we now have a 97 Gemini 105M). For showering we put little command strip hooks all around the head and then hung shower curtain liners. We hung them all around to not only protect the sink area but also the wood walls and the door.
@@BlueMoonLife Yeah I try not to be too precious about it but I always dread putting a new hole in the boat. You could likely find a drain screen in plumbing supply at a store like Lowes at Tillicum mall. They have a few different sizes like this 2" version www.lowes.ca/product/2-in-dia-ips-chrome-plated-shower-stall-drain-273640. It is an unfortunate design that drains the shower right into the bilge. I can't remember if there is space or a way to hook it up to the drain but they make shower bilge containers that have a separate automatic pump www.amazon.ca/Amarine-made-Marine-Shower-Drain-System/dp/B00NCLNNQM/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=shower+pump&qid=1619316216&sr=8-10.
We live on an RV full time, saying it is preparation for when we have a liverboard sailboat and my one suggestion is get a shower head that has an on-off switch:)all the RVs have them and probably the newer sailboats and it will make your life way easier when you start using your shower!
Yeah, marina living 👍. It's amazing how well you can clean up with a small tub of water and a facecloth. You know, the way most folk did it in the old days. Would hate you use an inboard shower. At sea a bucket in the cockpit works just fine.
This is awesome! My boyfriend Brandon and I literally just moved on a boat down in Florida it is awesome to see other people doing it! It is a great life :)
I don't know if you are aware but Catalina came with a shower curtain set up. Do you still have the ceiling rails to hold the curtain? If not, the rail and shower curtain are available on Catalina Direct ($$$). Of course, a DIY project would work well. I still have the original shower curtain and it works well when necessary. A solar shower while at anchor is the best!
How adaptable is it to a boat living especially to those who never been or experience a boat living lots of restrictions or limitations you need to adjust wow! I salute you guys for just roughing it
In my Catalina 30, the toilet paper is mounted on the other side of the door that opens to the through hulls so that when that door is closed it doesn't get wet.
@@BlueMoonLife I just have to remember if I take someone new out on the boat to open the door or they will never find it, probably could use a little label.
Having a wooden wall shower stall is not the best idea if you ask me. Maybe when it would be coated with a thick varnish like the outside of wooden boats. but not like this. Also draining the shower water into the bilge and get it pumped out by the bilgepump is not what you want. That bilgepump is your lifeline from sinking the boat if there is a problem with water coming in. Using it a lot to pump out your soapy water together with your hairs and other dirt will make it less reliable. Sure you will have a screen to keep hairs from going down but still some will. Hairs can make the pump stop and also getting the seal to the motor to leak water in and damage it. Also all that grime in the bilge from your soap and body grease, skin flakes, poop and pee particles and and sunscreen etc. that you will wash off your body just makes it dirty and will coat it with a layer for mould and bacteria to grow on. Long story short. If you want to shower on your boat make sure the shower will drain into a dedicated shower sump box with it's own pump and float switch that will pump it out. This will keep the bilge clean, the boat free from potential dirty smells from the bilge and give you a more reliable bilge pump. And best would be to use environmentaly friendly soap products and sunscreen but as far my experience with that stuff goes it most of the time works less good as "real" soap and shower stuff.
there's a difference between sharing the experience and complaining about them. but then again.......anyone that says "again i'm not complaining" hahahaha no worries we understand. thanks for sharing the experiences!! fair winds
I feel very lucky to have a nice big 8.5gal hot water tank and a dedicated shower stall on the boat. I can get about 8 min out of it. Use to hate walking to the shower shack. I do have a Y membership for their hot tub, steam room, sauna, long showers, etc.
getting a dehumidifier or air drier would make the drying prosess alot quicker.. and could also add some heat to the boat :) and would recommend a rotor dryer, and not a compressor dryer.. there are cheap ones also.. i use a brand named sandstrom and that works fine :)
I have a cheap costway laundry machine and a cheap propane shower unit both work great. Water from the dock or wait for rain collection when it rains. And Seattle like Victoria it rains. I recommend do as much off grid as you can now. Works out the bugs of any system. So much easier to fix now than out in prince William sound. just sayin...
