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If you kept and sailed your 80's vintage boat in southern NE.... would you:
Store potable water in 35 year old tanks?
Use a water maker for drinking water only? If so how much would you make / day?
Use (filtered) town water for drinking as well as cleaning?
Use only water like Poland Spring bottled water for drinking and cooking?
While not an 80's vintage, we kept and sailed our 60's vintage in Southern NE, stored unfiltered town water in its 40yr old tank, and used it for all onboard usage, including drinking and cooking.

I guess the deciding factor is how clean one's tank is kept, how sure one is of the water supply, and how comfortable one is drinking tap water in general.

For us, we kept the tank clean, the water supply was the same as at our house, and we are fine with drinking tap water.

Mark
 
While not an 80's vintage, we kept and sailed our 60's vintage in Southern NE, stored unfiltered town water in its 40yr old tank, and used it for all onboard usage, including drinking and cooking.

I guess the deciding factor is how clean one's tank is kept, how sure one is of the water supply, and how comfortable one is drinking tap water in general.

For us, we kept the tank clean, the water supply was the same as at our house, and we are fine with drinking tap water.

Mark
My tanks have no option for cleaning. I add chlorox but stopped using them for drinking and cooking ages ago. Why take the chance when I can but drinking water so inexpensively and use so little of it???
 
Yup but he asked about filters so told him about filters. Assumed asking " How often and how do people clean/ flush filters which may have bacteria growing on them. All I read says no chlorine at all as it wreaks the filter."was the question so did my best to answer and be helpful not snarky. Please remove the hair across your butt. Thanks. And yes there's a carbon before the Clark on flush
It's good that you just clarified that the carbon filter before the Clarke pump was for the fresh water flush water because when I read your previous post, I too thought you meant that the word, 'then' when listing your filters in order starting with your strainer meant that your carbon filter was downstream of your other filters but before the Clarke pump. I had never heard of a watermaker configured that way so was going to ask why you had it set up that way, but I now see that's not the case and your setup is just like mine with the carbon filter being used only on the FWF water before it's pumped into the system so chlorine from the water in your tank doesn't damage your membrane.
Maybe you two have a history that i'm not aware of and that's what set you off, but I don't think anyone was trying to be snarky because he asked you the same question that was on my mind when I read your previous post and I'm glad that you've now clarified what you meant.
 
I’m on Capta’s side in this discussion. With a low output DC watermaker your wind/solar can keep up with the demand. You’re burning no fuel to make it. You can store all supplies for it in a small locker and those supplies can last you several years. When out cruising if you’re willing to sail not power with a WM to need to come in only for food and that can be done by dinghy. Typically pick up fuel twice a year. So it depends why you’re on a boat. What you want out of the lifestyle.
Our raw water intake for the WM is near the center of the hull. It’s no trouble to make water while sailing. We anchor out. Unless there’s a north swell well away from everybody else. Making water at anchor is a non issue. We’ve made water in Naragansett bay, Massachusetts bay, Long Island sound and well as the eastern Caribbean. Big issue is that there’s no petrochemicals in the source water not any issues with chlorine or coliforms. Those things are easier to avoid. Up to Maine there seems to be more sediment in the water so you end up changing filters more frequently.
if I was purely. US east coast coastal it would be a plus/minus about putting in a WM. But know even in that setting having a WM means freedom. I can go to any nook or cranny on the coast and just hang out until the food and single malt runs out.
 
Out this is sensible. I DID have a small WM when I was live aboard mostly down in the Islands. Water is so accessible and costs nothing that back in NE I saw no need to have it, use it, care for it... so I sold it. I don't regret the decision. If I was going off grid I would get one... but since I don't use much water 10 or 15 gal / day would be way more than I usually consume... and I don't have the tanks to store lots of water either...
Local water quality may go south and so making reliable water becomes a health safety matter, even survival matter. At this stage of my boating "life" a WM is a low priority,
 
I'm on Capta's side in this discussion. With a low output DC watermaker your wind/solar can keep up with the demand. You're burning no fuel to make it. You can store all supplies for it in a small locker and those supplies can last you several years.
This is more about a balance between energy production, energy storage, and power usage than a low/high output, AC/DC issue. We have a high output AC watermaker that runs off solar and batteries, burning no fuel to make water. Supplies and storage is the same for any watermaker - some prefilters and pickling compound. These are stored in a small plastic tub in a small locker.

Like you, the only thing that gives us pause is petrochemicals in the water. Otherwise, we are happy to run it in all other water conditions. Changing prefilters more often is the only downside. I've never understood why many people with watermakers will only make water offshore. We've met people who leave anchor for a day just to go offshore for several hours because they need to make water.

Mark
 
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