We use just under 5 gallons of fresh water per day for 2 people. This is in relatively cold average temperatures, with infrequent swimming and doesn't count: laundry, hosing down the boat and foul weather gear which we do when we take on water. It does include showering - we rarely use marina facilities...just because we rarely are at a marina and when we do dock long-term we don't choose to pay every day to shower on land.
From what I can tell, on average a US household uses about 65 gallons per day (1 2) although that number varies widely. You can use this worksheet to roughly estimate your household's usage. Leaks not included of course. We carry 66 gallons in our normal tankage and it lasts us approximately 2 weeks.
We do not use salt water regularly for washing dishes or bathing. We will rinse large pots or very messy pots with salt water in the cockpit occasionally and we will shampoo if we are already swimming before a fresh water rinse.
We use pressure water for everything. We don't even have a foot pump yet although we plan to install one this winter.
How much water do you use? I'm wondering if our usage will go up when we get to warmer weather and if so by how much.
Eolian carries 320 gallons of water. The only time we paid any attention to usage was in our month-long trip a few years ago, where we eschewed docks completely. We still had water in both tanks when we got home. So all I can do is set an upper bound - our usage is less than 10 gal/day.
ReplyDeletebob
We cruised the Caribbean for eight years....our 90 gallon fresh water tank did is fine for 2 weeks. A shower apiece...washing the dishes and drinking water.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are doing fine...we are so wasteful of our water in the uS
On Silas Crosby we carry about 100 gals of fuel and water in tanks. No watermaker. Filled in SanDiego and again in Lapaz 6 weeks later with well over half of the water remaining. Three adults , freshwater rinses after swimming.Drinking unrationed. Recently started to use the saltwater footpump in galley for dishes, with fresh rinse. Pressure for fresh water is disconnected , use the footpump.
ReplyDeleteWe actually went into a fuel dock solely for water , fuel wasn't needed. The wind has been good and fair. Our only marina time so far since Sept 6th was at the San Diego Police Dock for 10 days.
So we would rather save freshwater than 'need' a trip to the dock for water or fuel.
Steve