On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 03:33:23 GMT, Jack Dale
wrote:

I usually estimate water requirements at between 5 and 10 gallons per
person per day. That's on a boat with pressure water and a shower,
probably half that otherwise..

In 25 years of cruising I have never consumed that much water.

Off shore - you sponge bath. Diskes are washed in sea water and
rinsed in fresh.

Coastal - one person can shower in a half gallon by using navy showers
(wet, turn off water, soap, rinse). We also drink bottled water; I
find that people will drink more, thereby reducing dehrydration and
other problems.

Sure, that's all possible if you are roughing it on a small boat but
if you want to be a bit more civilized, and have the tankage to
support it, my numbers seem to be fairly typical. Our objective when
living/cruising on the boat is to be as comfortable as possible, not
as frugal as possible. If we had a boat with limited tankage, I'd
want some sort of watermaker system with "frugal" as a backup.