Marina Water Hoses! no more of them!

[vandy]

Visited Cowes Yacht Haven after a rough ride and we always clean the windscreens off salt before heading back, but then we found there's no water hose! After speaking to the marina office they said it is because of Health and Safety! as people might drink out of them whilst they may have been inserted into boats' holding tanks!

Well whether this is another way of saving £££ by just removing "facilities" by a business rather than thinking how they can be more efficient, or really a bizarre measure in the name of health and safety, I'd like to know other people's views? I know many marinas already don't provide hose (I know Burton in Lymington for example, but they do lend you theirs if you fancy carrying them all the way!)

 

[longjohnsilver]

This is nothing new, see the thread below about hose etiquette. Some marinas have kept their hoses whilst other haven't.

 

[SteveSarabande]

They make a good point, just buy your own hosepipe, far safer.

 

[Solent_Boating]

Money saving measure! that's all I can think of - the water from pontoon taps are not drinking water and any sensible user would know that. Wish people would go out more to see how European marinas keep on top of both H&S and provide worldclass service at fraction of cost of some UK marinas...

 

[omega2]

Our marina water makes excellent tea been using it for years, I guess you use MINERAL WATER? with your Gin!! Still got to have our own hose though. You will be surprised what some people use them for. LOL

 

[prv]

the water from pontoon taps are not drinking water and any sensible user would know that.

I must be a silly user then - but not half as silly as I would be emptying a trolley-full of Evian into the tank!

It's Southampton tap water, same as in my kitchen.

Pete

 

[Vanilla]

This is a real bug bear issue for me. Haslar marina are getting rid of the water hoses too so we will have to provide our own.

What these elf and safety nuts don't seem to consider is that the risk of contamination and bad health effects is hugely magnified with 650 boats all using their own hoses rather than 650 sharing 20 (or however many there are
...) because most of us will only use our own hose every week or month so it'll sit festering in the cockpit locker for potentially weeks between use, rather than constantly being flushed thru by having dozens of boats using fewer hoses very regularly.....totally bonkers as well as blinking inconvenient....rant temporarily over

 

[sarabande]

the issue is about potability of water passing through hoses which are not designated for, umm, potable water.

The ordinary garden hoses (yellow) contain plasticisers which migrate from the hose into water when the temperature rises (as being left on a pontoon in summer). These plasticisers are Not Good for mammals. Or fish, shrimps, seeweed, seahorses, etc.

Blue (designated potable) water hoses have a much higher temperature tolerance, and are therefore more expensive, but 'safer'.

If you have a yellow hose on board (I do !) then empty it after use, don't let it stand full of tap water, even if that water is from the mains.


Marinas get twitchy about supplying water because they are supposed to install expensive non-return valves in their system to prevent some goon pumping contaminated water back into the mains system. It's possible, I suppose, but requires a number of carefully contrived and contingent errors so to do.

 

[Steruth1]

Most garden Taps which are easily fitted have built in Nrv, so this should never be a problem.
Elf and safety gone mad!

 

[sarabande]

Fixed taps can have NRVs, but it is not unknown for the embossed arrow to be fitted the wrong way round.

 

[boatingdave]

Fixed taps can have NRVs, but it is not unknown for the embossed arrow to be fitted the wrong way round.

Surely the water wouldn't flow at all from the tap?

 

[sailorman]

We have recently got new hose`s back after the same H & S / Water Regs carp that was giver some 4 to 5 yrs ago

 

[Steruth1]

Yeah, it allows water to flow in the one direction but can't back syphon due to the Nrv,

 

[lisilou]

I don't see the problem tbh. We carry a cassette hose just in case. It's no biggy (the situation not the hose).
L

 

[MrB]

Marinas get twitchy about supplying water because they are supposed to install expensive non-return valves in their system to prevent some goon pumping contaminated water back into the mains system. It's possible, I suppose, but requires a number of carefully contrived and contingent errors so to do.

By law external taps must have a double non return valve fitted, it has been that way for years. It takes just minutes to replace a tap with a DNRV tap and they are only £7

 

[Steruth1]

That was my point exactly!

Thank you ?

 

[Pinnacle]

This is a real bug bear issue for me. Haslar marina are getting rid of the water hoses too so we will have to provide our own.

What these elf and safety nuts don't seem to consider is that the risk of contamination and bad health effects is hugely magnified with 650 boats all using their own hoses rather than 650 sharing 20 (or however many there are
...) because most of us will only use our own hose every week or month so it'll sit festering in the cockpit locker for potentially weeks between use, rather than constantly being flushed thru by having dozens of boats using fewer hoses very regularly.....totally bonkers as well as blinking inconvenient....rant temporarily over

Not bad for an initial rant. I would give it 7 out of 10. I look forward to reading the full version soon.

 

[l'escargot]

This is a real bug bear issue for me. Haslar marina are getting rid of the water hoses too so we will have to provide our own.

What these elf and safety nuts don't seem to consider is that the risk of contamination and bad health effects is hugely magnified with 650 boats all using their own hoses rather than 650 sharing 20 (or however many there are
...) because most of us will only use our own hose every week or month so it'll sit festering in the cockpit locker for potentially weeks between use, rather than constantly being flushed thru by having dozens of boats using fewer hoses very regularly.....totally bonkers as well as blinking inconvenient....rant temporarily over

Get a food quality hose and keep it clean - like you do your water tank, now you do keep that clean don't you? I would much rather use my own hose than rely on a strange marina hose being clean - I have seen some pretty suspect water come out of hoses even in busy marinas, Haslar being one, and I've often pulled out hoses left dangling in the sea for I don't know how long. And how often do you see people bothering to clean of the end of the hose that has been laying in all sorts of cleaning agents while they wipe down their boat?

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

It's dogs piddling up against them that puts me off!

 

[Questor]

Just received an email from Premier Chichester informing me of their intentions to remove the pontoon hoses by 13th May. The ones that have been there for years, and not been a problem.

A complete PITA.