Drinking water

[Cheeky Girl]

Hi
Thinking of days when I might actually get to sail my new to me boat .
I have a question or two

Do peple drink the water direct from their tanks?
If so do you need to treat the water
or do you have an in line filter?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Old Harry]

yes x 3

 

[peteK]

Always drank the water from tank but sometimes add steralising tablet to tank.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I drink from the tank and have an activated charcoal filter in-line. I have never treated the tanks in my current boat (10 years now) but only ever fill from drinking water supplies.

 

[lw395]

Our tanks don't get enough through them.
We find it convenient to use 2l 'springwater' bottles from Sainsbury.
Filling kettle from a bottle, you only put the right amount in, it boils quicker, you save gas.
If we were going to be on the boat for longer, we'd flush the tanks and all that, but for mostly weekends and one 3 week cruise a year, bottles are no hassle.
Just take a couple ashore to refill when you can.

 

[laika]

We drink water from the tank. We don't have a filter. I do sterilise the tanks annually: add sterilising tablets/liquid, fill, leave over night, drain, refill, drain, refill.

 

[FlyingGoose]

As above sterilise each season and filter at tap , no issues
I have seen UV water filters after the charcoal filter but that would be extreme for the UK

 

[Muddy32]

We drink water from the tank. We don't have a filter. I do sterilise the tanks annually: add sterilising tablets/liquid, fill, leave over night, drain, refill, drain, refill.

+1

 

[Daydream believer]

I add a generous supply of sterilizing ( Aquatabs) tablets & never drink the water from the tank unless boiled. At the end of the season i drain the tanks as far as practical, but still notice a pungent smell when running for the first time. So I run a tankfull through, suitably treated. Always wary of drinking it neat

 

[neilf39]

We drink water from the tank, no filters other than the coarse one on the jabsco water pump, but I dose it with Aquasol. Seems to work well. Been using it for over 5 years. We just empty the tank completely each winter.

 

[Boater Sam]

Integral tank, bitumined every 10 years or so, 5 micron filter on the galley cold tap only. Always drink it, not spending on bottled water.
Fill from the canalside water points, never had any problem.

 

[Wansworth]

Our tanks don't get enough through them.
We find it convenient to use 2l 'springwater' bottles from Sainsbury.
Filling kettle from a bottle, you only put the right amount in, it boils quicker, you save gas.
If we were going to be on the boat for longer, we'd flush the tanks and all that, but for mostly weekends and one 3 week cruise a year, bottles are no hassle.
Just take a couple ashore to refill when you can.

Agree but use tank water for washing up so it doesn’t lie stagnant

 

[srm]

On both my current and last boat I fitted the Seagull IV filter that has its own tap in the galley for drinking water and cooking. The water tastes a lot better than direct from the tanks. It also provides protection should we fill from a contaminated supply as long pipe runs and hoses can breed all sorts of nasties when water is left standing in them. Always use my own hose for filling from marina supply and drain it afterwards to prevent bacteria breeding in the hose.

If you think this is excessive a doctor I know does the same on his boat then boils the water before use.

 

[Leighb]

We have always drunk the water from the tank. Previous boat had flexible tank, current one a rigid translucent one, presumed original 40years old. We always sterilise at the start of the season and flush a whole tankful through to clear any residual taste, then use a liquid containing Silver salts with each refill. I can’t remember the name and it is on the boat. We have used this for some years now and is completely tasteless, not all Chandleries stock it though.

 

[C08]

In line water filter every year. Never had a problem with onboard water on 3 boats over 30 years. I do not like the taste of water treatment tablets. One treatment touted to improve the taste of tank water is a flushing with vinegar-it took about a year for the taste of vinegar to go!

 

[Star-Lord]

In some marinas where I am the water is not potable because it is ground water. I drink straight from the tank.
I use 2 x inline charcoal filters before the water gets to the tank. The newest one of these filters is Dockside Prefilter :: Pure Water Online and this is all that is needed as a prefilter 610000 Dockside Prefilter :: Dockside Prefilter :: Pure Water Online But this should not be used alone for drinking non potable water. This is just a prefilter. It will slow the flow of the water down quite a lot so filling water tanks can take some time!

I have a 20 micron filter before the water pump (not sure this is strictly necessary now I have an amazing dockside filter but my old dockside filter was not as good - I used to have to clean this every few weeks but now it seems clean all the time). Then the hot water tap is filter free. And for cold water tap - used for all cooking and drinking - the water flow is a bit slow with this filter on it - (use a separate tap not a mixer - important to separate if using a filter) I use one of these 700008 X-1B Seagull (R) IV Basic :: Seagull IV :: Pure Water Online The filters last for about 12 months. This setup is quite pricey (I have lots of spare filters as well) but the Seagull IV makes undrinkable water drinkable. If you were in the tropics you could also treat the water after the Seagull with Ultra Violet Light. I do not know the best UVL set up but all the info is available.

If you are on a budget then this is all you need LifeStraw Go or a smilmilar product.

It should be noted other filters on the market are better suited to removing odours from the water and not 'purifying the water' like the Seagull IV.

 

[Yngmar]

Do peple drink the water direct from their tanks?
If so do you need to treat the water
or do you have an in line filter?

Well, we don't drink direct from the tanks, rather the freshwater pump brings it up to convenient taps, but yes, of course we drink that, no filter.

We annually disinfect and clean our plastic (HDPE) tanks with a strong dose of bleach (make sure you don't get the perfumed stuff for floor wiping), which we let sit for an hour before pumping it out through all the taps, cleaning pipes and taps in the process.

When filling, I dose with an appropriate quantity of sodium hypochlorite. This requires some simple dilution math, a TDS meter to gauge water quality and some experience. You can also do various simple tests such as evaporating a sample and see what's left (salt crystals, calcium, etc.), although that usually takes too long if you're just stopping somewhere for a refill. The filling hose has a simple mesh strainer to keep out debris and bits of algae we've found in some places where the town water was under-chlorinated.

If you over-chlorinate there is a light smell/taste of chlorine, which tells you you didn't need to add so much of the stuff, but that rarely happens anymore. It evaporates when boiling, or slowly from a glass of cold water. Otherwise no taste and we've had plenty of guests who assumed it was bottled water until I went to the tap to get some more

Advise against tablet form water treatment, as it leaves debris in the tank.

 

[Poignard]

Yes
No
No

 

[Clancy Moped]

Cook, shower, brush teeth with it...drink it hell no!

 

[Sandy]

Do peple drink the water direct from their tanks?
If so do you need to treat the water
or do you have an in line filter?

Yes
No
No.

Almost all of the water that we drink from the tank is boiled for tea and I drink my Highland Park with one drop of water in it. Other drinks have mixers.