Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

[Ribbit]

Thomas Hardy commented about rainwater collecting in his novels. Standard practice was to leave it rain for about 10 minutes, to wash all the dust (most pollen, molds, and spores as well) out of the air before starting collecting.

As I am going to get a dehumidifier anyway (110v at 4 amps for a 50 pint a day one) to use where there is shore power (worth it to dry the interior, especially as I will be doing refurbishing and updating for a while), I think I'll put in a sterilisation and filtration system that will cope with rainwater as well as the dehumidifier water (bleach works well and vents off easy, plus cigarette filters will do some preliminary filtering in a siphon tube).

You can get blue 5 gallon containers for kerosene, so I may just keep it separate in those so as not to mix it up, and use those for boiling cooking water, and showers. It'll certainly help make the potable water storage go a lot further.

A gravity water filter (which won't get much use) with good filter candles, should then work fine if I need emergency drinking water.

It should all help to tide me over until I get a watermaker, with luck.

I used to manage fine on less than 10 gallons a week from my well for drinking water, plus using captured rainwater for washing and bathing.

[sparrowhawk1]

It always surprises me that thread can just dry up, pun intended. But I just topped off my water tanks with Rainwater filtered through aquarium floss and then a standard water filter I just wanted to show the importance of using the aquarium "floss" first this is after it rained hard for a full day and then I started collecting for my main tanks. Maybe not so crucial if you're not near a city but it's so easy to put this in the hose right before the filter. Yeah it I know looks kind of gross but better than in my water tank.

[JPA Cate]

For collecting under way, we put a through-hull fitting in the shelf foot of the main sail, then, after it rained for about ten minutes, put the hose on the fitting, and fed the water into the tanks.

For at anchor, Jim made a cockpit awning that had shape to it, either topped up to drain well, or let down, for catchment. Same through hull to hose at the lowest point. Worked great, did two services, shade and water collection.

Had some friends, who, when it started to rain, scrubbed their decks, and then used towels to make dams by their tank inlets, to re-fill the tanks. they also jammed hose through their perforated toe rail, and suspended buckets below, to catch extra.

We never filtered our water, but we also always treated water from suspect sources. 1 Tbsp. sodium hypochlorite (bleach) to 10 gal. water.

Ann

[Seaworthy Lass]

I missed this thread the first time around.

Most Aussies who have tasted anything other than city life are comfortable with the concept of collecting rainwater and drinking it (in the past usually boiling it first). A freshly scrubbed foredeck is pristine compared to a tin roof catchment area. Apart from all the grime and growth, think of bird and possum droppings plus frequent dead offerings and rotting leaf matter.

On board we initially thought our huge boom tent would work well for collecting rain, but here in the Med unfortunately when it is raining it is frequently too windy to keep this up.

The foredeck is a perfect catchment zone. I keep the decks fairly clean anyway by running an old towel around on dewy mornings, but I repeat this on the foredeck once it has started raining. It is a free shower opportunity as well . We then give it time for the deck to rinse well, put a small sandbag (about 20 x 10 cm) behind the deck fill, open this up and watch with glee from the galley window to see water pouring in. Very satisfying .

In winter when solar power is low it saves running the water maker as frequently.

SWL

[Seaworthy Lass]

This has brought back memories of the crocheted doilies that covered jugs of cooled boiled water. The beads stopped the cover sliding off and were always red in our house.

Anyone else grow up with these?

By the way, chlorine bleach is acidic and even the low concentrations used to disinfect water are corrosive to metal. Melbourne water adds lime/caustic soda to netralise the pH after the addition of chlorine. Makes rainwater collected off a deck sound positively healthy .

[sparrowhawk1]

Hey I just have to say it again even if your decks are completely clean which mine are, it's been raining for 3 days straight, there are still bugs in the air, pollution and dust. I think the black specks are from the cruise ships that are upwind of me spewing diesel exhaust. Once again this is aquarium floss that can be bought very cheaply and I highly recommend that anyone putting their water directly into their tanks use this as a filter and like I said I use it as a pre-filter for my carbon filter. PS after filling my main tanks I changed the floss and probably only had 50 gallons go through it to make it this dirty.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

I missed this thread the first time around.

Most Aussies who have tasted anything other than city life are comfortable with the concept of collecting rainwater and drinking it (in the past usually boiling it first). A freshly scrubbed foredeck is pristine compared to a tin roof catchment area. Apart from all the grime and growth, think of bird and possum droppings plus frequent dead offerings and rotting leaf matter.

On board we initially thought our huge boom tent would work well for collecting rain, but here in the Med unfortunately when it is raining it is frequently too windy to keep this up.

