water heater for C 22 cruiser

Yep - we have a dandy 5 gallon solar 'shower' - pick up inexpensively at any sporting goods store - and there's all the hot water we need. If we need less, or it's too cloudy or cold, we boil up water on the stove.
 
The 23 venture comes with an Insta Hot hot water unit that is mounted under the sink. Takes up little space.

On a 22 you would need to upgrade to a pressure water system, and two a two handle faucet arrangement.
 
I added the instant Hot as well, I installed a new two knob facuet as well. I run it off either the inverter 2500 Watt or the generator and the wife loves it. Nice 160 degree water but can go as high as 200. Adding just a little cold with the hot works great.
Jim
 
I tried to put an Insta Hot water heater on the C Dory 25 last year. The tank was not suitable to any pressure in the tank. Basically you have to use their valve system, which cuts off water to the tank--instead of at the faucet. It is designed as a flow through system, where you can only use the faucet at the sink--and not set it up for shower use.

I would love to know how you set up the tank to allow pressure on the tank and flow through the shower mixing valve.

Other tanks use too much power--often 220 volts and 20 amps.
 
I would love some kind of permanently installable instant hot water system that is heated by propane rather than electricity...I would not switch to the Insta Hot even if it fit in the CD25 as only a marginal benefit compared to the factory installed hot water system, which heats up in about 40 minutes and stores 6 gallons of hot water for hours. I guess I would reclaim some storage space, but not enough benefit there to switch...most of the time we just heat some water for dishes on the Coleman anyway...
 
Thank you everyone for your comments. I have never heard of Instaheat so I will check into that. Seems like if I bought new on a special order I could get one installed at the factory. I think the admiral will accept the notion of not having the $25,000 potti but I know she really wants the hot water. We both have the onset of arthritis in our hands and a little hot water in the morning really makes a difference.
 
I tried to install the Insinkerator "instant Hot"-which is small and 750 watts (6.25 amps) and will run on a 1000 watt inverter or on a EU 1000 Honda generator. As Pat says, it does take considerably less room than the 6 gallon water heater--and there was signifcantly less weight. I have looked at other small instant heaters, but they used more power and would not run on the EU 1000. I wished it had worked out--and perhaps there is some way that it can, but I could not get it to work with the shower--only as an instant hot water source.

http://www.insinkerator.com/product/pro ... mplate=hwd i
 
Maybe what is needed is to make the small amount of water from the Insinkerator "instant Hot" unit go further.

Could a high(er) pressure pump be installed in line after the heater and a shower head be used that would use smaller, finer jets that would make more efficient use of the water available? The hot and the cold would have to be blended together with a valve before the higher pressure pump, of course.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
lloyds":2v948n1c said:
Thank you everyone for your comments. I have never heard of Instaheat so I will check into that. Seems like if I bought new on a special order I could get one installed at the factory. I think the admiral will accept the notion of not having the $25,000 potti but I know she really wants the hot water. We both have the onset of arthritis in our hands and a little hot water in the morning really makes a difference.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the system requires 110V- so you have to be plugged into the dock.

I don't think the factory would add the system- they are trying to be a production line and custom installs slow them down, but it could certainly be done by a local dealer.

Or get the 23 Venture and it s standard.
 
lloyds":3g1kv3rv said:
Thank you everyone for your comments. I have never heard of Instaheat so I will check into that. Seems like if I bought new on a special order I could get one installed at the factory. I think the admiral will accept the notion of not having the $25,000 potti but I know she really wants the hot water. We both have the onset of arthritis in our hands and a little hot water in the morning really makes a difference.
Click to expand...

Like Bill and El, we also frequently use a solar shower bag... but the bag sits on top of the cabin and the hose is routed through the window of our ENCLOSED head. :wink: It certainly conserves on water usage, but the solar shower doesn't help much if you want to shower first thing in the morning. 8) Yep, you can heat water on the Wallas and put it in the bag. Just plain easier to simply turn on the hot water (from when you heated it last night or ran the generator to run the toaster oven... dang, I sure do enjoy my "like-home" creature comforts :mrgreen: ) like you do at home. But the best part of having that hot water (no matter where it comes from) is that separate room to shower (or poop/pee) in. Sure, you can go out in the cockpit and hope the neighbors aren't watching. Or, you can sponge bathe in the cabin. But sometimes a shower is just necessary. When I'm at home, I don't go out on the back porch to shower; I don't shower in the living room. I have a separate room for all that stuff! Just like on my boat! :D

Minimalistic? This IS minimalistic for us. Just a few years ago, we had two homes, two RVs, three cars, two motorcycles, two sailboats, and decent careers to pay for it all. We're doing fine with our downsizing (divide most of that stuff by 2 and eliminate the jobs), but I love my enclosed head! THERE, I've said it. Sure, the 25 is bigger, heavier, smoother riding, more storage, more elbow room, and just plain more... but I have that nifty little room. I can stand up in it, or sit down, as the need dictates. And at the turn of a handle, I can have hot water. Just like home. It's good; GOOD, I tell you! Don't think you need it??? Would you buy a house without a bathroom? :lol:

