Hot water: Tehani's new water tank

[CharlieJ]

We were gifted some time ago with an original Stanley large thermos bottle that came off of an older aircraft. Those of you old enough to have flown during the prop passenger plane era may remember them - they used to serve coffee from them onboard the aircraft. It holds two quarts.

Now on board a boat, the mounting must match the interior of course and since Tehani is trinmmed inside with varnished ash, that's what was used-

Here's the mounting rack-



and here's the thermos mounted IN the rack. The thermos is held into the rack with a velcro strap around the upper end.



And of course the final shot of the whole thing on the bulkhead aboard Tehani.

It's situated directly over the sink so if you are dribbly getting a cup of water, the dribbles go into the sink-

[Pixie Dust]

Cool CJ!  Great idea.

[CapnK]

Gettin' kinda fancy and high-falutin aren't we?


;D

Good idea, implemented well - I'm sure y'all will enjoy that little convenience. :D

[Coastal Cruiser]

Cool, Dude
You know, with  you and your many talents and tricks though, I would have thought you would have made that on a 360 pivot pin, with a locking pin for the upright postion, just in case you get any wicking of the seal, which can happen and has happened in my old hunting one

[CharlieJ]

Coastal- it's hanging directly over the sink so if it drips it all goes right into that.

[Coastal Cruiser]

Oh, I may have missed something, but I thought you removed the sink in that boat.

[CharlieJ]

Nope-  we removed the DRAIN. The sink is still there- it just lifts out to empty- no drain in it.

No through hulls in the boat at all anymore- actually NO holes below the waterline.

[CharlieH]

I've been thinking the same thing for my hunter.  The holder had a fill and dump sink, was never a problem.  That is the only thruhull near the waterline and I have been trying figure how to get around it.  You just refreshed my memory!

CharlieH

[LauraG]

Hi Charlie,
Our sink is a stainless steal steam table tray we got at a restaurant supply for $14. I had visions of it accidently getting dropped overboard while dumping it so we just got a spare one the other day.  I'm using it as a storage bin in a settee locker 'til its day comes.

[CharlieJ]

under the cockpit and her second anchor stowage also under the cockpit.

When we did the rebuild  I built an area under the cockpit for a second water tank and some anchor stowage. Well- it's finally almost finished. Still need to install the drains in the anchor storage and fasten down the floor. But it's usable, so here's some pics.

First, the deflated tank, laying in place. It's lashed to eye straps at all four corners. when full there's not much place for it to go, but half empty, it could roll, hence the lashings. The tank is 70 liters, or close to 19 gallons. For those who are interested, the tank is a Vetus.


Here's the tank full of water- You can see the fill head just aft of the storage space.



And here's the floor in place and the 12 pound Danforth, 25 feet of chain and 200 feet of 1/2 nylon stowed. The 15 pound folding Northill we carry when cruising will also fit in there, but it's chain and rode must go elswhere.



Interestingly I find I have no pics of the cockpit sole with the anchor storage cover in place. Have to shoot one tomorrow.

[CharlieH]

Very nice, Charlie!  How ya secure the lid when it's on?

Hard to tell but ya still have comfortable footspace I am sure.

Geez, more to do now!!!!!  ;)
This keeping up with the joneses is never ending! HAR!!
CharlieH

[Coastal Cruiser]

Is this a what is it thread? I  don't know, but someone in my house says that it looks like a catheter and a bag to her.   I must say that its a smart addition for the helmsman, indeed.  ;D

[CharlieJ]

Charlie- at the moment it just lays over there. We are going to install a deck plate into the cover and some latches underneath. Doesn't need to be real quick to operate, since offshore you won't need the second anchor ( first one either for that matter  :D)and inshore we still have the one one the bow, so this one can be set at leisure.

Takes about 3 inches from the footwell, which Laura wanted smaller anyway. She STILL would like the cockpit to be smaller, but it'll do as is I think.

[CharlieJ]

Coastal- tell that "SOMEONE" they are a smart alec ;) ;) ;)

It doubles our water tankage and used previously dead space plus the cockpit floor was rotted so I had to rebuild it anyway.

