dock water hose connection

It's not just about pressure regulators.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Amazing how a small thing like a water pressure regulator can have so many different opinions. Seems simple to me, but what do I know.

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if you havent noticed it before...

which is hard to believe as I doubt anyone on TF is less than above average intellect....

but there are a million things that can go wrong while boating....everyone has tbeir own horror story to tell....

but if you add all those horror stories together... boating in general becomes one big horror story.

what we often dont get is the full story.

so in reality...the chances of me having the same horror story while boating as anyone else is probably no better than getting hit by lightning, having a heart attack underway, getting hit by a meterorite, etc...etc....

Plus, if I chose to do the same but mitigate one or several issues the other person didnt take...the numbers go right ot the window.

so while TF is a great place to trade info...trading fears is our worst enemy.

some here seem to think every safety suggestion or ABYC best practice is gospel and boating should be postponed till all things aboard are perfect.

sorry, I cant buy that.

mitigate risks, dont take the ones you cant live with...but please....dont tell me that all opinions matter past their own post and certainly not every risk ends in worst case scenario.

simple?....no but why not argue with people who are either not pros in their field or someone who cant submit at least one link to support their claim, especially when they are insinuating that tbeir topic is common.

We live aboard and I fill the tanks for our water needs. We carry 300 gallons contained in 3 X 100 gallon tanks. I open one tank at a time as they empty. A year ago a visiting guest asked me if the water on the floor in the head was coming from outside. A quick check revealed that a plumbing connection to the sink faucet had come loose and drained the opened tank dry. Had we been hooked to dockside water I'm sure a lot more water would have entered the boat. This was a first incident like this in 53 years of boating so I must concede the risk is low. However, I was happy I was using tank water.

Perhaps the best way to mitigate the chance of a disaster when hooked to dockside water is to not only use a gallon limiting device but to also have a really loud high water bilge alarm. I think that is a good back up.

hmason said:

We live aboard and I fill the tanks for our water needs. We carry 300 gallons contained in 3 X 100 gallon tanks. I open one tank at a time as they empty. A year ago a visiting guest asked me if the water on the floor in the head was coming from outside. A quick check revealed that a plumbing connection to the sink faucet had come loose and drained the opened tank dry. Had we been hooked to dockside water I'm sure a lot more water would have entered the boat. This was a first incident like this in 53 years of boating so I must concede the risk is low. However, I was happy I was using tank water.

Perhaps the best way to mitigate the chance of a disaster when hooked to dockside water is to not only use a gallon limiting device but to also have a really loud high water bilge alarm. I think that is a good back up.

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You couldn't hear the water pump? There are benefits to having noisy ones, which most FW pumps are.

Sounds like maybe you don't have any pressure/flow relief on your shore water.. wouldn't the guest have noticed the water regardless of source?
In my opinion, you'd either have to have tremendous unmitigated shore water flow and/or low capacity bilge pumps to set off a high water alarm.

On a foul weather day with nothing else to do, while we were on shore water, I attached a hose to the tap in the ER and "tested" every bilge (and did a little cleaning too). Could never out-run the bilge pump system. Had to manually test the high water alarms.

My high water alarm is a 6 inch fire bell. Even if I were asleep, that thing will wake me.
I also have a bilge pump counter reading out for each bilge pump.
I also have a mobile bilge pump that will plug into the 12vt output in the ER and tank room, with a very long hose.
My bilges need to be cleaned because of dust and dirt falling into the engine room.

OldDan1943 said:

My high water alarm is a 6 inch fire bell. Even if I were asleep, that thing will wake me.
I also have a bilge pump counter reading out for each bilge pump.
I also have a mobile bilge pump that will plug into the 12vt output in the ER and tank room, with a very long hose.
My bilges need to be cleaned because of dust and dirt falling into the engine room.

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Would be me not only would this wake me up but would also give me an instant heart attack so would sink with my boat lol

L

It is always a good idea to test the bilge pumps and high water alarms before leaving the dock.

Amen

Took me a couple of years to notice the female water connection on my boat. Never used it and haven't had the need. Perhaps the next owner will make use of it.

Aboatman

To me it has nothing to do with winning or loosing but making sure BS is not distributed as gospel, I’m thankful that there are members on this forum that have a great deal of knowledge to refute what some state as fact. I wish my feeble brain contained that knowledge. As long as it doesn’t get to personal name calling I’m good with asking a poster to substantiate his facts.

Just my SSO.

From Caltex.... "You couldn't hear the water pump? There are benefits to having noisy ones, which most FW pumps are."

I added 2 small lights to the overhead of my helm instrument panel. One for the head pump, one for the FW pump.
I have put a lot of 'perfume on this pig.' I am sure the next owner will appreciate it.
In my shower, I can hear the FW pump cycling and also the shower sump pump operating. They must be very noisy because I am hard of hearing and never wear my hearing aids in the shower. SMIRK
I have also added a whistle light, (for the hearing impaired?). I blow the whistle and a light goes on at the top of the stack.

markpierce said:

Took me a couple of years to notice the female water connection on my boat. Never used it and haven't had the need. Perhaps the next owner will make use of it.

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Lol. I found mine during survey. PO had never used it. I have never used it in 6 years

aboatman said:

It's difficult to sink a house but not difficult to sink a boat.

The foolproof way of not sinking a boat from city water is to not hook the boat to city water. Fill the tanks and use water from the tanks. Anything else is taking a risk. Your risk tolerance is up to you but remember, even if you have never seen a boat sink from being connected to the city water system, it can and has happened.

What worries me about these shutoff devices is, they are often made of plastic and not built to the reliability that I would want to protect my boat. I would feel better about one made to commercial or industrial standards.

