Tony - I cruised in the Caribbean for more than 5 years and found that
collecting rain water will supply almost all your needs if your are diligent
about the process of collecting and have methods to store extra water when
squalls provide an unexpected bonanza. My solution was a "teat" in my full
boat awing which allowed me to collect all the rain we needed. Two key
things the awing which you will need anyway should be well secured so as not
to flop in the wind and the placement of the teat must be tested for optimal
placement. Then no matter when it rains be prepared to collect water - day
or night and you can capture as much as 50 gallons in a squall. Depending
where you are it can be every day or once a week between opportunities and
they will come most often when ur not really ready.

I never filtered my water and only sometimes added a little bleach and never
had a problem - You did not mention how much storage you had - we had 100
gals in primary and 20 gals in a bladder plus 5 gal flexible jugs which
served us well.
"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.

Tony

G.rivera wrote:

Tony - I cruised in the Caribbean for more than 5 years and found that
collecting rain water will supply almost all your needs if your are diligent
about the process of collecting and have methods to store extra water when
squalls provide an unexpected bonanza. My solution was a "teat" in my full
boat awing which allowed me to collect all the rain we needed. Two key
things the awing which you will need anyway should be well secured so as not
to flop in the wind and the placement of the teat must be tested for optimal
placement. Then no matter when it rains be prepared to collect water - day
or night and you can capture as much as 50 gallons in a squall. Depending
where you are it can be every day or once a week between opportunities and
they will come most often when ur not really ready.

I never filtered my water and only sometimes added a little bleach and never
had a problem - You did not mention how much storage you had - we had 100
gals in primary and 20 gals in a bladder plus 5 gal flexible jugs which
served us well.
"tbuck" wrote in message
...


I have a 30 Gall tank and single hand most of the time. I just completed
a 10 week cruise (with no visits to marinas) in fresh water. I use lake
water for dishes etc when "offshore" but some of the anchorages are very
contaminated, so then tanked water is used for everything.So even in the
lakes freshwater is important.
As i plan to be in salt water within the next two years I am trying to get
a handle on sal****er issues. I expected that the water collected would
be salty even after rinsing the deck etc. The replies have not indicated
that. The main test will be to brew a good cup of tea.
I have sailed offshore in salt water but only for a few weeks at a time
so collection was not an issue.
Tony

the water collected would be salty even after rinsing the deck

No that's certainly not a problem when at anchor. It's a little more
problematic to collect water when sailing but the weight of the rain water
in the big squalls usually flattens the sea, so collection is possible
once the salty decks have washed off.

Mike

Another angle on this water purification issue: Chlorine doesn't
necessarily kill all the bad things you want it to kill, notably giardia
cysts. I've researched the topic a bit and found that iodine is a better
solution to treat water with, This is the "Portable Aqua" method used by
campers but is way to expensive to use for a whole tank full of water
that we pump out of Lake Superior when we don't get it from the tap.

We bought a jar of crystal resublimed iodine (my 100 gram bottle will
likely last me my lifetime) and pour a tablespoon or so (quantity
doesn't matter) into a 24 ounce glass jar. The jar is then filled with
water, shaken up a bit and allowed to sit for an hour. This saturates
the jar of water with iodine.

We then add one ounce of this solution to every gallon we have in our
tank. This ratio supposedly will kill the bad things if it is allowed to
work for a couple hours and if the tank temp gets up to 70, which mine
does because the tank is right next to the motor. If we take the tank
down part way before adding more water, we add only an ounce for each
gallon we put back in so the concentration stays the same.

Some people can taste the iodine at this concentration, but most cannot,
especially if you don't tell them. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TELL THEM!!!
Some people are very allergic to iodine. Also the iodine crystals are
deadly poison and the saturated water solution isn't going to be
anything you want to mistake for scotch, either. Keep them out of the
reach of others, and label appropriately. (POISON!!!! seems to be
effective). I also filter the water.

