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And I don't mean pee -that's another thread -; I'm wondering if people have hooked their boats up directly to city water or do they use tanks and pressure pumps?
It has been a real learning for me as we use our water tanks and find we go through about 75 gallons in just over a week. I blame the wife - she has this obsession with cleanliness and showers every day. Rather Petite Bourgeois that.
A simple "T" onto the high pressure side of the 12V water pump hookup with a pressure reducer hull fitting and a back flow preventer on that side of the pump and you have all the watet you'd ever need. Just make sure to shut it off when you leave the boat.
Hoffa,
As a full time, long time live a board, I use dockside water normally. I have a hydrallic quick disconnect much like motor yachts use and immediately inside the lazerette where the connection is, I have a pressure regulator. I've found that the further north we travel the higher the water pressure. I have mine set to 30 psi and it seems to keep us pretty happy. The only thing you MUST do is to turn the dockside water off when you leave the boat. Even if it's a five minute trip, we turn it off and back on when we return. I don't turn the water heater off and I don't turn on the boat pressure pump. I keep my water tank (150 us gal) full and flush it once a month on a schedule to avoid stagnation. This is just FYI, but that's how we've been doing it for some time. The pressure regulator and the turning off of the water on departure is a must in our case. Murphy's law says that the plumbing lines will rupture as soon as I'm 1/4 mile away. Have a good Holiday!
I've always used my tank (100 US gal) but I've been thinking a lot about shoreside preasure water lately. I always thought it would take a routine like Slooptattoo, shuting of the water everytime you leave the boat. Let us know if you switch over and how unlimited H2O changes things for you.
Because of the possibility of flooding the boat just when you turn your back, I prefer not to hook directly to city water feed.
Filling the tank regularly also keeps fresh water in rotation in the tank.
I make sure I run the hose for a few minutes before inserting into the tank fill.
Hey buddy, hello from Chicago. I will try that but I may have more then a little difficulty pronouncing uisge. However after a few shots it will not matter much eh? By the way I just took a whirlwind tour of your western part of your beautiful country commencing in Tuktoyaktuk, St George, Kamloops then ending in Victoria, BC.
Hoffa
I've built a pretty cool setup for water, as we often leave the docks for months at a time.
I've installed 2 tanks, 50 gallons each. the inside water is pulled from the port tank. The other tank is fed from either the watermaker or outside fill. the water is transfered from starboard to port with a transfer pump.
The idea behind this is that at any time, we know we have at least 50 gallons of water. If away from the dock, we transfer the water and then turn the watermaker on... I feel we have more control on how we use the water.......
I run 2 tanks and fill from the dock side and rotate from one to the other every 2 weeks or so (shower in the marina) but the guy on the other side of the dock plugs in direct, never shuts off the feed and has almost sunk his boat twice this year as a result
This consternation with shore water hook-ups always seems ironic to me. If done and maintained properly, a boat's potable water plumbing should be as secure, if not more so, than that in our homes, particularly when you consider most homeowners virtually never inspect their plumbing. When I hear third person accounts of problems like a boat "almost sinking" ,whatever thant means, I can't help but conclude it's either untrue, poor maintenance or poor installation.
How many people shut off their residential supply when they leave the house? A flooded basement is often more expensive than a flooded or sunk boat
Dockside pressure regulators are prone to failure. They WILL fill your boat up with water if the pressure is left on. So we do not use one. We have one if anyone out there wants one - pay the shipping and you can have it. But I don't recommend the use of one.
Our system is 220 gallons (1,000 liters) and we fill up about once a week (4 of us with ALL amenities including a washing machine) when tied up. When we are out and about, we can make that last as long as we need it to - we haven't had to fill up away from the dock yet...
Our previous boat (Grampian 26) has 16 gallons of water and we made that last 2 weeks. When I was by myself and living on the Grampian I went through it in about the same 2 week period. Only using it for dishes drinking and cleaning.