The foredeck is a perfect catchment zone. I keep the decks fairly clean anyway by running an old towel around on dewy mornings, but I repeat this on the foredeck once it has started raining. It is a free shower opportunity as well . We then give it time for the deck to rinse well, put a small sandbag (about 20 x 10 cm) behind the deck fill, open this up and watch with glee from the galley window to see water pouring in. Very satisfying .

In winter when solar power is low it saves running the water maker as frequently.

SWL

I always enjoy reading your posts that share something unusual or not unusual to some. .

I once lived with a family on a small island in the Caribbean, staying in their home. Their only source of drinking water was a cistern that took water from the tin roof. One day I was curious about this, (I was a young teen, and admittedly a "city boy") and my host took me around back of the house to see.

When he lifted the tin cover off the large cistern tank, I took a look inside. Peering over the edge into what was a large concrete tank I was surprised to see the water surface moving. It was ALIVE with frogs, tadpoles, water bugs, and had a rim of green mossy looking algae around the edge of the tank. GULP!

As far as I know, there was no form of filtration used from the cistern to the house taps. Rain water, with a little natural stuff in too.

[sparrowhawk1]

I just checked, no pollywogs in my tanks.

[sparrowhawk1]

Update. I improved my 1st filter and made my second filter with a hose that has a sink faucet screen and aquarium filter at both ends with activated charcoal in the center. I also made a pump switch. I fill several buckets after I let it rain heavily for 15 minutes, these are for showering and my garden. Then I have a clean bucket that I start pumping water out of for my main tanks, you can see that even after it's rained for an hour or so there's still sediment in the bottom of the bucket.

[sparrowhawk1]

But take note I live in a city. What is hard for me to understand is that with an East Wind, very little land in between me and the Atlantic and I still get pollution

[Sparx]

Sparrowhawk, thanks for resurrecting this thread. I have been contemplating rain water collection for my boat. Your filter cloth examples are informative.

I am leaning towards using an approximate 50 sq ft plastic sheet (likely clear patterning material) fitted side walls and a hose drain that would be rolled out when needed across my coach roof. A filter at the end of the hose takes advantage of the 3 feet of head to push water through the filter. This water would be collected in a bucket, before decanting into a dedicated below deck tank.

[sparrowhawk1]

Sorry to be a broken record, the bucket collects settlement. Further straining - filtering will restrict the flow. In Florida we get rain quite often but for very short periods . So a pump is necessary. YMMV
PS. It sounds so simple but it took me 20 years to perfect this

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

I missed this thread the first time around.

Most Aussies who have tasted anything other than city life are comfortable with the concept of collecting rainwater and drinking it (in the past usually boiling it first). A freshly scrubbed foredeck is pristine compared to a tin roof catchment area. Apart from all the grime and growth, think of bird and possum droppings plus frequent dead offerings and rotting leaf matter.

On board we initially thought our huge boom tent would work well for collecting rain, but here in the Med unfortunately when it is raining it is frequently too windy to keep this up.

The foredeck is a perfect catchment zone. I keep the decks fairly clean anyway by running an old towel around on dewy mornings, but I repeat this on the foredeck once it has started raining. It is a free shower opportunity as well . We then give it time for the deck to rinse well, put a small sandbag (about 20 x 10 cm) behind the deck fill, open this up and watch with glee from the galley window to see water pouring in. Very satisfying .

In winter when solar power is low it saves running the water maker as frequently.

SWL

We collect water almost the exact way. But we plug the 4 holes in the toe rail with pieces of paper towels and then a towel rolled up directs the water to the fill hole. The fill is the exact size of a jabsco fine mesh filter the kind used before your fresh water pump. This has worked well for use over the past 22 years of cruising. Amazing how much water you can collect in a downpour and you don’t have to worry about the wind in an awning catchment. It’s simply and the cost $8 for a jabsco fine mesh filter that we have been using for a decade.

Chuck
Jacaranda

[Simi 60]

On our vessel the roof drains onto the next deck which is enclosed and has 2 inch PVC drains.
Attach hose to the PVC via various fittings and run it into a 1.5 litre plastic bottle with the base cut off and one of these exact size 100 mic aquarium filter socks is inserted.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ring-Aqu...edirect=mobile

Hose fitted to screw cap end runs to water tanks and I then use multiple layers of chux type cloth pushed down into inlet with the hose and then pull hose back out an inch or so to allow faster flow in.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Most Aussies who have tasted anything other than city life are comfortable with the concept of collecting rainwater and drinking it (in the past usually boiling it first). A freshly scrubbed foredeck is pristine compared to a tin roof catchment area. Apart from all the grime and growth, think of bird and possum droppings plus frequent dead offerings and rotting leaf matter.

A lot had super 6 ( asbestos ) roofs as well.