Water Tank Management

[sail sfbay]

Unlike my previous sailboats with 1 water tank, my new Hunter 46 sailboat has 5 water tanks (18, 21, 35, 45 and 66 gallons) located forward, aft, port and starboard supplying a single pump from a valved manifold. When I recently took possession of the boat I filled all the tanks and am now cycling them to flush them out. I plan to cycle them simultaneously to avoid bacteria contamination. A few questions popped on water tank management.

1. Do you agree with my plan above?

2. How many tanks do/would you recommend cycling simultaneously (1,2,3,4 or 5) or cycle 1 tank at a time and why?

3. Do you maintain all the tanks full or leave 1 or more empty to avoid listing or reduce boat weight?

[roverhi]

Use bleach/chlorine in the amount reccomendes for the gallonage in the tanks and forget about bacteria contamination. Unless you are going cruising or have an inordinate amount of water usage, run the tanks furthest from the center of the boat empty. If you need/want to fill all the tanks, use the tanks furthest out in the ends first. Weight in the ends decreases boat performance. If the chlorine bothers you, buy an inexpensive household filter and use a carbon filter to take out the chlorine.

[JPA Cate]

Our boat is light for her size, and having the full 800 liters water that she can have slows her down noticeably. That amount of water will see us 3 months, if we pay attention to conserving it. We have left for an anticipated trip from Oz to New Caledonia with half tanks of water, and one time, we goofed and barely made it back because we thought we had water in one tank, but didn't. It was extremely careless of us.

So, i'd say, do like roverhi suggested, let the tanks that are farthest from the center of the boat be empty, and carry "enough" in the others for what you want to do. "Enough", of course, depends on your usage.

Ann

[Orion Jim]

I would encourage you to verify the actual capacity of each of your tanks. I have three water tanks. The stated capacity of my bow tank is two gallons less than the actual capacity. My port and starboard tanks are both seven and one-half gallons less than the capacity stated on the manufacturers identification plates.
No sense depending on the stated capacities when planning your water needs if the actual capacities are substantially less than you were expecting.
The same goes for your fuel tank.....

[sailorboy1]

I just rotate through my tanks. I keep track by using a whiteboard status board.

[a64pilot]

Why not turn them all on and let them all drain down together?
I only have one tank myself.’
You Guys have gauges for each tank?

[sail sfbay]

Thanks for the advise and comments. This boat has 66 gallons forward, 54 gallons port mid-ship and 66 gallons starboard mid-ship as shown in the attached diagram, which provides flexibility to optimize/balance tank water capacity/weight. The boat has tank level monitors and will make a point to check them when I return to the boat this weekend. My next step is to gauge the water usage so I can decide on how much water to carry for our trips.