Dock water

[KEVMAR]

I’ve never had the opportunity to use dock water connected to the host instead of using the water from my tanks ... when using the dock water to you turn off the water pump or leave it in . Is the pressure enough for the water system in the boat . Thanks for your advice

 

[bayview]

Pressure is fine but do add a shutoff meter to insure you don’t sink your boat. I used a simple lawn sprinkler meter.

 

[O C Diver]

Generally dock water has more pressure than your boat's system. I would turn the pump off, but not necessary as the valve in the pump acts as a check valve.

Ted

 

[rslifkin]

As long as the pressure regulator on your inlet is set correctly, pressure should be fine. On most systems, the pump should be off while using the dock water inlet.

Personally, I only use it if I'm somewhere with known weird-tasting water that I don't want to put in my tanks.

 

[wkearney99]

It's tempting to use it but realize you're inviting a high pressure source of water capable of sinking your boat. As in, if anything on board fails the municipal water system will undoubtedly pump water in faster/longer than your pumps can handle.

When I had an inlet I used not just one, but two shut-off valves. One at each end of the hose (boat and connected at the pedestal). Why? Because if someone monkeying around with the pedestal connection, trying to get their own hose working (or whatever) I didn't want to have that risk dumping water into my boat.

Note, brass is not recommended for use on boats. I did have hassles with corrosion on the fittings when using residential-grade garden hose adapters. But then plastic ones have issues with getting brittle from UV exposure. So best be prepared to treat them as seasonal maintenance items.

I did rig up some piping that allowed refilling the tank from the shore inlet. As in, bypassing the pump, back into the tank. This worked well enough, but was something I removed when selling the boat. No sense in having my 'handiwork' turn into someone else's problem (or get a negative note during survey).

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Nothing wrong with dock water (City Water). I use the below regulator. When we leave the boat for a significant amount of time, we turn the city water water off.

https://www.campingworld.com/valter...your-rv/fresh-water/regulators-reels-fittings

 

[caltexflanc]

OMG, this dead horse rises again!

Reasons why shore water will sink your boat:

1) First and foremost, You have a very inadequate bilge pump system , which in turn means your boat can sink if:

2) You have a poorly constructed and maintained plumbing system on your boat.
3)You do not have a pressure regulator on your boat after the inlet
4)If (3)above is the case, you haven't put one between your hose and the tap at the dock.Cheaply available at most any hardware store

There should be a check valve upstream of the pump before it feeds the rest of the boat, to avoid back pressure into it. Many pumps have them already built in.

Personally I never have had issues with brass in the fresh water system though bronze fittings are preferred if available.

 

[wkearney99]

Personally I never have had issues with brass in the fresh water system though bronze fittings are preferred if available.

End of season discovering the cheap box store brass has corroded solid onto the nice white water hose. Bay salinity seems bad enough to have made it a recurring problem (well, twice anyway). I agree that decent bronze ones would be better. Determining that they're actually zinc-free is the key.

Downside to plastic is it cracks. Had one on a home spigot do that and spew water for several days until a neighbor noticed and shut it off. Wouldn't be eager to have that happen on the boat.

As for when it shut it off... the better question might really be the opposite, when should it be turned on? Better leave it off until you actually need the water in a greater amount than would be convenient to otherwise refill your tanks.

Meanwhile, someone check this dead horse to see if there's a few more places to beat it...

 

[BigTime]

I completely re plumbed my pressure water system to a standard you would find in new home construction. I wanted the increased pressure (regulated to 45psi) and eliminate the hassle of constantly refilling my ship's tank. Well, I tried using straight dock water for almost a week and could not stand the strong chlorine taste and smell. I don't know the chemistry but when I fill my tank with the same water the chlorine taste and smell goes away plus the water also gets "softer".

 

[catalinajack]

Chlorine dissipates over time so perhaps that is why water from your tank is not as offensive. A simple house filter with a carbon filter will eliminate the chlorine from dock water.

I completely re plumbed my pressure water system to a standard you would find in new home construction. I wanted the increased pressure (regulated to 45psi) and eliminate the hassle of constantly refilling my ship's tank. Well, I tried using straight dock water for almost a week and could not stand the strong chlorine taste and smell. I don't know the chemistry but when I fill my tank with the same water the chlorine taste and smell goes away plus the water also gets "softer".