Water - Without Electricity:
Steps towards the "electricless" boat

By Rudy Sechez

Many of the boaters we've met have expressed a desire to be able to go without electricity as we do. It is no wonder that more cruisers are frustrated with electricity -- with the time, effort, and costs required in buying, installing, operating, maintaining, and repairing a system for manufacturing onboard electricity (not to mention all of the electrical gizmos that seem to become necessary once electricity is on board).

         This article is directed to those who wish to depart from contemporary thinking regarding electrical power on boats and simplify their lives while saving a bundle of money in the process.
         The concept of electric-less cruising becomes very desirable for those cruisers who are having to regularly charge batteries and monitor their health, absorb the upkeep and repair costs, struggle with the difficulty in finding parts, and wait while having the needed parts shipped to the boat.
         The farther, longer, or cheaper a person wants to cruise makes the concept of "electric-less" voyaging even more of a consideration.
         While anchoring away from boats which are putting out stray electrical currents will cut down on electrolysis in your boat, it is the onboard electricity that is the more frequent cause of electrolysis. By going without electric, you have also eliminated one more potential problem.
         We've found that eliminating an electrical system on our boat does not make our cruising life inconvenient. In fact, it's just the opposite, and we also find that our equipment is much less complicated than the electrical cousins.
         If you are able to set aside your long-ingrained shoreside values and become open-minded to a new type of life-style, you can also discover the joys of cruising "electric-less."
         One of the easiest places to start eliminating electricity is in the boat's water system.

         Getting water from the tanks and into a cup or a coffee pot (without electricity) is easier than many boaters think, and it can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
         One of the most basic electric-less methods is a gravity tank. The system can be as simple as a small container resting on the galley counter, or a more elaborate system with a larger tank permanently secured in place and hard-plumbed to a faucet over the sink.
         There are only two requirements for a gravity system to work. First, the end of the hose must be lower than the water level in the tank. Second, a valve or faucet of some kind is needed to shut off the flow of water.
         The height of the supply water tank does not need to be very high. On our boat the water tank is just high enough that a pot, sitting on the cabin sole, can be filled by gravity flow.
         Other boats might have the tank located on the deck or cabin roof. But a word of caution before you consider one of these locations. Water weighs seven-plus pounds per gallon, and locating large quantities of water high on the boat could make the boat less stable.
         For boats with water tanks installed too low in the boat for a gravity system to work, a manual pump can be installed instead of an electrical pump.
         Manual pumps are manufactured in a variety of configurations and materials and can be purchased in hand-operated or foot-operated models.
         By choosing the model that best suits your circumstances, a manual pump is as convenient to use as an electric pump. Best of all, if an electrical system fails, the manual pump can still be used to get water.
         Manual pumps do not require a faucet or a valve at the end since once the pumping is stopped, the flow of water stops. On our boat, the pump's outgoing hose connects directly to a piece of copper tubing, bent 90 degrees and installed over the sink...no valve or faucet -- easy, cheap, and simple.
         The few people we've met who had manual pumps and complained of their inconvenience were usually able to resolve the problem by either relocating the pump or switching from a hand-operated pump to a foot-operated pump, or vice versa.
         There are a few activities in which an electrical pump will outperform a manual pump, including such jobs as a deck washdown for the anchor rode. But after considering the liabilities of the electrical system needed to operate one, a brush fastened on the end of a pole wins acceptance on our boat.
         Since a gravity feed system saves tremendous wear and tear on a pump, on our boat we have combined our gravity system with a manual pump. We highly recommend this combination if a gravity system, by itself, is not feasible.
         We accomplished this dual system by installing a tee fitting in the hose that leads from the water tank. One hose goes to the foot pump, and the other hose goes to the gravity valve from the tee fitting.
         When we need more than a cup of water, we use the gravity system. If the spout on our gravity system could have been located higher up, say over the sink instead of near the cabin sole, we would use the gravity system exclusively. But since our design would not allow this, we are making use of the advantages of both electric-less alternative systems.
         Jerry cans, especially the larger ones, are great for ferrying water out to a boat and every cruiser seems to have several of them onboard. Jerry cans are simply containers that hold fluids and incorporate a pouring spout and a handle in their design. Made of metal or plastic, they can be found in sizes from one to six gallons. They vary in color with green, blue, yellow and red being the most common, and they often will have the words gasoline, diesel, kerosene, or water imprinted on them.
         No matter what word is imprinted, or what color it is, any jerry can may be used to hold potable water as long as the container has not previously held toxic substances such as gasoline, diesel, or kerosene.
         Imagine wanting to brush your teeth and attempting to get a cup of water out of that six-gallon, 40-pound monster, and to do it without spilling! Wouldn't it be nice not to have to transfer the water into the permanent tank or smaller containers first?
         So how do you resolve the problem? The bigger jerry cans are too large and heavy for convenient daily use while the smaller sizes are inconvenient because their contents are usually emptied too quickly.
         We found the answer by having the larger jerry cans do double duty. Once the large can has ferried water out to the boat, it can be converted for convenient daily use.
         The conversion is done by securing the jerry can so that it will stay in place, then installing a manual pump and routing a hose from the pump into the can. Water can be pumped out of the jerry can instead of first pouring the water into the permanent tanks or struggling with the monster to pour the water into smaller containers.
         To keep the water from splashing out while the hose is in place, especially underway, the hose-to-can junction can be wrapped in plastic and taped closed. A more seamanly approach is to alter the cap.
         The alteration to the cap is made by drilling a hole in the cap just large enough that the pump's hose has a tight fit.
         Another more involved way to alter the cap is to drill a hole through the cap and install two hose barbs, back to back, with the cap in between them. A hose, long enough to reach the bottom of the jerry can, is attached to the inner hose barb. Once the cap is reattached to the jerry can, the pump's hose can be attached to the outer hose barb.
         If one cap fits more than one jerry can, the altered cap can be interchanged with the other caps, which then saves the effort of altering all the caps.
         If the boat's self-contained water tanks are too small to hold sufficient water, jerry cans can be a good source of supplemental tankage (which is readily available by using the same pump already installed for use in the permanent tanks).
         To convert the permanent tank pump requires only the addition of a Y valve, in-line, on the pump's output hose. One hose will lead back to

