Shaker Siphon - cool tool!

You don’t normally have to siphon a lot of stuff on board, but when you do, it’s nice to have a tool that allows this to be done with ease. No desperate sucking through a long hose and mis-timing pulling your mouth away from the first gush of gross fill-in-the-blanks - use a shaker siphon!*

We first saw this tool, basically a check valve attached to a long piece of clear tubing, used on an episode of Sailing Soulianis, when Kirk was doing I can’t remember what, I think with diesel. His hands (and his mouth) stayed clean. Jeremy immediately ordered 2, one to be used with water and one to be used with gasoline; I’d imagine he’ll add a third (for diesel) soon.

Basic siphon rules apply: you’re going from some vessel of liquid that’s higher than the one you’re decanting into (the siphon won’t work uphill). You drop the shaker end into the “to be emptied” container while the other end goes into, well, where you want it to go. Shake the siphon end in a rapid back and forth motion along the axis of the hose (wagging or swishing won’t work) and watch in astonishment as the liquid starts to flow, no sucking required.

This thing has been used regularly since we moved aboard. The water at the yard isn’t great for drinking, so we fill a couple of jerry cans a couple of times a week and decant into our tanks. Bring the jerry jug down below, open it and the tank, insert shaker siphon and shake away. Only the last few ounces need to be poured by hand, meaning there is much less drippage to be mopped up.

We may well build our own with a longer hose (you can buy just the check valve from the company we bought the siphons from); if we did that, we could leave the jerry jug on deck and not even have to lug any water below. 6 gallons of water weighs almost 50 pounds, in an awkwardly large sloshing plastic container!

*Blurry image because I was shaking it . . .*

One of the things we love about our weekend morning coffee-in-bed-with-sailing-videos routine is the tools we learn about. This one has earned a permanent place on board.

*Note: the link to the shaker siphon is an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.