Free water

Feb 14, 2014
7,399
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
I wonder about its effectiveness on mold, mildew, and those sort of flora and fauna.
Yes! Normally public water sources and rain water are free of these.:clap:

If you look in my Link shown in my post#37 above , you would see in my other post there listing several methods of water sanitation CONTROL.

On my 60 Gallon Fresh water Aluminum Tank I dropped 1 gallon of this per season in a partial filled tank.
https://www.amazon.com/Hydrogen-Per...1446410536&sr=8-26&keywords=hydrogen+peroxide
But I have changed to the other since is it fresher, cheaper and at Sam's. I keep one smaller bottle aboard for all other reasons mentioned, in a dark cool storage spot. Plus no AlCl2 crystals are formed to plug water pump stuff.

You can get FDA approved, food grade, medical cleanup grade of 35% H2O2 at $70 gallon, if you want.:rolleyes:

As a non-resident Chemical Engineer...
The amount used of any "Oxidizing Agent" is proportional to the Organic Crap present in the water.
Thus by the JamesG Law...
NO CRAP = No disinfectant.;) or the 2nd Law...
Little Crap = Little Oxidizer [typical rain water] @Kermit [I will drink it too]

iodine and hydoriodic acid
Well, it will taste like Scotch then!:laugh: and no Buzz intended.

All simple Halides Cl, I, Br oxidizers work like this.
Yes, even Sulfur [SO2] has been used for year to Sanitize Brewing Equipment.

I like the after taste left by H2O2, which is ZERO!
Jim...
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Hydrogen peroxide is not a suitable water treatment alone, it can be mixed to remove nuisance tastes but at consumer concentrations it would be expensive and ineffective. The strong stuff is hard to get without a permit...it is a controlled material. 1 to 2% chlorine residual is what you get in muni tap water, filter it out with an inexpensive carbon filter at the tap.
 
Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
You can get 27% strength hydrogen peroxide from a swimming pool supply house. It's sold under the names Baquacil Oxidizer, Aqua Silk, etc. About $25 a gallon.
 
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Feb 14, 2014
7,399
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
Here is a new one to me from the CDC web site..
Solar Radiation
In an emergency situation, water can be disinfected with sunlight. Water in a clear plastic bottle, preferably lying on a reflective surface (such as aluminum foil), will be safe to drink after a minimum of 6 hours in bright sunlight. This technique does not work on cloudy water.

I suspect a 1 gallon zip lock plastic bag would work for RAIN WATER.;)

Now add a few teaspoons of Peroxide to Solar treatment and the EPA says it in much safer.
Addition of H2O2 in conjunction of UV light and/or ozone produces powerful hydroxyl radicals, which are more effective than ozone or UV alone. AOP involving hydroxyl radicals in drinking water treatment is used to remove various persistent organic and inorganic micro-pollutants. O3/ H2O2 and UV/ H2O2 have been successfully used to oxidize many persistent pesticides, T&O compounds, pharmaceutical and hazardous chemicals that may be present in surface and groundwater.

Trivia:
In the 1950's, hydrogen peroxide was first used for drinking water disinfection in Eastern Europe. It is known for its high oxidative and biocidal efficiency. Hydrogen peroxide has not been used often for drinking water disinfection, but it's popularity seems to increase. It is often used combined with ozone, silver or UV.

If you have no Sunlight or Peroxide to treat RAIN WATER.
I keep purification tabs
https://www.amazon.com/Potable-Aqua...eywords=water+purification+drops+for+drinking

in my Ditch Bag. Along with a Milar Blanket to make a solar still or Rain Water Collection.
Jim...

PS: I watched too much Gilligan's Island.:p
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
The advantages of using a UV system are many:
  • Effective – Destroys 99.99% of microorganisms
  • Chemical free – no harmful chemicals need to be added
  • Environmentally Friendly –Go green! UV is an environmentally friendly alternative to chlorine disinfection and has no disinfection byproducts
  • Essentially trouble-free – once installed, annual service is usually all that is required
  • Reliable – works night and day, 24/7, consistently keeping water safe
  • Safe – no handling of chemicals
  • Cost-Effective –only lamp & sleeve replaced annually
  • Clean – no dirty parts to dispose of
  • Quick Process – water flows through the system without need for holding tank or reaction times
  • More effective than chlorine or chloramines– especially on some water borne cysts
  • Low energy usage – low electrical needs
  • FDA Approved – one of only 4 methods approved for disinfection by US Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Conserves water – The UV purification process does not waste any water
  • Taste and odor – Chemical disinfection methods (such as chlorine) change the taste & odor of water and produce byproducts. UV does not.
https://www.espwaterproducts.com/understanding-uv/

Just think, If UV is an effective germicide than all those fine particles flying around in the atmosphere, where they are subjected to sub freezing temperatures and concentrated UV from the sun for a lot more than 6 hours, should be quite safe. I don't know, but it doesn't appear as though the winds bring disease across oceans. Creature to creature contact, through body fluids, does that. however, winds do bring chemical pollutants that you may not want in your drinking water. H2O2 Wouldn't be effective against such pollutants, in most cases.

