hot-tub cruising

[Dave Gudeman]

I read once about a cruiser who used to wash his clothes during a rain by stopping up the drains of the cockpit to fill it with water. I suppose that sailboats are engineered to survive with the cockpit full of water, but how safe is that?

This is an important issue because if it is safe to fill the cockpit with water --hot-tub cruising! Fill the cockpit with hot water and cruise down the San Francisco bay at night, watching the lights, with a dry Merlot and a pretty girl. Or maybe two pretty girls. You've got a freaking hot-tub sailboat! That's got to be worth at least one auxiliary babe.

Now, there are other problems to solve besides the weight of the water: How do you heat it? How do you get the essential hot-tub bubbles and currents going? How do you keep hot chlorinated water from eating away instruments and engine controls near the bottom of the cockpit? How do you persuade the girls to join you?

All of those side problems can be solved with a bit of effort. For example, instead of filling the cockpit directly, you can hold the water in a sort of plastic tarp like those used to hold the water in above-ground swimming pools. You might have to form it around the pulpit somehow.

The real problem is the weight of the water. How big of a problem is that?

Has anyone tried this? Is anyone thinking of trying it now that it has been brought to their attention?

[cthippo]

Just off the top of my head it seems like the weight of the water could be absorbed by whatever reserve stability the boat has and if you start to go over the water should spill out and back up you go. Heat could be done with a diesel fired instant hot water system. You don't necessarily need to chlorinate the water, either. If you're using fresh water it is already chlorinated. The reason hot tubs require additional chlorine is that their temperature encourages bacterial growth. If you're not keeping the water hot for a long period of time then chlorinating it is unnecessary.

So, here's how I can see this working. You have a very large freshwater tank below and when you want to fill your "tub" you close a valve on the cockpit drain, Pump the water from the tank up through a tankless hot water heater and into the cockpit. You can probably get the recirculating jets and a heater to keep it warm once full from a hot tub parts dealer. When the party's over you just open the plug and the water goes out through the cockpit drain.

The babes I can't help you with

[Dave Gudeman]

I thought I could use ocean water --just use a filter to eliminate some of the organisms. So if stability is not an issue, it looks like the only remaining problem is whether I can carry enough fuel to heat all that water...

[jehardiman]

Originally Posted by Dave Gudeman

This is an important issue because if it is safe to fill the cockpit with water --hot-tub cruising! Fill the cockpit with hot water and cruise down the San Francisco bay at night, watching the lights, with a dry Merlot and a pretty girl. Or maybe two pretty girls. You've got a freaking hot-tub sailboat! That's got to be worth at least one auxiliary babe.

Yes it has been done, and yes in the SF Bay area. In the mid 80's there was a converted 26' MWB with a hot tub that ran out of Martinez. It sat about 4, was staved like the original hot tubs, filled the space aft of the engine box, and was heated by the exhaust...again like the original NorCal hot tubs. Go ask Latitude 38 if they have any info, because I recall they had some articles/pictures of the boat.

[cthippo]

Originally Posted by jehardiman

Yes it has been done, and yes in the SF Bay area.

Well, where else would be cool enough to think of something like that?

I've seen fire engines modified as hot tubs as well.

[troy2000]

There used to be a guy who ran a nudist camp a few miles from where I live. He was disabled, and rode around in a limo that had a hot tub in it. His chauffer was a well-endowed babe; her uniform was skimpy black shorts, a leather vest laced up the front, leather boots, and lots of skin. Apparently he was a tad on the kinky side.

Good job if you can get it, I guess. Running a nudist camp, I mean...

[Dave Gudeman]

see the ads here.

[troy2000]

150 pounds? Actually sounds tempting. But I'll bet the price per pound is a little on the high side....

[Dave Gudeman]

[Dave Gudeman]

[cthippo]

That is frickin awesome!

Price is about comparable to a shore based one as well. WANT!

[duluthboats]

On the flying bridge.