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

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.

Unlikely. It doesn't rain much for long periods and the occasional short
squalls in the fine weather periods don't do much more than rinse the
deck.

Has anyone devised a good system?

We have a deck drain, with a divert valve. The rain either goes to sea or
to our water tanks. Certainly rinse the deck first, but there is no need
to filter the water before drinking.

Our way of looking at it is rain is a useful occasional supplement but we
also have a watermaker.

Mike

The water should be filtered to at least 2-3 micrometers (absolute) to
prevent intrusion of mold spores, etc. which will inoculate the tankage
and grow at an exponential rate when/if they enter the tank. Most people
are immune to such molds (many are very toxic), some people are
violently reactive and the reaction is cumulative (gets worse and worse
and worse and worse).

Mike
I like the idea of the diverter valve, but if the water goes into the main
freshwater tank is'nt there a chance of contamination from bugs etc. I
am thinking of a catch tank then filtering into the main tank?
Tony

Mike Cobbe wrote:

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.


Unlikely. It doesn't rain much for long periods and the occasional short
squalls in the fine weather periods don't do much more than rinse the
deck.


Has anyone devised a good system?


We have a deck drain, with a divert valve. The rain either goes to sea or
to our water tanks. Certainly rinse the deck first, but there is no need
to filter the water before drinking.

Our way of looking at it is rain is a useful occasional supplement but we
also have a watermaker.

Mike

"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

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

is'nt there a chance of contamination from bugs etc

Well, I notice RichH is recommending filtering but we don't think it worth
the effort, provided you clean the deck properly.

Having said that, tanks/pipes can get mould (or whatever) in them over
time. Not really sure why, Peggy can probably tell us. Therefore roughly
every six months to a year, when there is free unmetered water available,
we empty the tanks, give them the bleach treatment Peggy has talked about
and refill them.

Mike

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 10:02:12 -0700, Skip Gundlach wrote
(in message . net):

"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.


My friend has a Morris Yachts' Frances 26. The foredeck is recessed creating
a shallow (about 3" deep) "well deck" of sorts. At the aft port corner there
is a drain plumbed to a hose bibb below. If he wants to use rain water, he
lets the deck get flushed off first, then plugs up the scuppers with rags or
whatever then attaches a short garden hose to the hose bibb below and directs
the rainwater wherever he wants it: jugs, tanks, sink, wherever. Aboutthe
slickest set-up I've ever seen.

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