We’re quite lucky on our boat – we carry almost 1,000 litres of fresh water in our tanks which means we can go for a few weeks and never worry about running out of drinking water (or going without a shower if we really need one) However, it also means that unless we’re out all the time, due to lack of circulation, our water could become stale and undrinkable. Fortunately, we do have an on-board filtration system that ensures we’re always drinking clean, safe water and we change the filter each season as well as making sure we do a good tank clean once a year.
Here are simple five steps for cleaning your boat’s freshwater tank:
- Turn the water pump on and open all taps to drain all of the water out of the storage tank.
- Measure 1 teaspoon of household bleach per 4 litres (of the tank capacity). Pour it inside the tank and immediately add fresh water to the tank until it’s full.
- Turn on the water pump and let the bleach water run through all taps for two minutes.
- Turn the taps and the water pump off and let the bleach water sit in the tank for 24 hours. When the tank is sterilized, turn the water pump on and drain the water tank by opening all taps.
- Fill the water tank with fresh water and drain all water again. Repeat this procedure until the water no longer contains an odour of bleach. This might take a couple of cycles to get it nice and fresh.
After this procedure your tank and all of your pipes should be clean and full of fresh water. Also, whether you use your boat all the time or just occasionally, it’s really worth putting in a filter. We usually fill our tank from the fire hose on the jetty and let’s face it, those hoses get a bit of abuse, so having a filter adds a layer of confidence that what we’re drinking is OK. There are high volume filters you can get that are used before the water goes into the tank, but the water quality is pretty good at most places in the Sounds so that might be overkill – unless of course you plan on filling up from that dodgy hose in the Tasman that comes down from the cliff top and is attached to a float, in which case I’d suggest filter, filter, filter.
