Drinking water on boats

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted User YDKXO
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MrB said:
Reverse osmosis watermakers aren't that expensive anymore and surely they give good potable water for drinking with some extra inline filters?
I recall a thread on here where Magnum (RIP) was specking a high-end watermaker with built in water softener for his new boat that did it all.......eye watering £50k iirc but did sound the business. It would filter dock water also before it hit the tanks.
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We fitted a RO filter around 150 quid, tastes good and smell good, great for making tea and no limescale either.
 
Deleted User said:
With all the recent and well merited publicity about single use plastics, what do forumites do about drinking water on board if they dont want to drink water from their tanks? I must admit we buy drinking water in large plastic bottles (rather than multiple small ones) in order to save on waste but that still creates plastic waste about which I'm somewhat ashamed

Is it sufficient to drop a couple of water purification tablets into your tank on a regular basis to make the water potable? Are there modestly priced treatment systems available to make tank water potable?
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We drink from the 150 ltr tank with a whale in linefilter
 
When we get out to our boat (in Spain) we buy a dozen small bottles of water from the supermarket. We then refill and reuse those bottles for the duration of our trip via the taps onboard which either have filtered marina water (and I use a TDS monitor to check quality if the marina is new to us) or water made from our own onboard watermaker. Tastes absolutely fine and you can keep the small bottles in the ice box/fridge so they are nice and cold.
 
Deleted User said:
With all the recent and well merited publicity about single use plastics, what do forumites do about drinking water on board if they dont want to drink water from their tanks? I must admit we buy drinking water in large plastic bottles (rather than multiple small ones) in order to save on waste but that still creates plastic waste about which I'm somewhat ashamed

Is it sufficient to drop a couple of water purification tablets into your tank on a regular basis to make the water potable? Are there modestly priced treatment systems available to make tank water potable?
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Not sure how you equate your concern about the eco effects of plastic waste with the sort of cars you like to run Mike. ;) But we have always drunk from the boats tanks with an in line filtration system and an annual tank clean and filter replace. Admittedly most water was used in tea and coffee plus of course washing up, but we were happy to drink tank water particularly in the UK

I'll admit to being a bit of a chancer when it comes to what I will eat and drink with several hospital visits/stays with food poisoning, but I have never done myself a nasty with boat water.
 
I find boat tank water with a couple of conditioning tablets is fine. It has a bit of a taste about it but it’s ok. Especially with a shot of whisky.
 
Assassin said:
Ask any water supplier and you get the stock diatribe of "our water meets all current quality regulations" and nobody asks what these quality standards are as they vary around the world;
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Most water suppliers have a mix of sources. They mix and match (i.e. dilute the dodgy stuff) to ensure the output just meets quality regulations using as little of the good stuff as possible.
 
I have just been suckered into another 2 year old thread. Stop digging up old threads.
I had made an amusing quip, then realised it was wasted.

(It was that drinking water on boats should be illegal. Too many vineyards are going to the wall)

Apologies to little Sister.
 
If you use the new post filter you get the latest posts. Which will have a recent date and time.
There is a new poster on this forum asking an OP from a thread 4 years old a question. The OP hasn't been here for over a year.
 
After a few weeks on the hard, my water actually stank as it came out the tap. Rather than throwaway a whole tank load during a drought I’ve added a dozen Miltons and I’ll wait until natural usage empties the tank and then I’ll flush it out and start the cleaning process. But I don’t drink it, I use bottled water
 
Caraway said:
If you use the new post filter you get the latest posts. Which will have a recent date and time.
There is a new poster on this forum asking an OP from a thread 4 years old a question. The OP hasn't been here for over a year.
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If you look down the left hand side of the list it gives the first post date, or you could even read the last few messages before composing your words of wisdom, don't be so idle. Trying to blame others for ones own failings is never an attractive trait.

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No grp tanks ? I have a ferro cement tank. May have cleaned it 10 years ago and sometimes I might remember to add some form of purification, but the water always seems as fresh as the day it was filled.
 
I put a couple of tablets in the water tank but the crew (wife) prefers to buy bottled water for a trip of a few days.

I use old takeaway plastic containers to make ice blocks as two of them fit perfect in the fridge freezer compartment and they keep the G & T or jug of Pimms nice and cold.
 
Rappey said:
No grp tanks ? I have a ferro cement tank. May have cleaned it 10 years ago and sometimes I might remember to add some form of purification, but the water always seems as fresh as the day it was filled.
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I don’t know what my tank is, I suspect some form of plastic
 
I read something a long time ago that said ship water tanks used to be ferro lined as it was found to be better than anything else for keeping water fresh ?
 
For years we debated whether it was safe to drink from the plastic water tank and carried bottled water for those that wanted it. It always used to amuse me when people insisted on drinking bottled water because of concerns over contamination but seemed quite happy to fill their glasses to the brim with ice from the ice-maker, fed by the dreaded tank.

This year we decided to ban single-use plastic bottles and rely on water from the tank, We have some reusable bottles to keep water cold in the fridges, but these are filled from the tank, which is filled either by the water maker or the marina supply. The only additional precautions we've taken are to refill the tank more regularly (so it is kept reasonably full) and wherever possible to fill it using our own hose and only after washing the boat (so both supply and hose have been thoroughly flushed).

We have always added a non-chlorine sterilising product called Aqua Clean from Yachticon. We use the liquid form, although it's also available as tablets. You add 10ml per 100L and it promises to stabilise the water for up to 6 months. The water tastes fine ... totally normal ... and so far no problems.
 
DAW said:
For years we debated whether it was safe to drink from the plastic water tank and carried bottled water for those that wanted it. It always used to amuse me when people insisted on drinking bottled water because of concerns over contamination but seemed quite happy to fill their glasses to the brim with ice from the ice-maker, fed by the dreaded tank.

This year we decided to ban single-use plastic bottles and rely on water from the tank, We have some reusable bottles to keep water cold in the fridges, but these are filled from the tank, which is filled either by the water maker or the marina supply. The only additional precautions we've taken are to refill the tank more regularly (so it is kept reasonably full) and wherever possible to fill it using our own hose and only after washing the boat (so both supply and hose have been thoroughly flushed).

We have always added a non-chlorine sterilising product called Aqua Clean from Yachticon. We use the liquid form, although it's also available as tablets. You add 10ml per 100L and it promises to stabilise the water for up to 6 months. The water tastes fine ... totally normal ... and so far no problems.
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Almost “ snap “ in every detail except we use the tabs .I pop a few in each time .
500 L glassed in tank under the cockpit stairs .
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We've always taken our water straight from the taps on Play d'eau.

We disinfect annually using Milton Fluid. We fill the tanks to max with the correct amount of Milton fluid, run the pump to ensure disinfectant comes through all taps, showers and the ice maker, top up the tanks again, and wait 24 hours before emptying and flushing with fresh water at least twice to remove all traces of Milton.

When filling from shore supply, we use a Dockpure system.
 
We keep our 2 ltr Lemonade and Coke bottles and refill them with water. We are never on our boat for more than about 3 nights so this is fine for us. We only reuse the bottles about 4 - 5 times before we have some new ones in stock. The way I see it is we have the lemonade bottles anyway so are not greatly adding to plastic waste.

A few years ago I had to check our cold water storage tank in our roof of the house that had a sort of lid on it. I found a dead bird in it. Stopped drinking from the tap in the bathroom after that :).
 
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