My fresh water stinks...

[MarkJ]

As I am a cheepskate I woukd fix with a simple method:

Fill the water tanks full.
Put a few GALLONS of bleach in and leave for a few days.
Run all the water out through all the taps.
Put about 10 gallons of fresh water back in and a gallon or two of bleach and shake the boat. Sailing upwind for an hour should suffice
Drain through all taps.
Flush with fresh.
Refill and put in a nip measure of bleach per 200 litres.

[Cheechako]

are your tanks fiberglass? what kind of smell is it? Fiberglass resin smell? sulpher? give us a hint!
If fiberglass you are screwed. A carbon filter can help a lot but not enough to be drinkable.
If something organic... do the bleach kill routine and clean the system. Install a carbon filter to sweeten the water. It doesn't take a lot of bleach.

[HopCar]

Take a look at Puriclean to clean the system of gunk and Clean Tabs to keep it sweet.
http://www.cleantabs.co.uk/puriclean.htm

Puriclean - MFG#UPCSTD - 14 oz. Tub

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by Dave0549jv

... What does the vinegar do? Does that neutralize any remaining bleach?

Vinegar is a miracle liquid.

Vinegar Tips

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

As I am a cheepskate I woukd fix with a simple method:

Fill the water tanks full.
Put a few GALLONS of bleach in and leave for a few days.
Run all the water out through all the taps.
Put about 10 gallons of fresh water back in and a gallon or two of bleach and shake the boat. Sailing upwind for an hour should suffice
Drain through all taps.
Flush with fresh.
Refill and put in a nip measure of bleach per 200 litres.

No need to put GALLONS of bleach in, but you do need a couple of cups at least. The bleached water needs to contact ALL of the system for at least 1 hour. As the system is bio loaded you can not just calculate a bleach amount as you have no idea of the demand in the system. You need test strips and you need to test at each outlet to ensure you maintain at least 1-ppm of FREE chlorine (in this case 5 ppm would be better). Plan on a lot of flushing after.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

SNIP

Put about 10 gallons of fresh water back in and a gallon or two of bleach and shake the boat. Sailing upwind for an hour should suffice


SNIP

Since I have a cat sailing upwind often will not shake the boat enough, I usually have to wait for maybe 5-8 foot seas and tack frequently.

But your point is well taken, and often a step missed by some folks.

The OP said he was not a full time liveaboard and this also contributes to the probelm. The best way to keep your water from not smelling and tasting good is to use the system as much as possible.

[savoir]

No problem.

1. Stand on one of the bows and jump up and down for a while.

2. Change bows and repeat.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by savoir

No problem.

1. Stand on one of the bows and jump up and down for a while.

2. Change bows and repeat.

I may be an old fat guy, but I am not that fat.

[savoir]

So save time and jump with a friend.

Right now there are dozens of people reading this thread and thinking " If only tomfl owned a mono he could do this in half the time ".

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by savoir

So save time and jump with a friend.

Right now there are dozens of people reading this thread and thinking " If only tomfl owned a mono he could do this in half the time ".

The stats at the bottom of this page show five people are reading this thread, but there is nothing showing how many of those people are thinking.

[roetter]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Isn't that why sailors mixed rum with their water?

I'd try flushing the system with a bleach/water solution, letting it sit for a day or two between flushes. Subsequently, fill with a weak vinegar/water solution and see if the resulting water is useable.

On recommendation I tried a bleach-vinegar mix in my bilge, without thinking about it. Very bad idea. It creates toxid fumes. really bad for you lungs.

If you still decide to do it, open the taps to empty the tanks and make sure you leave the vessel. You want to add fresh water from the outside to the tanks while you are flushing the tanks.

[Jsol]

Originally Posted by HopCar

Take a look at Puriclean to clean the system of gunk and Clean Tabs to keep it sweet.
http://www.cleantabs.co.uk/puriclean.htm

Puriclean - MFG#UPCSTD - 14 oz. Tub

Hi Hopcar,
I used to use Puriclean religiously but it disappeared from all my usual sources a few years ago. I noticed on their website that you are a US distributor. Just curious if you know why availability is so limited in the US?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Jsol

Hi Hopcar,
I used to use Puriclean religiously but it disappeared from all my usual sources a few years ago. I noticed on their website that you are a US distributor. Just curious if you know why availability is so limited in the US?

And do you ship to Canada?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by roetter

On recommendation I tried a bleach-vinegar mix in my bilge, without thinking about it. Very bad idea. It creates toxid fumes. really bad for you lungs.

If you still decide to do it, open the taps to empty the tanks and make sure you leave the vessel. You want to add fresh water from the outside to the tanks while you are flushing the tanks.

USE Baking soda and vinegar.
It will create carbon monoxide so once you add vinegar, cover and leave for a while. Its for cleaning the pipes.

• Pour boiling hot water down your empty tank.
• Dump in about 2 cups baking soda. Let that sit for a few minutes.
• Then, pour a mixture of 2 c. vinegar and 1 gallon very hot water down on top of the baking soda.
• Cover and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
• Flush with boiling water.
• Rinse a lot......
• REMOVE FILTERS from each tap (faucet and take head off shower and run with fresh water..... a lot.
• DiD I mention flush through a lot?

[a64pilot]

baking soda and vinegar liberate carbon dioxide I think, not carbon monoxide and putting that mixture in your water tank is pretty much like putting salt water in, I believe. Not much would happen, unless of course there was no vent, that could be interesting

Not sure where you could get enough hydrogen peroxide to do the job, but that may be one solution, actually not even sure how much would be needed