BLUEMOMENT

When the sun comes out and you decide to try out your solar shower for the first time make sure that it is tied down. If you leave it sitting on the coach roof and the wind picks up it tends to slide off if you are under sail.

With one of these I have never, in Scotland, succeeded in getting better than tepid water after hours of exposure to the sun. Has anyone else managed?

I still use it, but fill it from the kettle.

DaveS wrote:With one of these I have never, in Scotland, succeeded in getting better than tepid water after hours of exposure to the sun. Has anyone else managed?

I still use it, but fill it from the kettle.

Well I wouldn't know

Booby Trapper wrote:When the sun comes out and you decide to try out your solar shower for the first time make sure that it is tied down. If you leave it sitting on the coach roof and the wind picks up it tends to slide off if you are under sail.

Got that t-shirt . . .

The second one worked great in the Canaries, not so sure about the Clyde.

DaveS wrote:With one of these I have never, in Scotland, succeeded in getting better than tepid water after hours of exposure to the sun. Has anyone else managed?

I still use it, but fill it from the kettle.

I christened mine on Saturday with the boat on the mooring. The boat has a deep centre cockpit and I was hoping there would be enough cover to avoid spooking the biddies and animals.
The bag was placed on deck according to the instructions; black side up, while I got on with jobs. Three hours later I slung the thing over the boom and stripped off.
The biddies wouldn't have seen much. The chill had been taken off the water, but the wind had an effect on the nethers. Soaped up and stood in a trickle. The problem was kinks in the 10mm outlet pipe.
The five gallons was enough for a scrub - I just need a better pipe to speed things up a bit.

Gordonmc wrote:

DaveS wrote:With one of these I have never, in Scotland, succeeded in getting better than tepid water after hours of exposure to the sun. Has anyone else managed?

I still use it, but fill it from the kettle.

I christened mine on Saturday with the boat on the mooring. The boat has a deep centre cockpit and I was hoping there would be enough cover to avoid spooking the biddies and animals.
The bag was placed on deck according to the instructions; black side up, while I got on with jobs. Three hours later I slung the thing over the boom and stripped off.
The biddies wouldn't have seen much. The chill had been taken off the water, but the wind had an effect on the nethers. Soaped up and stood in a trickle. The problem was kinks in the 10mm outlet pipe.
The five gallons was enough for a scrub - I just need a better pipe to speed things up a bit.

I had that problem with mine as well, replaced it with a bit of silicone hose. Also filling the bag with a kettle of hot water is advisable for northern latitudes

We had a few of these hot bags on Colymbus in the Med, but used a bit of garden hose with one of those rose guns on the end.
The trigger allowed prolonged use, and the rose can be rotated to give different shower patterns.

They all suffer from it: -

If you look on the front (black) side, they all have the instuctions clearly printed in white:
1. Wash/rinse with water/bicarb
2. Fill with fresh water
3. Leave in a sunny spot for 2-3 hours
4. Enjoy a warm refreshing shower

The manufacturers have failed to list instruction 2a: Transport at least 300M south of UK waters
Once you include instruction 2a into the equation, they work brilliantly