Heating pad and a Sun shower

[SternWake]

While in summertime it does not take long on my black dashboard long for my sunshower to warm up some post surfing rinse water, In wintertime all that happens is some water not much warmer than ambient temperatures.

On Thanksgiving late afternoon I had filled my showerbag at my neighbor's house with hot water, wrapped the bag in insulation and surfed till well after sundown, the last hour being very special indeed.

My rinse water when peeling off my wetsuit was still steamy hot, and it was oh so nice.

Got me thinking about how to better have hot water in the wintertime. I have a modern heating pad with an annoying built in safety timer, but deep in the recesses of my storage unit I knew I had an older mid 90's model that was devoid of this annoying granny state feature, and I dug it out.

Last night I was plugged into the grid and lay the (55 watt) heating pad on my passenger seat, on top of 2 layers of Reflectix, then I wrapped the bag itself with towels and jackets and overcoats, and let it rip.

This morning the water was up at around 105 degrees, when I plugged the heating pad in to my pure sine wave inverter and drove to the ocean and surfed for about 2.5 hours.

When I got out, I'm not sure how hot it was, Fahrenheit wise, but it was steaming.

While I'm heating up nearly 5 gallons and it takes a long time for it to go from 50 to 110 degrees, I'm sure with just a gallon or 2 in it it will warm much faster.

Could be a good option for those with a bunch of solar or those who are going to have a long drive and would like hot water when they get there.

I just set it up again for tomorrow. A Hot water rinse right after a cold surf session is especially nice. But by cold, I mean Southern California, so not really cold, as I still peel off my wetsuit outside.

 

[bvanevery]

Could just lose the addiction to bathing. Seems to mostly be perception, personal psychology, and societal pressure. I'm not a stinky person AFAIK and nobody's complained, so in the field I don't bathe. I do believe in changing clothes once a week, as clothes absorb oil and dirt from the body, so changing them has some of the effects of bathing. I don't shampoo ever, not even under a civilized roof. I spent years with frizzy hair until I finally realized my natural oils were supposed to weigh my hair down. I use very little soap, only for the parts of the body most likely to produce odor. Soap is not good for your skin. Basically we've been brainwashed by corporations for many decades now, with the "wet, lather, rinse, repeat" rhetoric. All so the petrochemical industry can profit from us dumb consumers. Look at the number of guilt trips housewives get every day on TV. Are your children a pack of festering diseases?

 

[Patrick46]

Stern....that's a great idea! (I too am a surfer)...so I'm gonna take a nice warm insulated bag of water to rinse off with me too next time. (I'm sure the others will be jealous!!)


I'm still a housedweller, so I'll just fill it before I head out.

Through my vandwelling days, I've learned to take good showers using only a gallon or so. (and I have long hair too)...but the idea of a warm shower after climbing outta my freeking cold wetsuit sounds AWESOME!!!! (and it's COLD surfing up here in Oregon!!)

 

[ice_maiden]

Stern... just to let you know ... you can still buy the heating pads that don't turn off.... look for one's that say "Dry". I usually have to buy one a year.... speaking of ... about time I replaced the one I have.