Filtering fresh water

If I were backpacking the shoreline of the Loop, I'd filter water every morning and night to fill hydration bladders, cook, clean, etc. At least in the freshwater sections. Does anyone use a simple gravity filter to "purify" river or lake water to keep the freshwater tank full?

I suppose it could be done. Sooner or later you will need to stop for groceries, pump the holding tank, and maybe do some laundry. Most marinas and quite a few free docks will give you all the water that you want.

Ted

Just install a watermaker, dosent get much more "purified".

I make all my fw wherever I am thru my water maker in fresh or salt. Any gravity system would be a very low volume. Probably a small reverse osmosis with a uv light would make 20+ gallons a day but need power.
The backpack systems I have seen use a hand pump for pressure. You really need a light or chlorine to kill bacteria. The ICW is the bottom end of all the runoff and industrial waste of the last centuries.

Considering the type of successive filters you will need to use to take raw water from the river and make is clear enough to be use safely I sincerely doubt you can do that by gravity. Moreover trying to fill your tank by gravity filtration would take forever.

Oh, it can be done with gravity. "Slow" depends on your perspective. I can make a gallon in about 5 minutes with a gravity filter system that weight less than 6 ounces. Seems scaling that up to trawler size would produce an adequate supply.

And am I correct in reading that watermaker in boating terms means reverse osmosis system?

Question: Does the water maker feed the water holding tanks or the tap?

HeadedToTexas said:

And am I correct in reading that watermaker in boating terms means reverse osmosis system?

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Yes.

jimdavi said:

Question: Does the water maker feed the water holding tanks or the tap?

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Water maker fills the holding tank. For our size boats, it only produces a modest number of gallons per hour not per minute.

Ted

The term "holding tank" usually refers to the black water tank. Or in some instances the grey water holding tank.

It's not commonly used to refer to a fresh water tank.

As stated earlier, fresh drinking water is plentiful in and along the Loop. I would assume that most of it is municipal and therefore is regularly tested and meets the EPA's specifications. If you were headed to the Leeward Islands it might be a different situation. I have used a rain collection/filtration/chlorination process making about 6 gpm to the freshwater tank. I would imagine that is considered a gravity system considering its gravity that was making the rain "fall".

ulysses said:

As stated earlier, fresh drinking water is plentiful in and along the Loop. I would assume that most of it is municipal and therefore is regularly tested and meets the EPA's specifications. If you were headed to the Leeward Islands it might be a different situation. I have used a rain collection/filtration/chlorination process making about 6 gpm to the freshwater tank. I would imagine that is considered a gravity system considering its gravity that was making the rain "fall".

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I'd put a rainwater system many levels above his creek and river system. Many cities get their water from such rivers and just look at the trouble they have staying in compliance with it with their massive treatment facilities. Close to shore is absolutely the worst place to collect water.

I filter all of my water that is ingested. I put a Big Berky water filter on the bridge. $250 or so through Amazon. There are instruction on Pinterest on how to use food grade buckets to make your own using Berky filters.

I set it on the bridge, ran 2 runs of Pex 1/2" pipe. One from the pressurized fresh water system, with a on off valve to a hand held shower faucet for filling. The other to the sink with a single valve bar type faucet that sits beside the regular kitchen sink fixture. All ice, drinking, cooking and so forth come from there. Usually fill 3x a day for 2 of us.

Gravity was not enough so I had to but in a cheap $30 pump and had to switch it because when Berky ran out, air gets into the line and the pump will not shut down. I would recommend the charcoal filters, even though I have no complaints about the ceramic I bet the charcoal will do even better. Both are good for a LOT of gallons. The missionaries use thes filters in the wild.

Mule said:

The missionaries use thes filters in the wild.

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You were doing fine until that line. A tremendous number of missionaries are evacuated every year, many with water carried illnesses. They willingly take the chance, but they understand the risks. They just don't have options.

RO systems have become very inexpensive and if that's what the high end users use, it seems like the right solution for lower end users too. Membrane life depends on fouling, so good pre-treatment would be important to an efficient system. Seems like overkill to me given what backpackers use, but like BandB points out, we have options; Missionaries and backpackers have fewer.

Where do those tremendous number of missionaries being evacuated come from ? I spend about a month each year "in the wild" putting in water systems and drilling wells in and for remote villages. Most of the people I work with and myself carry a bunch of Cipro with us to prevent such things. It is pretty common practice.

ulysses said:

Where do those tremendous number of missionaries being evacuated come from ? I spend about a month each year "in the wild" putting in water systems and drilling wells in and for remote villages. Most of the people I work with and myself carry a bunch of Cipro with us to prevent such things. It is pretty common practice.

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I strongly suggest that you view the Ciprofloxacin the same way you might a Life raft on your boat. Keep it at the ready but do everything in your power to avoid having to use it.

