Bluewater Cruising and Water Storage

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by atoll

... also the body does not store vitamins very well,so it is nesscary to top them up when you spend long times at sea,thats my experiance any way, but thanks for the input gord

What does the "but" signify?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by atoll

Zinc · Iron · Magnesium · Chromium · Selenium (Keshan disease) · Manganese · Molybdenum · Copper · Calcium · Potassium,and iodine,

lack of any of these when living on rice, beans and fish can be detrimental.

also the body does not store vitamins very well,so it is nesscary to top them up when you spend long times at sea,thats my experiance any way,but thanks for the input gord

Yeah... your joints start swelling.... looks bludi horrible if your a skinny buga like me...

[atoll]

think the" but" meant no offence intended to your reasearch,as opposed to my personal experiance

[joey69]

Originally Posted by GordMay

What does the "but" signify?

[Play Actor]

We've been drinking "tank water" for over 12 years with no ill effects. We have a normal domestic water filter in the line, which has to be replaced every few months. It clogs with dust which is washed into the tanks, as we catch rain on the deck. We just plug the scuppers and remove the deck fill plates. Having bulwarks helps here, although other people manage by building dams with wet towels. We've cleaned the tanks once in 22 years, but continuous use keeps them fairly clean.

With 90 gallon tanks and two people, we almost never have to buy water, and have never found the need for a watermaker. As others have suggested, we have a pressure salt water system for heavy washing up, but we don't take salt water showers. Having a salt water tap at the galley sink makes a big difference in fresh water consumption. Dishes are washed in salt water, with only a light fresh water rinse. In normal use, 90 gallons will last a month. If we're carefull, it will last much longer. On passages, we don't use as much water, as showering and cooking are less frequent with just two of us standing watch around the clock.

We've come to prefer rain water to tap water in most places, as it's cleaner, softer, and tastes better to us.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by atoll

think the" but" meant no offence intended to your reasearch,as opposed to my personal experiance

Does your personal experience suggest, to you, that drinking water IS a significant source of dietary nutrients?
Methinks I detect the odour of bovine feces.

[joey69]

I thought you were not supposed to drink rainwater because of airborne pollutants.

[bewitched]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Does your personal experience suggest, to you, that drinking water IS a significant source of dietary nutrients?

As I understand it, it's not the fact that RO (& distilled) water doesn't contain minerals that's the issue. Its that drinking large quantities leeches minerals out of your body.

There's a very noticeable difference when drinking mineral water vs distilled/RO water if you are doing something energetic (racing, running) in a hot / humid climate.

[Hud3]

For the last 4-1/2 years, my sole source of drinking water here on Nevis has been the rainwater caught on the roof of our house. I draw it from a tap attached to a Seagull IV filter, the same model as the one we had in our boat. I don't take supplements or any other medications. I've noticed no ill effects of any kind. We collected rainwater whenever possible while cruising, as we didn't have a watermaker.

[Hudson Force]

Drinking water from gallon jugs or the boat's tanks? If you drink only from the gallon jugs I would assume that you start with clean containers and reuse them if they have not been contaminated. The boat's water tanks are no different, but simply larger in size. As long as you start with clean tanks and don't contaminate them with foul water. My family has been drinking water from our onboard tanks for near forty years without any negative health results; however, our turnover rate is constant. We don't have water sitting in our tanks for seasons without use. When our children were cruising with us, as a family of four, we were able to extend our 150 gallons of tank water to last us one month. Contrary to the actions of some others posting, we only used collected rain water for bathing and washing and reserved our tank water for drinking and cooking. We never add water to our tanks that has been collected by running across decks or canvass. I would be confident with the use of rainwater if it were from a roof system to a storage tank, but not from the deck that I and my dog walk on. If we will be away from reliable water sources for more than a month we do carry additional water jugs (5gal each) on board.

[Khagan1227]

Most military vessels use either ROs or distilling units, I've never heard of a problem with just drinking distilled water, nor have I ever had one myself. A multi-vitiman probabaly wouldn't hurt regardless.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by bewitched

As I understand it, it's not the fact that RO (& distilled) water doesn't contain minerals that's the issue. Its that drinking large quantities leeches minerals out of your body ...

This is true.

According to WHO, sufficient evidence is now available to confirm the health risk from drinking water deficient in calcium or magnesium. International and national authorities responsible for drinking water quality should consider guidelines for desalination water treatment, specifying the minimum content of the relevant elements such as calcium and magnesium and TDS.

Studies conducted on human volunteers by the WHO, 1980. Conclusions: low mineral water consumption increased diuresis (almost by 20%, on average), body water volume and serum sodium concentrations, decreased serum potassium concentration, increased sodium elimination.

See ➥ http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_...ineralized.pdf

[barnakiel]

We sailed extensively in a small boat carrying most of our water in plastic jerry cans. This is the simplest option but far from the perfect solution.

If you have any long distance sailing on your mind, a boat with immense, low placed, easy to service water tanks is a huge asset.

We needed the minimum of 1.5 liter of water per day per person. This was a bare minimum and I would recommend more, there is no upper limit.

Water use management and control are part of the offshore sailing picture.

For any extended, offshore sailing I would prefer to have water carrying capacity of 250 liters per person as a minimum.

We did not use any filters.

We did not drink tank water unboiled.

We did not use rain water (other than for cleaning the boat).

A watermaker is a huge asset, boat size, budget and electrical systems permitting.

b.