On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:44:16 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Pressure water system for the owner's shower.

Sun hits barrel, heats water, gravity feeds it below.

Modern plumbing and engineering at work. Who needs electricity?


I don't think so. Barrel is the wrong material with wrong emissivity to be
a solar water heater.

I understand your point but just about anything left on deck on a
sunny day gets pretty warm, certainly enough to take the chill off and
make for a nice afternoon shower. You can't really appreciate the
joys of that until you have spent 2 or 3 days sailing offshore without
one.

Those old time boat builders may have been emissivity challenged. :-)

I would concede that the idea of hiding a cabin heater in the barrel
might have some merit also, but the real question is what was the
original purpose in days of olde? I'm still going to bet on extra
tankage.