Um... maybe I got carried away. We pulled Wild Blue out of the water yesterday (withdrawal anxiety already), and we have a couple days of cleaning, waxing, and emptying to do. We're going to head out for a couple months in our RV. And it has a separate room just for pooping and showering. And a comfy queen bed. Satellite TV. Leather recliners. Even a fireplace. And did I mention HOT water? :wink:

This is not a "my boat vs your boat" comparison... just one man's view on what makes the time on the boat more comfortable. It's the difference between enjoying and enduring. We all use our boats differently. I am EVER SO GRATEFUL that the Blonde looked at the 22 and the 25 and said, "That one," pointing at the 25. For those of you who find your boat perfect for the way you use it, pat yourself on your back, knowing that you made the right choice. My feeling: it isn't about how much you can do without, it's about what is "just enough" to be comfortable. Comfort = more time aboard.

Whew! Thanks, I feel better now. :wink:

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
I was actually leaning toward the CD 25 for the longest time because of what Jim said but now I don't know. The "go with less, but go now" attitude is setting in. If I wait too long I don't know what will be left to go with. When the government gets done with me I might not be able to go at all. I have already had a paycut and furlough days and it is going to get a lot worse. If I get to go, I might have to do it in the 16, which wouldn't be all bad. If it wasn't for the beating I would take trying to sell our home I would be gone now. But I digress. I will examine those on demand systems and give it some thought. I was already planning on either being tied to a dock or running the EU2000 to heat water.
 
Bob, regarding the Instamatic water heater installation:

Is the output plumbing limited to a special dispenser? Or does it have a normal threaded output, to which one can plumb a number of faucets/outlets? Would that interfere with the unit operation? What was the problem with the shower faucets, since they tee right off the hot water supply line?

Boris
 
One aspect of the hot shower that I think has been missing in this discussion - virtually all marinas worthy of the name have a fine enclosed head and delightful hot shower with almost infinite hot water.

It isn't a choice of showering in the cockpit while in a marina and "hoping the neighbors aren't watching." In a marina one simply walks to a fine enclosed shower. The solar shower (or hot water from the stove) is for use 'in the outback' anchoring.

Each individual (or couple) chooses what they enjoy or believe they 'require.' I am not trying to convince others who are considering adding a hot water system to their boat that they are wrong. Quite the contrary - for them it may be absolutely right. I am merely suggesting that there are alternatives and that for some a simpler way might serve the same purpose.
 
Ah, Bill, my friend. I sure didn't mean to imply that you are suggesting that your way is the only way. Just like I would never say ours is the way to go. You two are my heroes. When I considered buying a C-Dory, you wrote to me and offered encouragement. When I waffled about buying a powercruiser, I reminded myself, "If Bill and El can do it, we can do it." :wink: But, as anyone who has ever met you would testify, you two are unique. You told me you take three outfits... I didn't tell that part to Joan. 8) We don't travel light, but we do travel comfortably. We anchor out at least as often as we stay in marinas. Sometimes we have a cove all to ourselves; sometimes not. And you must stay in some swankier marinas than we have experienced... yes, many have decent showers and potties; some don't. If there's a decent shower at the marina, that's my first choice. I still laugh when I think about Coral Bay Marina (sounds nice, huh?) when we were cruising with Brent and Dixie... I asked her how the shower looked and her reply, "Mexico." We both knew what she meant. :mrgreen: You spent a month at Bridge Bay Marina at Yellowstone... nice facility, except the lack of showers. And don't forget the "3 minute" showers at Ganges (they are apparently metric minutes, which equate to: just enough time to get lathered up before the water shuts off).

I have no aversion to a porta-potty. We've had them on other boats. Most of those boats have had a separate room in which to use them. :wink: Our little SunCat catboat was quite small... you could sit on the porta-pot and still see out the companionway! :lol: And we've done solar showers, painted bug sprayers, a Zodi propane water heater... I've showered out on the net of our trimaran and in the cockpit of other boats (with some towels strategically placed)... if the "neighbors" got a scare, it's their own fault for looking!

You have my admiration on that "less can be more" stuff, because if you hadn't told me about that 4 years ago, we may not be where we are now. But, I've seen with boats and RVs that less can also be less comfortable... I'm just having fun pointing out an alternate view. You two are the king and queen here, I am just the court jester. :mrgreen: Enough of this shower/potty stuff, let's get to the really important cruising question:

TV: remote or do you get up to change the channel? :lol: :lol:

Best wishes,
Jim
 
I love a good shower in a nice marina but I'm starting to like anchoring out a lot better. And when I do I need a shower. I have "done with a lot less", think 30 days in the field with one change of uniform laying in the swamp or the desert with an hundred of my friends and guns, and it sucks. I bought a boat because I can't lie on the ground in a tent any more, hurt my hips. I would love to have a way to heat water without the sun, as if we had one around here, on a "on demand basic" in the 22. I don’t care if I have to shower on the back deck as long as it’s hot water. I have had my share of lake baths in cold clear water in the sierras and you can keep those. My goal is to not have to go a marina at all, except for ice cream.
 
Back
Top