How Much Water and How to Clean out Water Lines?

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Brackish=salty, and that's got nothing to do with purifying water. Only a desalinator will take out salt, but that's not so much health concern as a matter of taste.

The Steripens are good, but the ones that take AA cells are real finicky about the kind of power they take. NiCad/NiMh can't always give them the voltage they need, and IIRC only Li penlights are recommended for them. Which leaves the CR123 models (I've always thought that was an oddball and expensive battery) or the ones with their own rechargeables sold as a set. Kinda defies logic, but they're apparently very sensitive to battery issues that verge on magic.

Good to know.

They also make a hand-crank model. No batteries required.

[JStone]

I made the trip from Galveston to Isla a few months ago with four people. Took me six days and sixty gallons of water, including an odd shower here and there.

We weren't terribly hardcore about rationing either. Just had a do not waste mindset. You should be good.

Water in foreign ports, I fill up at the dock and just drink bottled water. I have a water maker, but leave it pickled because it's just too easy to buy bottled water.

Also, I ran across this page awhile back. It's a good read when trying to wrap your head around a DIY water maker: https://sites.google.com/site/llichtveld/newpage

I'm going back to Galveston from Isla in mid November. Maybe I'll see you in the middle of the gulf!

[chouliha]

We cruised for almost a decade without a water maker. We carry 70 gallons

My suggestion is to first clean the tanks and hoses. Google "Peggy Hall" She has an excellent write up on how to shock treatment your tanks. You may find that opening the top of the tanks and scrubbing them out is needed.

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/phall_freshwater.pdf

In many places like Mexico if you suspect the dock water may not be good the 5 gallon purified jugs of water are cheap.

The key is once you get your tanks clean you need to use a small amount of bleach for every 5 gallons you add. This will stop any future growth.

For a 6 month cruise I wouldn't go to the trouble and expense to install a WM.

Good luck to you

Chuck
Jacaranda
Ecuador
www.jacarandajourney.com

[dannc]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

...

The Steripens are good, but the ones that take AA cells are real finicky about the kind of power they take. NiCad/NiMh can't always give them the voltage they need, and IIRC only Li penlights are recommended for them. Which leaves the CR123 models (I've always thought that was an oddball and expensive battery) or the ones with their own rechargeables sold as a set. Kinda defies logic, but they're apparently very sensitive to battery issues that verge on magic.

I just bought the AA battery Steripen for a trip to China. The problems with the unit seem to be using Alkaline batteries or batteries that do not have enough power as well as the metal sensor being wet before putting the unit in water. Yeah, you read that right. Sounds odd but I think it makes sense after thinking about it for a while. The manual and stickers on the unit I received is pretty clear that 2300/2500 NiMH or LI AA batteries are needed. I skipped the unit which uses CR123 batteries since they are harder to find in the states and I sure don't know about overseas. Having said that, a set of LI batteries is supposed to purify 100 liters of H2O, which is more than enough. Having the option of using rechargable NIMH batteries is nice.

We will only drink boiled or bottled water in China but I figured for $50, the Steripen was cheap insurance. Still have two types of bad stomach meds to take as well.

Later,
Dan