Good Water

[R Baker]

Hello All,
More questions please....regarding the 29C.
I'm tired of lugging and storing containers of bottled water, so the objective is to treat the on board water for all uses. The general literature gives methods to treat the water with chlorine. That seems pretty straight forward. Has anyone installed a water filtering system and if so where ? Under the galley sink only covers the cold water supply, unless of course you introduce more tubing to intersect the main supply line. There is not to my knowledge any access into the water tank, so it is impossible to physically clean the tank. There's the slosh ice cubes around method - l don't know if it works....or I could send the ferrit down the fill pipe with a mini mop and pail.
Any advice would be appreciated ! Thanks.

 

[wincrasher]

It's easier to filter the water as you put it in the tank. Get an RV style water filter that attaches to a fill hose and you're all set.

 

[Scuffy]

Some people use just pure unscented bleach 4 oz for every five gallons of water to treat a foul water tank. Run water until you can smell the bleach out of all faucets. Let stand for eight hours but no longer as bleach can damage the water lines. Then drain the tanks using all faucets on the boat. Fill water tank and drain again repeat fill and drain till you no longer can smell the beach. I have heard of vodka and even peroxide. I would do a search on the C-Brats site or on this site. I have always pumped the water tank almost dry when not using the boat for a month or more and added a gallon of RV anti freeze to the tank and made sure to run all faucets until you see the pink anti freeze coming out. Then I would fill the sea strainer with antifreeze if your toilet uses raw water. Then flush until you see pink in the toilet. If you use the shower I would also treat the shower sump so that does get funky smelling. That seems to prevent the water from getting nasty in the first place. We use a RV water filter we bought online any time water is added to the boat. We typically carry drinking water and to make coffee. Where are presently in the Florida Keys at a marina I would drink the water from the tank as we have run a bunch thru the tank and it has not had a chance to go stagnant and the water quality seems to be good. But I'm not so sure of the water quality everywhere enough to drink it from the boat's tank. We typically use the boats water tank water to wash dishes, hands, maybe take a shower on occasion. I'm sure others will chime in.

 

[Spinner]

I have an under-counter filter that is plumbed into the cold water line below the galley sink. It has its own little faucet, and provides me with really good tasting water for drinking and cooking. I never have to carry bottled water!!

The filter cartridges last me a year and are available in various grades. I use the most effective one.....

Edit: I have tried the various bleach, white vinegar and vodka methods. They left me with horrible water, even after far exceeding the recommended rinses. This was before the filter faucet was installed, of course.

 

[BradOwens]

We have an in-line water filter installed in the starboard cockpit under-deck locker (lazarette). It is on the main line about three feet after the water pump. All water coming from the tank goes through the pump, then the filter, then branches off to either the water heater or cold water lines.