Drinkingwater while cruising?

[thebigblueroad]

Hello everybody!
Me and my girlfriend are planning to sail around the world, which includes quite a bit of planning.

I am currently thinking about the water issue. I am thinking that 2x70L and a 200L watersack as a backup. What do you think about that? Is it enough? We will be crossing two big oceans and also try to avoid marinas and such to keep costs down.

I am also thinking about a watermaker as an additional backup. But I am also thinking that this will be used a bit of a last resort, not for generally filling the tanks, so minimal output is fine.

Do people have any recomendations of waterfilters or drinkingwater solutions that they may have? What about a solar still?

[Auzzee]

Hi, take a look at this link Water, Water, Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink | One More Good Adventure It has some good advice on it. Keeping enough water on board for survival is not so difficult. But we need extra for all life's little niceties such as cooking and keeping grubby bodies smelling sweet. The solar still is a very good piece of gear for your life raft, but they are a pain to use on board.
Cheers

[haiqu]

The 340 litres you mention above should last two people about 6-8 weeks if you're careful. You can sail a lo-o-ong way in that time.

[thebigblueroad]

Originally Posted by Auzzee

Hi, take a look at this link Water, Water, Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink | One More Good Adventure It has some good advice on it. Keeping enough water on board for survival is not so difficult. But we need extra for all life's little niceties such as cooking and keeping grubby bodies smelling sweet. The solar still is a very good piece of gear for your life raft, but they are a pain to use on board.
Cheers

Thanks!

[marramarra]

We have large water tanks (1,600 litres), so we can go sometime without re-watering. We don't carry a watermaker as I don't want to carry the fuel to support it, and nor do I want to try and store one on board. I don't want to pay for one either of course.

We have a canopy we raise at anchor over the aft deck (centre cockpit) that is generally held up in the centre from the topping lift. It has a hole in the canopy that takes a normal plastic skin fitting. When we need water and it rains we lower the centre of the canopy, insert the skin fitting attached to a 20mm hose that shoots the water into the tanks. Amazing how much water we get.

[Brent Swain]

I built my own 540 gallon per day watermaker, for around $700CDN. My book has the directions for building one.
On my last trip to Tonga, and back to BC non stop, I never had to take water from ashore. My decks and cabin top were rainwater catchment in port, and my mainsail caught all I needed at sea. I have a lazy bag for a mainsail cover ,held up by lazy Jacks. When those trade wind squalls hit , water pours out of the ends. A 5 gallon bucket catches it at the mast end. I once left Bora Bora with 55 gallons of water and arrived in Hilo with 50. My mainsail area caught more than I could use.

[Brent Swain]

When you get the first rain in a long time , it is not all that clean. An hour or two of heavy rain washes the sediment out of the air. You can tell how clean it is, by looking off in the distance. When you can't see a mountain ten miles away ,it is dirty. When you can see a mountain over 100 miles away, it is clean. Doesn't take much rain to clean the air out.