the jerry can while the other hose will return to the permanent tank. With a turn of the valve, water can be pumped from either tank by using the same pump.
         Some back-to-basics cruisers may feel that a manual pump is more "high-tech" than they want. If this is your view, consider siphoning. If you are able to place a jerry can high enough, water can be siphoned out of it.
         A primer bulb like those used on outboard motor fuel lines, placed in-line on a hose that is inserted into the jerry can, may be used to start the flow of water. A valve of some kind can be used to shut off the flow of water.
         Showering certainly can be done "sans electric." Sun showers are one popular method, and they are nothing more than a container that can hold water and is heated by the sun.
         Permanent sunshower installations are often made of metal painted black and mounted to a deck or cabin roof.
         Another idea for a shower--and the one we use on our boat--is the garden sprayer.
         We find that using the garden sprayer-shower requires less than one gallon of water for a thorough and pleasant shower.
         The two to three gallon size sprayers work best for us since there is enough room to pressurize the bottle, but the sprayer bottle is not so large as to require an excessive amount of pumping.
         The awkwardness of the garden sprayer is eliminated when the wand that comes with the sprayer is replaced with a kitchen sink sprayer-nozzle.
         Two common ways to have warm water for an on-deck sprayer shower are to place the sprayer can in the sun to heat up, or one to two quarts of water can be heated on the stove and added to the water in the sprayer.
         The more common and cheaper garden sprayers are plastic, but stainless steel and galvanized metal sprayers are also manufactured. I am tempted to buy a stainless steel model next time, and take it to a welding shop to have the output pipe replaced with a pipe that fits the hose on the kitchen sprayers. Though initially more expensive, this would make fitting and replacing the sink sprayers much easier.
         Other "no-electric" ideas include a manual anchor windlass, a hand-cranking engine starter (geared, air, or hydraulic driven), well insulated iceboxes, kerosene running and anchor lights, dry-cell AM/FM radio and shortwave radio with SSB, and interior lighting with kerosene lamps (with one inch wide wicks). These simple concepts will allow just about anyone to be well on their way to "electric-less" cruising, and weekend boaters can also benefit from these ideas.
         Add a few flashlights, a sextant or handheld GPS, a supply of batteries, and as many books as can be jammed onboard, and you will probably appreciate your time more. If you feel the need to talk with people, add a handheld VHF.
         Just think of it...no more engine running to charge batteries, no constant monitoring of the batteries, no initial and secondary costs for the heavy 12-volt batteries, no wind generators, solar panels or alternators. And the list doesn't include all of the electrical gadgets that end up on board.
         This is the cruising we find enjoyable--inexpensive, quiet, low-tech, and dependable.