If you are using colder water and/or want to have the water ready for
consumption quicker, you need to use a more concentrated solution. You
also may want to check out this ratio for yourself, because I am not a
chemist, pharmacist, medical doctor or anyone else you could trust (or
sue, for that matter) for my expertise in this field.

For What It's Worth,
Capt. Jeff

Sounds interesting. I was hoping someone would mention the virtues of
silver too. This seems to have marked bacteriocidal properties.
But apart from placing some silver strip in a (plastic) water line,
nothing in the way of finely divided or large surface area silver
comes to mind.

Brian whatcott Altus OK

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 08:36:03 -0500, Messing In Boats
wrote:

Another angle on this water purification issue: Chlorine doesn't
necessarily kill all the bad things you want it to kill, notably giardia
cysts. I've researched the topic a bit and found that iodine is a better
solution to treat water with, This is the "Portable Aqua" method used by
campers but is way to expensive to use for a whole tank full of water
that we pump out of Lake Superior when we don't get it from the tap.

We bought a jar of crystal resublimed iodine (my 100 gram bottle will
likely last me my lifetime) and pour a tablespoon or so (quantity
doesn't matter) into a 24 ounce glass jar. The jar is then filled with
water, shaken up a bit and allowed to sit for an hour. This saturates
the jar of water with iodine.

We then add one ounce of this solution to every gallon we have in our
tank. This ratio supposedly will kill the bad things if it is allowed to
work for a couple hours and if the tank temp gets up to 70, which mine
does because the tank is right next to the motor. If we take the tank
down part way before adding more water, we add only an ounce for each
gallon we put back in so the concentration stays the same.

Some people can taste the iodine at this concentration, but most cannot,
especially if you don't tell them. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TELL THEM!!!
Some people are very allergic to iodine. Also the iodine crystals are
deadly poison and the saturated water solution isn't going to be
anything you want to mistake for scotch, either. Keep them out of the
reach of others, and label appropriately. (POISON!!!! seems to be
effective). I also filter the water.

If you are using colder water and/or want to have the water ready for
consumption quicker, you need to use a more concentrated solution. You
also may want to check out this ratio for yourself, because I am not a
chemist, pharmacist, medical doctor or anyone else you could trust (or
sue, for that matter) for my expertise in this field.

For What It's Worth,
Capt. Jeff

I purchased a bottle of Micropur, made by Katadyn from a web site awhile
back. It's 1% silver (Ag+) according to the label. I haven't had a chance to
use it yet though... anyone else heard of this? A little bottle treats 2500
gallons according to the instructions... usage at .035 oz./25 gallons.

"Brian Whatcott" wrote in message
...
Sounds interesting. I was hoping someone would mention the virtues of
silver too. This seems to have marked bacteriocidal properties.
But apart from placing some silver strip in a (plastic) water line,
nothing in the way of finely divided or large surface area silver
comes to mind.

Brian whatcott Altus OK

On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 08:36:03 -0500, Messing In Boats
wrote:

Another angle on this water purification issue: Chlorine doesn't
necessarily kill all the bad things you want it to kill, notably giardia
cysts. I've researched the topic a bit and found that iodine is a better
solution to treat water with, This is the "Portable Aqua" method used by
campers but is way to expensive to use for a whole tank full of water
that we pump out of Lake Superior when we don't get it from the tap.

We bought a jar of crystal resublimed iodine (my 100 gram bottle will
likely last me my lifetime) and pour a tablespoon or so (quantity
doesn't matter) into a 24 ounce glass jar. The jar is then filled with
water, shaken up a bit and allowed to sit for an hour. This saturates
the jar of water with iodine.

We then add one ounce of this solution to every gallon we have in our
tank. This ratio supposedly will kill the bad things if it is allowed to
work for a couple hours and if the tank temp gets up to 70, which mine
does because the tank is right next to the motor. If we take the tank
down part way before adding more water, we add only an ounce for each
gallon we put back in so the concentration stays the same.