Soldered copper plumbing secured to a solid home is a lot different than flexable hose attached with hose clamps exposed to salt air, vibration & flexing.
Xort
I agree with you but the relative age of each also has a derogatory effect - the avg home age vs. boat...
I must admit I also turn off the shore water when away.
I don't recommend leaving the dock water hose connected to the boat, even if you have that as an option. There is just too much that can go wrong. If you burst a hose inside the boat, having the boat hooked up to the shore water system will pretty much sink your boat. If the boat's pressure water system isn't hooked up to shore water, then the most water it can dump into the bilge is the contents of your water tank—which is usually less than 100 gallons.
Think about it... if you have the hose connected to the shore water and something does burst, instead of 3.5 gpm or so for 20 minutes, you have it for however long it takes for someone to realize what is going on and turn off the water faucet. I'd rather not worry about that... so I fill the tank and then turn off the water.
The fundamental issue here is whether or not people choose to live the camping lifestyle while aboard or would prefer more comfortable living such as an endless supply of potable water which I'd venture to say none of us would do without at home. Living aboard should not have to be that much different and with prudent management of shore water, proper maintenance and some common sense, it doesn't have to be.
The pressure regulator is there to protect the boat's system from infrequent high surges of pressure resulting in over-pressurization and consequential destruction of the system. The unllikley (but possible) failure of a regulator should not deter anyone from using a properly functioning regulator as without one, the system is more likely to suffer a surge and failure.
I think if I were the type to leave the water on, I'd invest in a cheap pressure-sensitive automatic shutoff commonly available for cheap which would shut the water off if/when there was no back-pressure which would obviate the possibility of flooding if someone forgets to shut off the valve when the boat is unattended.
I'm not talking about a pressure regulator failure. Any failure in the pressure water system could lead to the vessel sinking. Turning the water off is far safer than relying on any device.
The fundamental issue here is whether or not people choose to live the camping lifestyle while aboard or would prefer more comfortable living such as an endless supply of potable water which I'd venture to say none of us would do without at home. Living aboard should not have to be that much different and with prudent management of shore water, proper maintenance and some common sense, it doesn't have to be.
The pressure regulator is there to protect the boat's system from infrequent high surges of pressure resulting in over-pressurization and consequential destruction of the system. The unllikley (but possible) failure of a regulator should not deter anyone from using a properly functioning regulator as without one, the system is more likely to suffer a surge and failure.
I think if I were the type to leave the water on, I'd invest in a cheap pressure-sensitive automatic shutoff commonly available for cheap which would shut the water off if/when there was no back-pressure which would obviate the possibility of flooding if someone forgets to shut off the valve when the boat is unattended.
When we are living on board , which is not I emphasise a permanent situation at the moment, we are rarely tied up to a dock so we live on tank water and have to conserve. Nonetheless, if you look after your supply, navy showers and all that, it's amazing how long the tanks will last. We carry 400 litres.
I'm pretty much alligned with Xort's postings. We fill our tanks periodically while at the dock, twice a month if we're using water freely, to keep our tanks fresh. Years ago we did have shore pressure water attached and came home to find four inches of water above our bildge ceiling. Our pet monkey, long from our boat now, had reached from his cage and worried a hose fitting until it failed. I also value the freedom to leave the dock without excessive amounts of detachments and alterations,-easier for an afternoon sail! 'take care and joy, Aythya crew
I would never hook my boat up to city water. I just don't see the point in taking the chance. Its not that hard to fill your tanks. Even in the winter. I have a 100 gal. tank and I get about 2 weeks with no problem. (a shower every day, some dishes, drinking, etc.) I don't really work hard to conserve. If my girlfriend stays over I might have to fill up a few days early though... In thirteen or so years of living aboard, I've only run out of water two times. You learn.
I power my system with a 12 volt pump and run the water through a charcoal filter like you find at the hardware store for homes. This keeps any grit out of my system and gives me clean, good tasting water all the time. I change the filter a few times a year.
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