Jerry Cans

[bermudarigged]

Does anyone have a solution that holds up with regard to jerry cans for drinking water?

The hard ones I would refrain from storing on deck, while below deck they use a lot of space. Tthe foldables, collapsible cans are deliberately made from too thin material so they get punctured the first time being used. They also seem to add a smell to the water, which is probably unhealthy.

[Stu Jackson]

We use old water jugs made of heavier material, juice cans anything that safety holds liquids. Water is heavy. Multiple smaller gallon jugs work for me.

Of course, they're backups to a house water system that works and we can drink from, too.

If I needed more quantity than was readily available I would invest in a watermaker.

[Brob2]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

We use old water jugs

.. and a large hard container between the forward v-berths.

[capngeo]

I use the run-of-the-mill blue jerry cans... BUT only to shuttle water from shore by dink; as I then dump them into my tanks. The PO of m CAL must have been a thirsty guy, as she holds nearly 70 gallons of fresh water!

I have forever had the fantasy of removing one tank and freeing up some precious cubic feet of storage. I run out of ice, beer, and dink gas about 5 days out, so I rarely plan trips longer than that.

[savoir]

Have you tried the blue ones ? They work.

[roverhi]

Have stored water jugs on deck for long passages without a problem in more than 10,000 miles of sailing. Tie them down securely, spread contact with hard objects like a support board over a large area, make up sunbrella covers and they do just fine. Would change them out regularly, like every couple of years especially if they have been exposed to UV and/or a lot of time at sea. Carry them as emergency supply and to aid in replenishing the boats tanks from shore if needed. Like the idea that they are on the deck so they could easily be lashed to the life raft in an abandonment.

[chuckr]

We had good experience with the collapsible ones from WM. Used them extensively before we got a water maker in jugging water from shore to fill our tanks then folding them up and storing them below
We still have them on board but folded up and held with wire ties to keep them small.

[skipmac]

I assume you're using the jugs as backups to your tanks when on passage? If so then I agree with Stu. Much easier to store a lot of smaller one gallon containers below decks but I would also put 1-2 five gallon blue jugs on deck for abandon ship, just in case.

[boatman61]

Normally carry fuel and water topsides..
Change the contents when I top up again.. same with the fuel.. also nice when passing through an expensive area

[RainDog]

Solar showers are good collapsable containers. Very strong, made to hold water, easy to fill, nice strong handles, cheap, and they store small.

[cabo_sailor]

You might also look into on deck bladders. I was looking at one to store about 25 gal diesel but water models are made as well.

Might be a pain to fill using jerry cans and I don't know about after taste or criitter growth. Might need a filtration system.

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[denverd0n]

Ditto on Savior's recommendation. Have several of these that I've been using for 10+ years now--camping, sailing, hunting, hurricane prep, etc.--and they are still in great shape.

Amazon.com : Scepter Water Can (5-Gallon) : Boat Fuel Tanks : Sports & Outdoors

I know you were looking for something NOT hard-sided, but I really would recommend these lashed on deck.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Here is a little bit of info from the Sceptre (linked above) manufacturer regarding storing water for long term in those cans:

The polyethylene we use, by its nature, does not contain BPA.
We have no recommendations on storing water for any lengthy duration, but obviously that should be avoided for the same reason that water bottles in a grocery store are rotated so that older ones are sold first. Even the most filtered of water will support bacterial growth over time. Plastics are by their nature porous to some extent when compared to other materials such as glass or metal, so oxidation (bacterial growth) can occur over extended periods of time, however the actual length of suitability is all subject to environmental conditions .
I hope this information is of assistance.
Sincerely,
Scepter Corporation
Marine Products | International Export

[bobnlesley]

For long/ocean passage water we got given a great tip whilst in the Canary Islands: Good quality jerry jugs are expensive and take up lots of space - the latter's OK for the passage, but particularly on a small boat with narrow side-decks, once you're back into 'cruising mode' there too expensive to just throw away, but if kept they just clutter-up the boat. We visited the local hypermarket/grocery store and bought sixteen 8 litre bottles of water, for about the cost of two 5-gallon jerry jugs, stowed them securely on a berth for the duration of the passage (never needed/used) then when we reached the Caribbean, the water went in the tank and half the bottles into a dumpster. What's amazed us most is that three years later, we still have five of the eight bottles that we kept and they're still doing great service as our permanent jerry-jugs. The guy who gave us the tip actually proposed buying your extra water in the 1.5 litre bottles - '8 cases will stow somewhere and and with 96 separate water tanks, you don't have to worry about contamination'.
The other addition he gave us to the tip: If as you use the 1.5 litre bottles you cut-up the empties into small pieces with scissors (hey, you've nothing better to do on a long passage!) and drop these bits of plastic and the bottle caps into a typical grocery store carrier bag, you'll get the whole lot in a single bag, with space to spare. We didn't believe it either, but when you next come across some fly-tipped bottles and have nothing better to do, just chop-up a dozen and drop them in a bag, the space they'll fill is tiny!

[onestepcsy37]

What skipmac says. We have a large water capacity but still keep two of those blue 5 gallon hard jugs on deck when on passage, for abandon ship. The admiral likes her bottled water; we typically have two dozen one gallon jugs of "distilled" water stashed all over the boat. Good for topping up the batteries too.