Some people can taste the iodine at this concentration, but most cannot,
especially if you don't tell them. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TELL THEM!!!
Some people are very allergic to iodine. Also the iodine crystals are
deadly poison and the saturated water solution isn't going to be
anything you want to mistake for scotch, either. Keep them out of the
reach of others, and label appropriately. (POISON!!!! seems to be
effective). I also filter the water.

If you are using colder water and/or want to have the water ready for
consumption quicker, you need to use a more concentrated solution. You
also may want to check out this ratio for yourself, because I am not a
chemist, pharmacist, medical doctor or anyone else you could trust (or
sue, for that matter) for my expertise in this field.

For What It's Worth,
Capt. Jeff

"K" == Keith writes:

K I purchased a bottle of Micropur, made by Katadyn from a web site awhile
K back. It's 1% silver (Ag+) according to the label. I haven't had a chance to
K use it yet though... anyone else heard of this? A little bottle treats 2500
K gallons according to the instructions... usage at .035 oz./25 gallons.

I've been using Micropur for years, both on the boat and when
travelling abroad. It leaves no taste, and I have never had any
problems with the water on the boat.
I cannot say how efficient it is in killing off nasty organisms as we
are reasonably careful about the water in the first place.

snip

--
This page intentionally left blank

Jeff,

If you're going to go this route, I'd strongly suggest you that
you add a point of use (for drinking / cooking) carbon filter to
remove the majority of the iodine. While *no* iodine in the diet
is real bad, long term ingestion of higher levels appears to be
linked with risk of thyroid cancer (it accumulates in the thyroid).

Also, since the solubility of idodine changes dramatically with
temperature, the concentration of your (and other folks) 'stock
solution' will vary considerably. You can purchase test strips
that are selective for Iodine, and I'd suggest that it would be a
good idea to use them as a means to gauge your final
concentration. About 0.5 - 1.5 ppm should be effective if you have
sufficient contact time (several hours at least). Also, be aware
that if you're in a cold area and your tanks don't get above, say,
15°C, the biocidal effect will be considerably diminished,
increasing your risk.

Keith Hughes

Messing In Boats wrote:
Another angle on this water purification issue: Chlorine doesn't
necessarily kill all the bad things you want it to kill, notably giardia
cysts. I've researched the topic a bit and found that iodine is a better
solution to treat water with, This is the "Portable Aqua" method used by
campers but is way to expensive to use for a whole tank full of water
that we pump out of Lake Superior when we don't get it from the tap.

We bought a jar of crystal resublimed iodine (my 100 gram bottle will
likely last me my lifetime) and pour a tablespoon or so (quantity
doesn't matter) into a 24 ounce glass jar. The jar is then filled with
water, shaken up a bit and allowed to sit for an hour. This saturates
the jar of water with iodine.

We then add one ounce of this solution to every gallon we have in our
tank. This ratio supposedly will kill the bad things if it is allowed to
work for a couple hours and if the tank temp gets up to 70, which mine
does because the tank is right next to the motor. If we take the tank
down part way before adding more water, we add only an ounce for each
gallon we put back in so the concentration stays the same.

Some people can taste the iodine at this concentration, but most cannot,
especially if you don't tell them. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TELL THEM!!!
Some people are very allergic to iodine. Also the iodine crystals are
deadly poison and the saturated water solution isn't going to be
anything you want to mistake for scotch, either. Keep them out of the
reach of others, and label appropriately. (POISON!!!! seems to be
effective). I also filter the water.

If you are using colder water and/or want to have the water ready for
consumption quicker, you need to use a more concentrated solution. You
also may want to check out this ratio for yourself, because I am not a
chemist, pharmacist, medical doctor or anyone else you could trust (or
sue, for that matter) for my expertise in this field.

For What It's Worth,
Capt. Jeff