Washing boat without fresh water?

[DocBrauer]

At anchorage when boat is hot we give it a salt water Cool down spray.

[sailingabe41ds]

Excuse my ignorance....the OP has a water maker. What am I missing? If you have a water maker, use the water maker.

Abe

[C420sailor]

With the right nozzle and technique, you can spray down a boat with very little fresh water.

[SVRocinante]

We are full time cruisers along the East coast of the USA and spend months at a time at anchor without seeing a marina. I use a bucket on a rope to pull up sea water to wash the boat and every couple of months a fresh water & soap wash and rinse. About once per year, I clean the teak decks with a mild oxalic acid solution. 14 yrs now and she still looks awesome!

Photo from 2017

[boatman61]

You could just do what I have always done on my boats..
Wake up early, grab a coffee, then grab a (good) mop and go topsides before the dew has a chance to start drying off and mop down all over the topsides wringing the mop out as you go..
Shifts all the grime before it has a chance to dry on and saves your grp from all those harsh chemicals.. good for the environment as well..
Great way to start the day and works up an appetite for breakfast..

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by hlev00

After one of these washes, or anytime after a salty sail, I use a combination of a sponge with a bucket of fresh water and a spray bottle with fresh water. I go over all the stainless and try to remember to get the metal snaps and any zipper pulls we haven't been able to change to plastic. I give the boom and the mast as high up as I can get from the deck a wipe down too. For the sprayer I just use a hand pump bottle but I may upgrade to a small pressurized garden sprayer. It will increase my water consumption a bit but not too much and be more effective.

I also use the sponge and sprayer to get the salt off the hull where we pull the dinghy alongside to hoist to avoid the salt crystals from rubbing into the gelcoat. It may be just a good saltwater soak immediately before hoisting would do as much as long as there aren't dried crystals.

These are excellent ideas, Harry! I also hear that those little pressurized garden sprayers are great for outdoor showers without much water use.

As I read this thread, I had a recent one also to mind, which would act as a cautionary counterpoint...

The Rusted Anchor Chain
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...in-251864.html

LittleWing77