Water availability in the Med

[boatmike]

I built my last boat to cruise oceans and therefore fitted a Desalination plant. I am now changing to a Mobo expressly designed to potter down canals and eventually end up in the Greek Islands (probably)
My question is, Is a desalination plant of value when pottering down to Greece or is water freely available everywhere at no cost down there still? I can either take it off the boat and fit to new boat, leave it on board as a selling point (which will only appeal to some) or take it off and sell it seperately if it's of no value in Greece. What does the folorum think?

 

[B&M]

In Greece the number of places where you can get free water is disappearing fast. In many harbours you will get charged extra, (on top of mooring charges) normally €3-5. Some places give you unlimited quantity others charge up to €5 per 100ltrs. Once you get to know the area you will soon learn the best places to top up.

 

[Appleyard]

I built my last boat to cruise oceans and therefore fitted a Desalination plant. I am now changing to a Mobo expressly designed to potter down canals and eventually end up in the Greek Islands (probably)
My question is, Is a desalination plant of value when pottering down to Greece or is water freely available everywhere at no cost down there still? I can either take it off the boat and fit to new boat, leave it on board as a selling point (which will only appeal to some) or take it off and sell it seperately if it's of no value in Greece. What does the folorum think?

I would fit extra f/w tankage to the new boat in order to take advantage of the availability of cheap or free water when available,and top up as and when.
You will soon find out where to go for good supplies,as has been said.

 

[boatmike]

Thanks B&M (and Marsupial)
That backs up what I thought but it's good to get first hand experienced opinions.
Folorum strikes again.... Ta
Mike

 

[Appleyard]

Thanks B&M (and Marsupial)
That backs up what I thought but it's good to get first hand experienced opinions.
Folorum strikes again.... Ta
Mike

Don't mention it.

 

[Jamesuk]

The Greek water is just like it's economy, bloody awful. The worst place was gouvia Marina Corfu.

We filled up in lots of ports this year it is not a bad idea to have some micron filters in line that the hose plugs into before the water goes into the tanks.

 

[boatmike]

Er... Sorry if I offended by not thanking you. All comments are welcome of course so thanks for your contribution, but you addressed a different problem. If you have ever had a desalination plant on board you would know that when running properly you can have quite a lot of water in a short period and the quality is excellent. Not necessarily ideal on a sailboat as they are rather power hungry beasts but as this is a MoBo, that won't be a problem and if as most say the quality of water from on shore is doubtful and they charge you for it I think it would be daft to haul around bigger tankfuls of the stuff which will just cost more in diesel anyway. Certainly didn't mean to offend though so sorry!

 

[boatmike]

The Greek water is just like it's economy, bloody awful. The worst place was gouvia Marina Corfu.

We filled up in lots of ports this year it is not a bad idea to have some micron filters in line that the hose plugs into before the water goes into the tanks.

Hmm! Yes... Gouvia will be on the list. Been there before with a charter boat but if the quality is bad there it's bound to be pretty horrible on smaller islands so that seems like another vote for making your own I guess. Also as you say some upline filters for taking water onboard might be worth considering anyway, not instead of, but as well as. Going through France on the canals I certainly won't use a watermaker and if staying any length of time in harbour I won't either so possibly a little freestanding rig with "hose in-hose out" hi-flow filter might be a good investment. I will of course have an activated carbon filter on the galley taps but it would be a good idea to have a tadpole filter before the stuff comes on board too !

 

[Appleyard]

Er... Sorry if I offended by not thanking you. All comments are welcome of course so thanks for your contribution, but you addressed a different problem. If you have ever had a desalination plant on board you would know that when running properly you can have quite a lot of water in a short period and the quality is excellent. Not necessarily ideal on a sailboat as they are rather power hungry beasts but as this is a MoBo, that won't be a problem and if as most say the quality of water from on shore is doubtful and they charge you for it I think it would be daft to haul around bigger tankfuls of the stuff which will just cost more in diesel anyway. Certainly didn't mean to offend though so sorry!

No worries!! hope all goes well.

 

[DoubleEnder]

Boat for the Med

Mike I'd be curious to have some brief information about the motorboat you will use for canals/Med cruise. Just basic stuff, dimensions, engine configuration, layout. Or if it is s pecific model, just that would be great. Thank you
Graham

 

[charles_reed]

If you have one definitely fit it to the mobo.
Most Greek islands are short of water, nearly all charge (as much as €25 on Zakinthos).
Greek water is high in temporary hardness and furs kettles and calorifiers.

 

[boatmike]

Mike I'd be curious to have some brief information about the motorboat you will use for canals/Med cruise. Just basic stuff, dimensions, engine configuration, layout. Or if it is s pecific model, just that would be great. Thank you
Graham

Well.... Very much a personal choice but I didn't want to buy a boat specific to inland waterways. If I had (and I considered it) I would have bought a Dutch steel hulled boat with a single engine capable of no more than 8 knots. If I had it would have been cheaper and certainly ideal for canals. Most of these are pretty **** at sea though and roll like a pig. Fully planing hulls are generally pretty bad at canals and have flybridges with high air draught (won't go under bridges) and frankly I wanted something that would be a good sea boat and capable of being used in canals with care. I therefore bought an Aqua-star 33 which has twin diesels, 3ft draught, low air draught but is a comfortable little boat. A compromise of course and as a semi-displacement boat will not be cheap to run at sea but in canals will be tolerable. In the Med or anywhere else, size for size, I don't think I could have done better for a shallow draught boat with low air draught and good sea keeping but hey! One mans ideal is anothers nightmare and there is no such thing as a perfect boat that does everything.

 

[DoubleEnder]

Interesting choice, and thank you

Well.... Very much a personal choice but I didn't want to buy a boat specific to inland waterways. If I had (and I considered it) I would have bought a Dutch steel hulled boat with a single engine capable of no more than 8 knots. If I had it would have been cheaper and certainly ideal for canals. Most of these are pretty **** at sea though and roll like a pig. Fully planing hulls are generally pretty bad at canals and have flybridges with high air draught (won't go under bridges) and frankly I wanted something that would be a good sea boat and capable of being used in canals with care. I therefore bought an Aqua-star 33 which has twin diesels, 3ft draught, low air draught but is a comfortable little boat. A compromise of course and as a semi-displacement boat will not be cheap to run at sea but in canals will be tolerable. In the Med or anywhere else, size for size, I don't think I could have done better for a shallow draught boat with low air draught and good sea keeping but hey! One mans ideal is anothers nightmare and there is no such thing as a perfect boat that does everything.

Were there other candidates you looked at? Broom, for example? I think that fuel costs probably will be high, but as a percentage of overall costs not so big. And you save all the expense of having to buy maintain and repair a (frequently redundant) sailing rig

Graham