How to Shower on a Boat - it's an art form

by Nancy Knudsen on 10 Feb 2008 There's no doubt about it. Showering on a boat is an art form. After sailing many thousands of miles while trying to placate an unreasonable Skipper who seems to want to give the water in three of our four water tanks a free trip around the world, I have now refined the art of showering with a ridiculously small amount of water, and I want to share this great achievement with you.

My life has been made much more difficult in the past by my mother, and various other loved ones, demanding that I get OUT of the shower this minute.

'You've been in there a full forty minutes!'

'It'll cost us a fortune in excess water rates'

'You'll run us out of hot water - other people want to have a shower you know'

. . . one of those small things sent to try us, just because I love long hot, scalding hot, showers. So water saving in the shower is something that I have had to talk myself into. I should explain that our shower is on an extending hose which ejects from the washbasin tap, and disappears back inside after the event. It is important to understand this to get the proper visual image in the following description.

(First, it takes a little while for water to flowing through the pipe to warm up, and so the first saving is possible. I can fill a litre bottle of water before the hot water comes through. This I put into the refrigerator, thus providing enough cold drinking water for all our needs.)

Now, here's what to do:

Lean over the wash basin and aim the shower at your head, so that most of the water wets your head and then falls past into the washbasin. Quickly turn the tap OFF. Now stand up straight, and the balance of any water from the hair drips down all over your body - So, interim result is: wet head, wet body, sink containing a little warm water.

Now shampoo your hair, making a nice lather. Once the lather is made, use the lather to wash underarms, crotch and the rest of the body. (This also saves the use of soap.)

Now turn the tap back on and quickly wash soap out of hair while leaning over the wash basin as much as possible. This can cause a little spine warping, but it's all in a good cause. Once done, stand up straight and rinse the rest of the lather off the body.

Of course, you COULD continue to bend further over the washbasin while rinsing the body, and would end up with even more soapy water in the wash basin, and an even warpier spine. Turn the tap off.

This is not the end. I have discovered the 'piece de resistance'.

Take your dirty knickers, shirt and shorts if they'll all fit, and WASH THEM IN THE SOAPY WATER LEFT OVER FROM YOUR SHOWER.

It should be noted that the process gets a little more complex in a lumpy sea, as water is then quite hard to aim in the direction of one's choosing.

More practice… more practice….