Beware of raining Kemit... Ah... Frogs. UV doesn't help but a simple particle filter should.:poke:

I use to have a pair of Tennessee Walking horses. I fed them water from a 300 gal open stock tank. At first, it only took a week before the water turned green from algae. I started adding about a cap full of household bleach to the tank every week. Most of the smell of bleach was from opening the bottle. The horses paid no attention to it and there was absolutely no oder in a couple of hours. No algae, either.
As a hiker, I use the Squeeze filter for filling my water bottles. You can buy it from WalMart. It uses a ceramic filter that adds nothing to the water. I'm also interested in reverse osmosis filtering of seawater into freshwater. Nothing will get past that. You do need about 8000lbs of force to push it through the filter and those filters are EX SPEN SIVE!
I have also read that bamboo
charcoal is being used as an effective filter.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Likes: JamesG161
Oct 2, 2008
3,807
Pearson/ 530 Strafford, NH
Great article. We’re actually thinking of using an old sail for a collection device sewing a through hull fitting into one end. Then a short length of plastic hose to the fill cap to direct the flow. By comparison to the Chesapeake, I believe that there are fewer bird droppings and cleaner air here in the Abaco’s. I make that statement based on not having to clean our bimini of dirt and soil since we crossed over.

All U Get
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,321
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Great article. We’re actually thinking of using an old sail for a collection device sewing a through hull fitting into one end. Then a short length of plastic hose to the fill cap to direct the flow. By comparison to the Chesapeake, I believe that there are fewer bird droppings and cleaner air here in the Abaco’s. I make that statement based on not having to clean our bimini of dirt and soil since we crossed over.

All U Get
A settling tank could also be rigged, although in downpours it may fill too quickly.

Fill a bucket or jerry can from the bottom up by running the hose to the bottom of the container. At the top of the container put an outlet that then fills the main tank. Any heavier pieces of stuff would settle to the bottom of the container and cleaner water runs out of the top. Sort of like a Baja Filter.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
I bought a thread-in plastic deck-fill adaptor like is used on pumpouts, but intend to make a Sunbrella funnel and lace it to the adaptor. Hang one side on the lifeline, and another line to the mast/shrouds should hold it open.
An electrician friend said you can buy a collection "thing" from an electric supply store. It normally is used when there is a water leak above electrical units.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
I have been contemplating running a small brass pipe up and down the center of a black aluminum mast, run cooler sea water, from the keel, through it and collect the condensation from the foot of the mast as it runs down the pipes. I think it would condense water at an incredible rate in any kind of sun and it would be perfectly potable. Maybe it could use fresh water and heat the water part way before storage in a thermal tank.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
Rain water does not contain cysts or bugs. It does have dirt early on but after about 15 minutes that has been washed out. If rain water had cysts I'd have to ask where do they come from. since they don't "get evaporated" into clouds like water does they stay in the water source. if they were in the air then you are already breathing them now and I don't see lots of folks "getting cysts" just walking around
You are much more likely to get "bad things of all sorts" from the collecting surface. Bird poo is a great source of stuff I'm not at all interested in putting in my tank and is commonly found on collecting surfaces used on boats. That is why you "waist" the first few minutes of water to clean the collecting surface. A dedicated collecting surface that you deploy would be another way to avoid the "poo"
 
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Jul 20, 2005
2,422
Whitby 55 Kemah, Tx
I have been living off rain water for 5 years now. A large part of the world's population also lives off rain water and some islands they do not have city water so you have to supply your own water. They do not use a filter or any treatment but I do use a really good filter (Daulton) at the galley sink for drinking water. It is much cleaner and better tasting than bottled water.

In some parts of the world, if you wait 15 minutes to clean the deck you will not have any water.

Rain catching systems that use some sort of fabric do not work so well in many places of the world because most of the rain comes with 20+ knots of wind. That is why I went with using the deck. Did the same thing as the OP, used sand in a baggie but then wrapped the baggie with duct tape (Need to replace the tape about once a year). I damned up both rails and drained the water into two water deck fittings that I installed near the cockpit. Then ran a 5/8th hose to a T connector then ran it under the floorboards to the tank under the V-birth. Love waking up in the morning to a full tank after a nightly rain. Other cruisers have done the same as me and love it.

In the Caribbean you will get a ton of African dust so filtering is needed somewhere. It reaches all the way to Panama.