Poll on dock water supply failures

[Jolly Roger]

I recently suffered a flooding from my dock side water hose supply, and I would like to conduct a survey as to how many members use this system, but don't have any safety measures to stop the water, other than manually switching off at the dock or the boat.
I can't figure out how to set up a poll? Can anyone help?

[Steve Bean]

This won't help with the poll project, but my safety measure is simple: I will never have dock water connected to my boat.

[thinwater]

Never had that system.

It seems like the rational system would include a float switch to a normally closed solenoid valve (like propane) at the inlet fitting. Anything else and you are completely dependent on bilge pumps.

[sailorboy1]

My boat has a dock water sully fitting. It doesn't have any valve and the only thing that prevents the boat supply from just pumping the water overboard is the the plug. Not an issue because I have never stayed at a dock, but even if I did I would leave the dock line connected and instead would fill my tanks and use the pressure pump so I don't have to worry about the whole thing.

[Jolly Roger]

Well yes, of course that’s the safest method, but I’m interested in people who do use dock water hose supply, but don’t actually have any safety measures, other than perhaps their auto bilge pump.
These would tend to be live-aboards in marinas, people who have small tanks, or who don’t have pumps.
I thought, rather than having individual replies, a poll would show more results, but I don’t know how to set one up.

[cabo_sailor]

My first impression is that this is someone looking for ammo for a lawsuit. He admits that if you have a dockside water connection it's wise to turn it off and also says he didn't do that and suffered damage.

As an aside, my late father had a 53 Hatteras. After returning to the boat from a nice shore dinner complete with cocktails we found a couple feet of water in the bilge due to a failed water fitting. Normally dear dad was religious about turning off the shore water when leaving the boat. This time he forgot.

So instead of a nice comfy bunk to accompany my cognac I spent the next several hours in the bilge trying to make repairs. Unfortunately he had no spare parts. I ended canabalizing other less essential parts of his plumbing to make repairs. And my wife wonders why I have so many tools and spare parts.

Now back to original post. I think I would consider this data mining with a dash of lawsuit involvement. Were I a full voting mod I would recommend a polite PM and deletion of the thread or at least lock it.

[Cap Erict3]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

My first impression is that this is someone looking for ammo for a lawsuit. He admits that if you have a dockside water connection it's wise to turn it off and also says he didn't do that and suffered damage.

..........

Now back to original post. I think I would consider this data mining with a dash of lawsuit involvement. Were I a full voting mod I would recommend a polite PM and deletion of the thread or at least lock it.

I'm hard pressed to see that this topic has more litigious potential than a dragging anchor topic.


I am glad you are not a mod if this is an example ur willingness to jump to such a tall conclusion in a single bound..


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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[Cheechako]

Never have had a water hose permanently connected or felt the need to do so. Just filled the tanks weekly.

[Terra Nova]

A proper dockside water supply system will have a solenoid valve connected directly to the water inlet fitting using metal piping. A pressure regulator attaches directly to the solenoid valve, which is closed every time the boat is left unattended.

[CaptTom]

I have a fitting for municipal water hookup. I tested it once to verify it worked. Other than that, never. Not sure that helps your poll.

My point in writing is that it's good to hear real-world experience. Usually in these threads someone points out how they'd never heard of a problem like this, and statistically it's so unlikely that nobody should ever worry about it.

[monte]

We had one and used it for weeks at a time, however we were probably lucky. Now we do t have one and don't miss it. If I was to have one again I would probably make a small hose connection in the cockpit with a garden timer that you turn when you need water for showers etc

[S/V Illusion]

Have had dock water hook-up on every boat we've ever had over the past few decades as have most of our dock neighbors, none of which have ever experienced a failure. Obviously, it could happen but if the system is properly installed, routinely examined and well maintained, the likelihood seems nil.

As all we ever hear are rumors of horror stories, it's hard to be objective. I wonder if the chance of a failure approaches even a tiny fraction of the accidents people are involved with just driving to the boat.

Convenience of having dock water is worth the trivial chance of a problem to most of the folks I know.

[CaptTom]

Anecdotal evidence is never ideal, for or against, so I suppose it comes down to your own comfort level and risk tolerance.

To my way of thinking, there's no convenience in having to disconnect and reconnect a hose every time you come and go.

I prefer to fill the tank with water only when I'm sure of the quality. I let it run long enough that I'm not getting the stuff that sat in the plastic dock pipes all day. I refill it based on need and keeping the tank fresh. I don't find any of that inconvenient. In fact, it gives me peace of mind to know I can always turn the tap and get a known entity. I don't have to switch between systems with different pressure. To me, THAT's convenience.

[SVJennie]

As part of my dockside water inlet, I had an internally mounted marine grade plastic water pressure regulator that apparently wasn't up to New Zealand's PSI requirement. Ultimately I was lucky as the dock manager heard the external horn that is connected to a high water alarm system and shut off the dockside water just in case that was the problem. Once aboard, I noticed that the water pressure regulator had cracked open, and that my bilge pumps, although working, could not keep up with the incoming deluge.

Lesson learned, I now have an externally connected metal pressure regulator and a manual cutoff switch. Internally, I have a pressure relief valve set to a lower pressure than the one on the hot water heater, just in case the external pressure regulator fails, and/or the water heater can't hold it any longer and feels it has to pee.

And yes, anyone can forget to turn off the incoming water, and if need be, with these new cell phone monitoring systems, although I don't have one, one can be readily notified if there is a problem on-board. The question is, can you get back to the boat in time to prevent a disaster?

Aboard a boat, equipment failure can always be expected regardless of how hard one tries to prevent them, and along with that, I feel it is MY responsibility to make sure my boat is safe regardless of what external, or even internal challenges are presented.

[onestepcsy37]

I see you're in Titusville. I was in a slip there for a year. My neighbors lived on a houseboat. One day I stopped down at my boat and saw them unloading all their stuff from their boat. They told me that they had gone to Orlando one day to go shopping and while they were gone a hose failed on their boat and city water began flooding it. If a neighbor hadn't noticed that their boat looked unusually low in the water and shut down their dock fitting it would have probably sunk.