Calculate your water requirements
Our daily water requirements are fairly basic, and have not changed much over the last few millennia:
- 1 to 3 l of water per person for drinking
- The rest of the water is used for washing hands, dishes, showers and cooking, among other things.
The amount of water for drinking is difficult to compress, but we'll see how to save on the rest.
Classic" techniques
A number of classic strategies have been adopted by many boaters. Simple and effective, they deserve to be adopted by all:
- For cooking, you can take seawater from the open sea and cut it with fresh water to boil pasta, for example
- You can wash dishes with seawater, but beware of rust if you don't rinse with fresh water from time to time.
- You can use a washcloth, but beware of odours and bacteria.
The miracle sprayer for showers, rinses, dishes...
But one of the best tricks we know is the following, validated by 2 years of life on board. We use a gardening mister for washing dishes, taking showers, washing hands... The principle is very simple: a pump pressurizes the inside of the container, and a trigger is pulled to release the pressure with an adjustable nozzle, from a simple mist to a powerful jet of water.
Choosing and using the right on-board sprayer
We have two sprayers on board: a 1.5 l one next to the sink for washing dishes and hands, and a 5 l one for the shower. It's best to choose one made entirely of plastic, as any poor-quality steel or stainless steel rod will eventually rust. Expect to pay around ten euros for the small format, and around thirty for the large format, available from your favorite gardening store!
To use it properly, we recommend misting from top to bottom when washing dishes or clothes. This way, the drops run off by gravity and you save even more water.
Water consumption divided by 3
Generally speaking, with this technique, a full shower uses 0.5 l to 1 l of water. Count on 5 to 20 cl of water for a dish for 4, if you're well organized. With a capacity of 100 liters of water, we can easily last 2 weeks with two people.
On our small boat, this technique means we're always clean and rinsed, keeping the interior pleasant to live in, which is no mean feat when you live aboard.
Since we got a sprayer, we've had very low water consumption, yet everything is clean: the dishes, the boat and, of course, us! The question of a watermaker has arisen, but there are still a few obstacles to overcome: additional through-hull fittings, extra maintenance, not inconsiderable cost... We're on a sailing boat and have chosen a relatively sober lifestyle. To date, the sprayer has never broken down...
