Water Tank
- Thread starter rsmith23
- Start date
how big? I have a 10gallon tank I removed from my 25... overall dimensions are 18.5x16x8. it was designed and built as a freshwater tank. its black ABS plastic.
personally I see no need or reason for a freshwater tank on a small boat. a water system takes up precious storage room and whatever size tank you install below decks will be so small it will have to refilled very often... and you wont be able to monitor the water usage as well and you will run out. what I meant to say is that you ABSOLUTELY WILL run out.
so you will either need to get to a water hose to refill, or carry the water to the boat in gallon jugs. then discard the jugs. .. and in addition, stow a couple of extra full gallon jugs so when you run out, you at least have something to get by on til you can refill.
if you are going to carry the water to the boat in gallon jugs to fill your tank, why not just distribute them for stowing below decks where they fit the best... then exchange the empty jug as it gets used with a full one in the locker so you save them for refilling.
unless you are installing at least a 25gallon tank(the bigger the tank, the more feasible it becomes), its just not worth it.
its a lot of trouble to install and set up just to say you have running water for a five minutes.... Oops! you just ran out... the 5 minutes of running water was really only four minutes, cuz the pump runs at 2.5 gallons per minute......
but really, you wouldnt leave the tap wide open for that long, but it shows how little water it is when presurized and quickly it can be used up, whereas the two of us can go almost 12 days on 10gallons of water in the jugs, but we could not make 5 days using the tank.... and we didnt drink the water out of the tank either.
using gallon jugs really does save a lot of hassle on a smaller boat....
personally I see no need or reason for a freshwater tank on a small boat. a water system takes up precious storage room and whatever size tank you install below decks will be so small it will have to refilled very often... and you wont be able to monitor the water usage as well and you will run out. what I meant to say is that you ABSOLUTELY WILL run out.
so you will either need to get to a water hose to refill, or carry the water to the boat in gallon jugs. then discard the jugs. .. and in addition, stow a couple of extra full gallon jugs so when you run out, you at least have something to get by on til you can refill.
if you are going to carry the water to the boat in gallon jugs to fill your tank, why not just distribute them for stowing below decks where they fit the best... then exchange the empty jug as it gets used with a full one in the locker so you save them for refilling.
unless you are installing at least a 25gallon tank(the bigger the tank, the more feasible it becomes), its just not worth it.
its a lot of trouble to install and set up just to say you have running water for a five minutes.... Oops! you just ran out... the 5 minutes of running water was really only four minutes, cuz the pump runs at 2.5 gallons per minute......
but really, you wouldnt leave the tap wide open for that long, but it shows how little water it is when presurized and quickly it can be used up, whereas the two of us can go almost 12 days on 10gallons of water in the jugs, but we could not make 5 days using the tank.... and we didnt drink the water out of the tank either.
using gallon jugs really does save a lot of hassle on a smaller boat....
We had a 5-gallon water tank on our old CAL 21 and it was both plenty big enough for our use (smaller tank makes it easier to keep fresh!) and VERY nice to have!!
It supplied freshwater to wash dishes, clean salt-spray off sun and reading glasses, fresh drinking water, water to wash hands after using the head, etc.
The one tip we learned was to always refill using municiple tap water, not our well-water. There are tasteless, safe, water "preservatives" sold at many camping supply stores if needed. We refilled most of the time from the hose at the marina, but could bring water out using anohter 5-gallon collapsable jug.
The standard size water tank for hte 1977-85 model 23 was 15 gallons. Check with Rudy at D&R Marine or a local marine supplier (Rudy will know what the original tank was, and most likely has one in stock.)
It supplied freshwater to wash dishes, clean salt-spray off sun and reading glasses, fresh drinking water, water to wash hands after using the head, etc.
The one tip we learned was to always refill using municiple tap water, not our well-water. There are tasteless, safe, water "preservatives" sold at many camping supply stores if needed. We refilled most of the time from the hose at the marina, but could bring water out using anohter 5-gallon collapsable jug.
The standard size water tank for hte 1977-85 model 23 was 15 gallons. Check with Rudy at D&R Marine or a local marine supplier (Rudy will know what the original tank was, and most likely has one in stock.)
I guess it came with a 15 gallon tank. I'm going to think how much we really need it. Thanks for your info.
Mine still has the original 15 gal tank, which we use for washing hands, dishes and the like. For drinking water, we use store bought jugs. The onboard tank we keep sweet with a 1/4 cup of bleach for every ten gallons or so. When I bought the boat, the tank was a mess; we cleaned it and added an access panel on top so that it can be scrubbed out every couple of years.
One thing I like about having the onboard tank is that it adds 100+ lbs of weight on the stbd side, countering the weight of the battery and motor on the port side.