Interesting, we will definitely look into those systems! Haha, yes I can imagine it is much easier to fix things while at the dock, we'll keep that in mind!
@@BlueMoonLife yep in February when we had that snow and some tugboat tore the power off my dock. do I run extension cords or, I built this to be off grid ,so lets live in snow cold and see how I did? Worked, but now I see where improvements need too be made. Fyi
Is there any reason you cannot modify the plumbing on your boat so the flexible hose you use to fill your water tanks could be connected directly between a faucet on the dock and the water reticulation network on the boat when you are in a marina? How handy would it be not only for showers if you wanted to use your own head but also with regard to filling your water tanks if you no longer had to scoot about with armfuls of whacking great jugs like moonshiners caught in a police raid! Another suggestion with regard to the head is you might consider switching to a composting model as by reference to channels like Gone With the Wynn's their design has obviously been refined to a point where they are now very effective, easy to use and maintain.
No offence. But maybe much less laundry ( not the ‘splaining part, the doing part) and food. And much more of the playful seal. I miss The island , used to watch the seals play at Oak bay for hours. Your guy looked especially playful. Very good quality videos. Would love to see more out on the water stuff. Thank you for posting. Very brave of you guys to put your life out there. You guys are doing a great job!
Me again. Have you thought about an RV store and buying a shower curtain that is circular?That is what we used on our little boar, smaller than yours. Like you I didn’t want to wet down the head area.
Great video idea for people that might consider living in a marina Gillian. BTW-you’re not coming off as complaining ( it’s not like you’re in the Caribbean where that’s frowned upon) LoL 🍻All good 😊
Hey Gillian, Interesting 🤔. Never heard of a timed shower, but it’s cool that you have public facilities you can use for that as well as your laundry that are clean and not far from you. I feel you on your shower on your boat because of the setup and water situation. Seems like your working to much now and need to have some fun! Maybe do a pedicure video next and show your foot care routine as your drinking some wine or liquor 👌😉. How’s your outboard working out for you? Still having to pull it a lot 😏. Anyways take care yo and hope for warmer weather for you 🌞
Just like in a Camper, Wet Heads are an inconvenient solution that serves neither purpose very well. If you have access to Toilets, and Showers, it's so much better to just use the Head 4P...
1:57, I think that I've seen that seal at the Fisherman's wharf. If you need a shower try Prima Strada, well they don't actually have showers, just the best pizza ever. Sorry, the post is shower related, who doesn't love pizza? 9:41, do I see some really good rum? Thank you Gillian, looking forward to seeing you guys sailing the gulf islands.
gosh lady, is there two of you? the food, the lifestyle, the look, I even have the exact same foot wear as you (only in white). I live,study and work in Scotland (also planning to take my life onto the seas), is there more women like you in Canada?...cos I never came accross one b4 anywhere around these parts (I've lived and searched in 5 EU countries so far, heh, prhaps not in the right places). I just need some pointers if you will, I would be very much thankfull indeed (from one kindred soul to another).
and also hehlarious that your guys' innitials are J and G - same as my first and last name innitials, ah the odd n weird coincidences in life...anyway, other than that I am quite a normal person,lol.
Welcome to a truckers life, but normally we don't have timers on the showers. A good thing for them though isn't the flipflops, I used diving/swim fin liners/boots. Works good,no slip and just wash feet off when done.
@@BlueMoonLife I use to use them for just about everything with my boats, the ones I had worked good on decks and wet docks too. Just don't wear them too much on asphalt,that wore mine down quick.
Gillian I doubt anybody perceives the topics you chose to cover as 'complaint' rather you are sharing things you find are sometimes inconvenient or otherwise unique to your lifestyle which people who might be contemplating adopting it would be interested to learn in advance.
@@BlueMoonLife That's good to hear; my experience is that sailing makes the inconveniencies of living on a small boat worthwhile very much, eh extremely joyfull, makes the balance.. etc. Greets from Netherlands.