Absolutely correct Dave

BandB said:

You were doing fine until that line. A tremendous number of missionaries are evacuated every year, many with water carried illnesses. They willingly take the chance, but they understand the risks. They just don't have options.

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You have a point? Just because the Berky is the standard, I would not want to assure every drop of water, ice or swimming water injested came through a Berky that a Missonary ingested.

Not sure why this has wound up where it has....

If coastal cruising most of the western hemisphere, I have never heard of a huge problem with water.

If you really need to conserve, there is a big difference in separating drinking water from fresh water used for most other things.

Once you determine how mush drinking water you need, plan around it. Most reasonable sized trawlers can carry more "drinking water" than most things, so I really can't understand this "survival thread".

While you may not have heard of a water problem in the western hemisphere, that does not mean one does not exist. I would suggest research through the W.H.O., U.N. or the World Water Council for more accurate information. FYI more than one out of every four children born in Latin America die the first year of life from water born pathogens. If that is not a problem, I do not know what is.

Yes but where is the average US cruiser going to get water?

I am not saying be stupid...I have had enough survival schools to scare some people.

All I am saying is a dress the real question from the OP. On the LOOP, should I try and purify water from natural sources.....

If you think it's a great idea fine...I say it is NOT a problem and buy a boat, fill the water tanks and do the loop....easy peezy....

I do respect you experience and posts, but cruiser if they can't decide what is safe or not, well, that's life.

Drinking water versus general water onboard is a widely varied discussion....some like it all drinkable and others are willing to separate the sources.

While my original post on this thread indicated that I felt safe drinking water was readily available on a Loop journey, my most recent reply was to the statement concerning no water problems in all the western hemisphere. That statement is certainly not true and I felt it should not go unchallenged, there are individuals that might foolishly take that as a truth and be in for a rather unpleasant surprise.

ulysses said:

While my original post on this thread indicated that I felt safe drinking water was readily available on a Loop journey, my most recent reply was to the statement concerning no water problems in all the western hemisphere. That statement is certainly not true and I felt it should not go unchallenged, there are individuals that might foolishly take that as a truth and be in for a rather unpleasant surprise.

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Or think through the issue and take corrective action....like any US city after a major storm.

I give posters more credit than many others....maybe a bad idea...but I hate challenging people's IQ all the time.

My question was definitely about the Loop, and the freshwater sections in particular. I have read that most trawlers have freshwater capacity that makes passengers conserve shower water. I know all about short, conserving showers, but if water is so scarce, and one is floating in water, then why not use that water for more luxurious showers?

I am almost certainly one who would separate drinking water from washing water. Always have in RVs, and guessing I will on a boat too.

Separate sources for drinking vs. washing water is a good idea, and I'd never try to talk anyone out of it.

That said, I think the "average" trawler is set up to appeal to the "average" American. We can debate the costs and benefits, but that all goes out the window when your guests (or spouse!) develop an "ick factor" about showering or washing dishes in "dirty" water instead of "clean" water from the drinking system.

Not passing judgement, just trying to understand why more boats don't have separate systems. We carry 100G of water, used for everything from drinking and washing to hosing down the decks. In the Northeast we generally can top off any place we tie up.

But I still want a watermaker

I have found water for boats or RV varies in quality , mostly hardness and the amount of chlorene the water is dosed with.

On the Loop northern sections much of the town water is excellent in taste.

In the south much tastes like swimming pool reuse.

My solution ,

1 Taste the water before topping the tanks,

2 , have a built in at least 2 inch dump valve , so when you find good stuff you can discard the crap.

I prefer municipal water over well water when cruising just to keep the system clean and safe. Always sample the water before filling the tanks, use my own hose, and let the water run for 15 seconds to purge the system and hose before filling the tanks. Use bottled water for drinking and cooking. In the overall cost of boating, bottled water doesn't even register.

Ted

The fact of the matter, my filtered water taste better. I am not really concerned about sickness from water here, Bahamas not sure. We do have a 8-10 gallon an hour water maker, but the water from Taylor Creek here in Fort Pierce is so filthy from Ag runoff I seldom have clean enough water to run it as often as I should for maintance. Where the salt water is clean we will be in like Flynn.

I made the decision for a separate drinking (using shared tanks) water system after I noticed that filters for a pitcher filter was costing over $10 a week. After about a year no complaints. The pathogens being filtered out is an upsize but really was not my reason for the install. I do like the convience of no pitcher, no bottled water and the additional trash bottled water generates. We have been very happy with our drinking water system.

As I reflected earlier, were I to do it again or when or if I replace filters I will go with the charcoal. They get just about everything, fluoride, arsenic, chlorine. As I recall the Big Berky charcoal numbers are over 99% effective.