Can't complain about that can ya?

;D

[Solace]

Charlie - looks good ;D

. . . but dont ya just hate it when you see something clever like that and your mind starts spinning with possiblities? Curses

;D

John

[CapnK]

"Keeping up with" the Jones's? Sheeesh - first I have to *catch up*...  ;D

Nice work, good idea there, CJ!

[skylark]

How do you manage hot water for cleaning purposes?

All hot water on board Skylark is made in a whistle teakettle on a kerosene stove.

For the morning personal wash with a washcloth, I use water leftover from making coffee.  It has usually cooled down to a level of somewhere between mildly hot and mildly cool. It would be nice to figure out how to get it the right temperature every time.

It is hard to get the right temperature by mixing hot with cold water and I often worry about burning myself on boiling hot water since you can't see what temperature it is.  I think it comes down to having an idea of how hot the source water is and knowing how much cold water to mix with it.  It is also a matter of timing, how long ago did this come off of the burner?

It is difficult to judge how much water is in the teakettle, you need just the right amount to avoid wasting water and the fuel to heat it.

Usually I make my coffee, drink some or all of the coffee and wash up afterwards, to save the bother of heating water twice.  Sometimes I use a thermos carafe to hold hot water.

I often use bottled water for drinking and making coffee, and if I do that, I do not have extra hot water for washing, so I have to fill the teakettle seperately with water for cleaning and fire up the burner again.

For doing dishes after cooking and eating, I usually heat up water in the kettle after dinner and often while eating dinner.  Sometimes I heat up water in the pot that I cooked in but this can get messy and the water is only good for washing.  If I wait to heat water till I am done eating then it requires a seperate priming of the stove, which is not a big deal but it would probably be better planning to heat the water right after cooking. I suppose I could make an after dinner tea.

For cleaning the boat and doing laundry in a pail, I suppose heating an entire teakettle full of water to boiling and adding it to water in a pail would be a good way to get hot water for some intensive cleaning.  This would not be an every day thing, usually I would use cold water.  But if you really want something cleaned, hot water is the way to go, its easier on the hands too.

I assume that for personal washing and dishes, the answer is to have a dedicated thermos big enough to hold a quart or two.

I'm curious if anyone has any good ideas about how to make hot water on board.

How do you judge how much water to fill the teakettle with?

How do you know how hot the water is to avoid burning yourself?

Do you heat the water to boiling or just to a point where it is hot enough?  How do you know if it is hot enough, when it steams?

How do you get the water to the proper temperature (wait till it cools, mix with cold water, etc)

How do you store the water (if you do)?

A lot of this eventually will come down to your routine for doing these things.  I sort of have a routine but I think there might be some improvements.

Hot running water out of a tap is truly a luxury!

[AdriftAtSea]

What you might want to do is invest in one of the really big coffee vacuum carafes that have the pump handle at the top.  These hold about two-liters of water, and keep it pretty hot all day long.  I have one at the house, but have no idea where to get one, since it was a gift from the local coffee shop owner. 

It is really convenient, since when I want a hot drink, I just walk over to it with a mug and then fill the mug by pressing down on the pump handle.  Always assume the water will come out scalding hot...and go from there... that way if you're wrong, you're pleasantly surprised—instead of scalded.

As for whether the water is too hot.. you could always use something like this to test it for you.

[Fortis]

I was going to recommend the exact same thing!

we have a three litre vacuum urn witht he pump on the top and I made a cutout holder for it above the sink. A pot gets boiled of a morning and fills the urn, this gives all the needed hot water for most of the day.

Alex.

[AdriftAtSea]

The other advantage of having it... is that you can boil water once... instead of having to fire up the stove over and over... and on a rough passage, you can make soup, coffee or tea, fairly easily without much hassle or danger if the vacuum carafe is full.  Only drawback is you do need a fairly big teapot to heat the water in, since using a pot to boil water is way too dangerous IMHO.