Convert unused water tanks to storage?

[Contest1]

Any one tried this.
My Centaur tanks are under the v berth.
I,v never used them nor did the previous owner, 10 years in total.
No plans to cross the oceans but hope to make the Med 2014, all being well, and planning to buy one or two of the plastic tapped home brew barrels for additional water storage in the much drier and warmer climate.
Am thinking the additional storage space would be v useful in the forward cabin..
I sail mainly singlehanded here in Ireland and find a 5 lt bottle covers my daily requirments, occasional company is covered by the 3 or 4 spares.
All advice, comments appreciated.

 

[oldsaltoz]

Sounds like a good idea, you should be able to use the access cut out as the final cover by adding a few battens around the exposed edge to support the lid.

I would be tempted to install a drain, particularly if the area get wet from to time, but also makes cleaning a bit easier.

I still wonder why anyone would even want all that weight in the bow, poor design?

Good luck and fair winds.

 

[Tranona]

If you are planning the Med then you will need to consider more water capacity - not less, particularly if you are going to actually live on board for more than a couple of days at a time and anchor rather than go into an expensive marina every night. We found 250 litres would last just over a week for 2 people for cooking washing cleaning etc plus bottled water for tea.

 

[V1701]

Assuming the tank's not massive, I'd consider adding a flexible tank (Vetus if you can afford it, Plastimo if not) under each berth in the saloon (or whatever layout/weight distribution allows) to increase capacity rather than forfeiting what water storage you already have...

 

[Rossynant]

I sail mainly singlehanded here in Ireland and find a 5 lt bottle covers my daily requirments, occasional company is covered by the 3 or 4 spares.
All advice, comments appreciated.

A little itsy bitsy comment - suppose some misfortune blows you off the Ireland coast for a couple weeks - how long can you survive on the bottle?

IIRC there was one stainless tank permanently installed in Westerly? Probably not easy to get it out without cutting the boat seriously. Stainless is best; I'd check if still tight (might have been a reason for not using?) and use it.
Personally I would not drink from plastic bottles if avoidable, but whatever, who wants to live forever anyway...

 

[cagey]

Why not fit watertight inspection hatch (bought mine from TekTanks) Then when you don't need water fill tank with stores or clothes etc, when you do need water tank then easy to clean and steralise through hatch and you have water capacity.

 

[Contest1]

Why not fit watertight inspection hatch (bought mine from TekTanks) Then when you don't need water fill tank with stores or clothes etc, when you do need water tank then easy to clean and steralise through hatch and you have water capacity.

Sounds like a plan
Maybe I,m a bit rash in thinking of dry storeage only given the water requirements as a semi liveaboard, this
Idea could give more options.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Yes Centaur - I used to use a home brew barrel too and it worked well. In the med in a small boat? You'll need much more water than in paddyland. Up here its too cold to perspire.