I use the water from my tanks and it's never been a problem. And as someone pointed out, it keeps the tanks fresh.

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What is the big deal about using tank water and filling up occasionally? Valves, pressure reducers, this, that, none of it for me. But, I make no judgment on the choices of others as long as they fully understand the risks and benefits.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Good point.

For me, I guess its because I get a little better water pressure and I can take "Hollywood" showers.

Hey it take a lot of valuable time to fill my water tank!! OK I am just lazy....

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And in our marina the dockside water pressure (long run from a well, not high pressure city water) is less than what our onboard pump supplies. Dock water pressure is not sufficient to properly supply our new Raritan Elegance toilets.

The Other Gary said:

For those of you that want to bump the pressure up when you take a shower there is this.


https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XKL6WR9/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1


Just remember to turn it back down when you are finished.

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AusCan said:

The reasons I don't have a dock water hookup are:

- There is a small added risk of flooding.
- A hose running across the dock and boat is also a trip hazard.
- A hose left on the dock get coated in a sticky gooey mess and looks like crap.
- The boat's water tanks get stale if not used regularly.
- I'm too lazy to disconnect and roll up the hose every time I want to use the boat.

The only negative I can see is the pump wearing out sooner.

If I was a live aboard and stayed at the dock, I'm sure I'd have a different view.

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I am a liveaboard and stay at the dock and don't have a different opinion. We fill our tanks every three to four weeks.

Thus why some use city water.....

If I could go 3 or 4 weeks without conserving water, I too might just use my tanks.

I hang my white hose over the side of the boat, no goo on the deck or the side of the boat.
I would like to be given the option of service (water and shore power) forward or aft but, the AT34 only has service aft.
I like to come in bow first so folks cant look into my "living room" plus, the tender hangs in davits aft.

So my set up is this. Pressure regulator (adjustable) connected to the boat. I have city water to the dock and is fed into a charcoal filter with a reel so I can run water anywhere on my dock.

hooking up a flow restrictor such as an orifice or gate valve prior to the boat hookup WILL NOT reduce the pressure in the line. it will only reduce the flow if you have a fitting blow off inside the boat. You would need a pressure reducer with numerous moving parts that can fail do to a freeze. Pressure across an orifice is only reduced when flow is moving across the orifice. (Bernoulli's Principle). once you turn off a faucet inside the boat the pressure throughout the boat is the same as dockside pressure. If you don't believe me put a pressure gauge on both sides of your gate valve or orifice.
John

You would need a pressure reducer with numerous moving parts that can fail do to a freeze.

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That's one reason why you'd prefer to have it inside the boat. And no, they do not have numerous moving parts.
By the way, most marinas turn off the dock water during a freeze. Know any that don't?

johnma said:

hooking up a flow restrictor such as an orifice or gate valve prior to the boat hookup WILL NOT reduce the pressure in the line. it will only reduce the flow if you have a fitting blow off inside the boat. You would need a pressure reducer with numerous moving parts that can fail do to a freeze. Pressure across an orifice is only reduced when flow is moving across the orifice. (Bernoulli's Principle). once you turn off a faucet inside the boat the pressure throughout the boat is the same as dockside pressure. If you don't believe me put a pressure gauge on both sides of your gate valve or orifice.
John

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I don't think anyone said a restrictor would drop the pressure but it will slow the sink rate of the vessel if something catastrophic happened on the pressure water system with dock water pressure filling your boat. It might give your bilge pumps a chance.

the dockside hookups they sell at marine stores like West Marine are pressure reducers and they reduce the city water to 40 psi. In the last 35 years I have had 2 of these fail due to contamination and freezing. And yes, in New Jersey this year we had an early freeze and the marinas did not shut off the dockside water.
John

If your marina shuts off the water during freezing weather or if they don't and the water lines freeze and burst, you'll be glad you are using water from your tanks.

If you insist on using city water and leaving it connected and turned on, the safest thing would be one of the devices that shuts the water off after a set amount flows through the device. The problem is, a device made for watering the lawn is most likely plastic and not robust and reliable enough to trust your boat to.

Always shut off when u leave dock.

The cheap plastic meter is only a backup to a backup safety issue....the 3rd level of risk mitigation if you havent upgraded your fresh water system.....at least make the debate plausible.....

MVDarlin said:

Always shut off when u leave dock.

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There is a possibility that another boater will accidentally turn your water back on when trying to turn his on. It's safest to disconnect the hose. A "quick connect" makes this easy.

aboatman said:

There is a possibility that another boater will accidentally turn your water back on when trying to turn his on. It's safest to disconnect the hose. A "quick connect" makes this easy.

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or the fifth level of risk mitigation...have the turn off on your boat before it hits the city water connection.....

some of us have been doing this long enough to know the tricks and pitfalls...

thats why we use city water and ignore all the fearmongerers....

aboatman said:

There is a possibility that another boater will accidentally turn your water back on when trying to turn his on. It's safest to disconnect the hose. A "quick connect" makes this easy.

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Yep, that's our routine. As we walk away from our boat, I pull a quick connect on a hose running along a dock post, then close a valve on the hose anyway, then the valve on the dock supply. If my boat ever sinks from running water, it was a freak water spout from Florida that lost its way up the Missouri River.

"There are benefits to having noisy ones, which most FW pumps are."

Back in the day we would remove the rubber feet and hard mount it when ocean sailing.

LOUD is good when the next water is 500 NM away!

I was looking at the "rules" of a local marina that we are considering moving to and one of the requirements is that water hoses be disconnected when the owner is away from the boat. I assume this is even for those who have been boating a long time.

Walking the docks, I saw hoses rolled up and disconnected.