Using a bladder to transport water

[sorcerer33]

Someone told me that they saved themselves a whole lot of trouble by putting a bladder in their dinghy and connecting a spare water pump to it. They fill the bladder at the dock in Georgetown and then take it back out to their boat to pump it out. This gives them a spare water pump for the inevitable breakdown of the regular pump. Question: What type of bladder would I get?

[tommays]

Tough to keep a bladder sanitary

[canucksailorguy]

Not at all hard to keep a bladder sanitary. Rinse it every so often with chlorine bleach, or vinegar even, then rinse it thoroughly with water. Better yet, get a filter inline before the tanks and eliminate even more of your problems. You can buy a filter that fits on a garden hose, does a great job.
I once, due to a lack of caffeine ingestion one morning, pumped 13 gallons of diesel into my BRAND NEW BLADDER TANKS.
Talk about a mess. Had to remove and properly dispose of the fuel/water mixture, then clean the tanks thoroughly with 'simple green' - I can recommend it for diesel cleanup - then rinse rinse rinse, including stopping up the hoses and filling them with SG.
When the water tasted ok, with no scent or smell, I reinstalled the bags. I then got around to finally installing a Culligan inline filter after the tanks - water actually tastes better than before. Had these been built in tanks, it would have been a nightmare getting them properly cleaned out.
As for what bladder to get, WM sells a variety of them. I find that simply bringing along a five gallon collapsible jug every trip and filling it more than compensates for water usage, but that may not work for all. The weight also balances out my dinghy...

[RichH]

I use collapsable 5 gallon polyethylene portable containers ... and do use a small pump (driven by my 18v. rechargeable drill) to get the water into my tank from a dinghy. example: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...2678&langId=-1

If you know someone who works in the bio-pharma industry they might be able to get you 10 gal. collapsable polyethylene "serum transfer bags" - polyethylene is 'routinely' safe for potable quality water.

Many 'bladders' used for water, are not NSF/FDA rated for potable water - suspect chemical emission / 'leachables' (unbound monomers & chemical 'fragments'). :-o

hope this helps. ;-)

[sorcerer33]

Thanx for some good information. Now I really don't know what to do! I am concerned about keeping bladders clean and about leaching. I thought the bladder might be preferable to the jerry jugs.

[H and E]

I have one that I use occasionally to get water to the travel trailer if we are in a remote area. I clean it in the spring with bleach and water. Been doing that for four years now. With most water treated with chlorine now days the problem of keeping it sanitary is not so great.