Water Storage ?

[ulpilot45]

Viking.... thanks that's a good thing to know. Hadn't thought of that.

[Pete7]

Slight thread drift, but doesn't adding a filter after the water tank risk masking a problem in the water? surely better to have a cup full of yuk tasting tea rather than be drinking the stuff for a week before realising?

Vikings suggestion of filtering before filling the tanks is useful if you can find a fast flow filter.

Pete

[Steve Thompson]

When we bought the boat it was located in Queensland and the water was ok.We are now in South Australia where the tap water is not the best evan with a filter it tastes and smells bad.We have added a hand pump at the galley sink plumbed to 10 litre bottled water from the supermarket for drinking , cooking etc.Our tank water is used for washing dishes and showers.Tanks are built in fibreglass and can't be cleaned easy.
Cheers Steve

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by bluetriguy

All the options should be acceptable if installed correctly. Why? If you are taking on water (this does not include watermaker-folk so please don't get upset) in a less than ideal setting you should always have some sort of filtration up stream from your faucets. The most basic filtration systems usually include a carbon filter of some sort. The carbon will pull most 'bad' tastes out of the water.

I have had SS, fiberglass, and wood (epoxy/glass over wood) tanks on different boats. After the SS tank (my first boat) I installed a simple carbon filter because I was sailing down into Mexico on a regular basis and the water was sometimes cloudy in Ensenada and further south (40 years ago). I soon learned (after a bad case of worms) that this wasn't enough and upgraded to a more sophisiticated filter that took out bacteria. No problems since.

An example for today- Ceil is kept off Catalina Isl, California, USA. The water dock is a float in the harbor (this is a very high-end place - analogous to a SoCal Monaco) and the pump out is installed on the same float. People routinely pump out and then drop the sewage sucker on the deck of the float. The fresh water is located less than 10 ft from the sewage nozzles and in most cases the boaters will use the pump-out and then without washing hands pick up the fresh water hose, when done they cast the fresh water hoses back onto the same float deck that the black-water nozzle is on and go on their way.

If this happens in Avalon, you can be sure it only gets worse in less developed places (insert joke).

You can buy a bacteria removing filter that has carbon filters included for under $50 bucks in the states. Both issues are for the most part solved.

Cheers,,,

You should have a good filtration system no matter what if you're going to drink water from your water tank. No matter what you do, it is not possible to sterilize it completely. Putting a little chlorine in the water will help a lot, but you'd be surprised how well microbes can find microscropic cracks, hide, and not be exposed to it. Ask any dental hygienist. It's EXTREMELY hard to truly sterilize things, even putting them in an autoclave.

[neilsailingrn]

Originally Posted by Wotname

As a DIYer, I like wood; epoxy coated and if you want to be really fussy, internally coated with food grade epoxy; strong, no taste and always a custom fit.

No chemicals leaching into the water?

[malbert73]

I do put a capful of chlorine bleach in every tank of water (mine are 30 and 45 gallons respectively).
I took off the inspection port cover on my bilge mounted SS tank and it looks like new inside after 5 years wothout a look, so doing okay.

That said, freshwater tanks are for washing, showering, etc. we jug in our drinking water, but are coastal cruising for now with easy provisioning.

Would do same with bleach, but add filter, if going longterm and needing tank water for drinking.
I'd rather store 15 jugs of the 2.5 gallon size for drinking under vberth, settees, and in cockpit lockers though.....



Also have thought of making a number of large size water pipe grade PVC pipe containers (like 8-12 inch diameter x 5-6 feet long) with caps on ends. Glue in some fittings to fill and to empty. These could be stored on deck along stanchions, or in cockpit lockers, or in pilot berths lashed down. Could fill these with known "good water" and they'd be durable and indestructible to replenish taks when needed. Anyone else think along these lines?

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by neilsailingrn

No chemicals leaching into the water?

Well I'm no chemist but considering that food grade epoxy is meant to be just that and many foods are more aggressive than water, I would like to think food grade epoxy is OK. It certainly leaves no taste.

[ulpilot45]

Malbert..awesome idea for storage tubes we can see that as a handy alternative. We think that after reading everyones opinions which ever we choose we will carry besco lg water jugs for drinking. The whole worm thing n fish in filter thing done me[the mrs] in, even tho he says that the captains in charge. After reading many post I have learned that the admiral is really in charge. So to all of you I say thanks for educating me.. big grins.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by ulpilot45

Malbert..awesome idea for storage tubes we can see that as a handy alternative. We think that after reading everyones opinions which ever we choose we will carry besco lg water jugs for drinking. The whole worm thing n fish in filter thing done me[the mrs] in, even tho he says that the captains in charge. After reading many post I have learned that the admiral is really in charge. So to all of you I say thanks for educating me.. big grins.

Thanks for the kudos! Back of the napkin calculations tell me a 8 inch x 6 foot section of PVC hold about 16 gallons of water. It seems one or two of these could be lashed along the base of stanchions more securely than 3-6 jerry cans. Thoughts?

[ulpilot45]

Malbert.. shared this idea with a friend of ours he is jumping on it. Lol. His thought was to attach it on top with gravity feed. I'm not liking jerry cans at all I don't want the clutter on top. [Might be 2 reasons..1 I read on here some where top heavy boats with xtras on top don't up right very well n 2 if I gotta jump ship I don't wanna climb over shtuff..] jk..kinda.