The Joys of Simple Living: Water [View all]

A while back, I talked about doing a series on my and my husband's personal lifestyle. There was some interest shown by some members, so I thought I might start now.

For those that don't know, Starboard Tack is my husband, and I fully expect him to chime in.

I am hopeful that these threads will encourage others to share their experiences, ask questions and think about how they use resources and dispose of waste.

We live on a 43 foot sailboat. We do not have a slip and are rarely plugged into to the usual services (water, gas, electricity, curbside garbage).

I decided to start with water, because when it comes down to it, it is the most critical item.


The boat carries 150 gallons of water in two steel tanks. When we get the opportunity, we fill those tanks through a municipal supply. We were last on the mainland about 4 months ago, left with a full tank and have completely filled the tank only once since then (last week).

In between those times, we add water by filling 5-6 gallon containers, bringing them to the boat and topping off the tanks. This requires some physical work.

We also have a water maker (desalinator). It makes a little over a gallon an hour and is the source of most of our drinking water. It requires electrical power and can't be run constantly, of course, but we run it every other day or so and get a couple of gallons.

We have a salt water pump in the kitchen. This is great for rinsing and washing dishes, leaving only the final rinse for the fresh water. Soap doesn't get very "soapy" in salt water, but it works well enough for all but the worst dirty dishes.

We have an indoor and outdoor shower. Short, military type showers are the rule, and those only when needed. During this time of year, a swim in the ocean followed by a little soap and a freshwater rinse is really all we need.

The toilet flushes with salt water into a holding tank. We have a spigot on the outside that also pumps salt water if needed for a clean up on deck.

Laundry is mostly done on board with a very water efficient manual washer.

Overall, I figure we use on average less than 3 gallons a day of fresh water.

The bottom line for us is that water requires work and that makes you think about how much you are using. When people come to visit, they often reflexively turn on the tap and let her rip. Since the pump can be heard anywhere on the boat, this most often leads to me racing to wherever they are to explain why we can't do that. We have never had a guest who didn't get it right away and make changes in their usual habits.