"tbuck" wrote in message
...
I have been told that it is quite possible to catch all the water
required for two people when cruising the Caribbean and further south.
Has anyone devised a good system? Is the rain water filtered (bugs etc)
or stored directly to the main tank. I spoke to one cruiser who would
rinse the deck during a rain storm then had the deck drain piped to a
tank. I'm not sure if this water was used for drinking or washing etc.

I've not heard of scuppers being the feed source, though I imagine it ought
to work as well.

The various folks I've talked to about the subject used the actual fill.
They'd see a squall coming, wash the deck with the deck washdown, let the
initial burst rinse, and then block the scuppers and direct the water to the
fill.

Of course, that requires a toe rail which will channel, rather than shed,
water, and fill pipes at least reasonably low for flow to them.

Others use awnings with pockets sewn into them (less surface area, but
easier to keep clean) and hose connectors to the same effect, without the
need for a deck configuration. One of the boats we've been considering has
the fills in the cockpit deck, which would require something like that.

And, about the quantity, it will depend a great deal on the size and
configuration of your catch surface (how much area). One correspondent had
an Endeavour 43, and they'd rate the squalls they saw coming in gallons.
They wouldn't bother for less than a 50 gallon squall, but frequently had
150 gallons. This was in the Caribbean, based out of STT and cruising all
the way to Venezuela.

Certainly, the ability to catch water is one of our hot buttons in a boat we
look at.

L8R

Skip and Lydia