| West Wight Potter Owner's Home Port __________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
Food and Provisioning
for
Small Sailboats
for
Small Sailboats
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Okay, so here you are 5-days into a 10-day sailing vacation, anchored in a lovely sheltered cove
on Lake Woebegone…when you discover the boat’s water containers are bone dry!
What to do? Pull the anchor and sail some miles to the nearest Marina? Or use some of the vast
amount of lake water all around you?
There are many ways to utilize the lake water. You can do what mankind has done forever, and
still does in many parts of the world, dip the water out of the lake and use it to drink, etc.
However, unless you are certain that the water contains no harmful bacteria, chemicals, parasites
and cysts, you are taking a chance with your future health by drinking untreated lake water!
Two simple ways to treat the lake water is to boil it, or put EPA approved Microbiological water
purifier tablets or drops into the water. Many of the tablets available today contain Chlorine
Dioxide and some tablets require that the water be set-aside in non-sunlight for 4-hours. If drops
are use, the waiting time is only about 15-minutes. Iodine drops can also be used.
Several companies manufacture both the purifier tablets and purifier drops. Here are two:
Field test report for the Aquamira Tablets HERE.
Field test report for the Klear Water Drops HERE.
Another way to purify the water is to process it through a water filter. No, I’m not talking about
using a coffee filter. Although a coffee filter works great to filter out the larger debris in the water,
such as floating moss and small fish!
On a small sailboat water filters most likely to be used will be one of two types. One that uses a
hand pump to force water through a filter, and the second type that uses gravity to force the water
through a filter.
There are some very small hand pump type filters on the market that are made and sold mainly
for backpacker use. Some filters have a mouthpiece or straw where a person places their month
to receive the filtered water. These type filters require a squeezing action to filter the drinking
water. Such a filter system is handy for small quantities of drinking water, however It seems
unlikely that a water filter of this type would be of much value for daily sailboat use.
Aquamira Water Bottle Filter
Katadyn Exstream Hand Water Filter Bota of Boulder Outback Filter
Field test report for the Katadyn Exstream Filter HERE.
Field test report for the Bota of Boulder Outback Filter HERE.
Other hand pump action water filters use pumping action to lift water from the lake or stream and
force the water through a filter system into a bag or container. The Katadyn Hiker Filter output is
one-quart of water for 48-pump strokes.
Katadyn Hiker Water Filter
MSR Miniworks Ex Microfilter
Field test report for the Katadyn Hiker Filter HERE.
Gravity water filters are simple to use since all that is required is for untreated water to be placed
into a upper unfiltered water bag that drains into a lower second bag that contains the filtered
water. One main advantage to this type filter is that once the water is placed in the top bag no
further action is required and a person can engage in other activities.
Platypus Clear Stream Gravity Water Filter Katadyn Base Camp Gravity Filter
Field test report for the Platypus Clear Stream Filter HERE.
Field test report for the Katadyn Base Camp Filter HERE.
For any water purifier filter to work properly, the filter(s) must be periodically cleaned by back
flushing and/or treated with a cleaning agent. When the filter(s) becomes blocked and water flow
is reduced it's way past time to clean the filter(s)!
As stated above, one method to purify the lake water is to boil the water until all harmful elements
are killed. This method takes a considerable amount of stove fuel to maintain a boiling action for
the time required to kill all viruses. However, a boiling time of at least 1-minute will kill most
bacteria, including E.coli.
Sailboat sailor Anne Westlund has used water purifier filters for several years in her annual
sailing odysseys on Lake Huron. Here are a few edited comments that Anne made about using
water purifier filters and her methods of dealing with water demands when sailing her Potter 15
Peapod and her Slipper 17 Raggedy Anne.
Anne Westlund in Peapod while cruising on Lake Powell
"When I was on Peapod I used a MSR water filter such as backpackers use for drinking water.
Otherwise I took water from over the boat's side off shore and used it for cooking. Whenever I
boiled water, or steamed it as in pancakes, I used lake water. I did the same when sailing on Lake
Powell.
I never pumped much water at a time, just enough for one or two water bottles. I use Platypus
plastic water "bottles" or recycle other, off the shelf water bottles, metal and plastic. All filters I
have owned have had hoses. The small mouth ones won't do it for really cruddy water such as I
have found when canoing in the boonies. Plus, a hose type filters lets a person sit and pump, or
stand and pump. Sucking on one of those hand held squeeze bottle filters will pull the fillings from
your teeth!
I have a Katadyn filter but pumping it is so hard I gave up on using it.
On occasion when well off shore in the North Channel, I have captured water from over the side
of the boat and drunk it straight, no filter, no boiling, no subsequent illness or bodily complaint.
The water in the North Channel tests pure to drink when off shore and not close to a village or
river outlet. I would not recommend drinking water from the lake anywhere else.
Now, pure enough to drink means it is like village or city water - "may have some pollutants but
negligible bacteria".
In the mid 1990's the American Camping Association said that if you bring water to 183 degrees
F. or higher and hold it there, you will have no worries about bacteria, or parasites. Boiling
definitely does the trick to purify water from organic critters. Longer hard-boiling will kill viruses;
eight to ten minutes are recommended by National Park Services.
A really fine filter will remove viruses too. The Katadyn filter system is the best for that.
I have never used purifying tablets, iodine or other types." Anne Westlund
Greg Welker, owner of P-19 #448 Wight Magic sent me these comments:
"In the water potability world there are "filters" and there are "purifiers". Filters vary in what they
remove depending on the fineness of the filter, but generally they will remove bacteria and cysts.
My limited reading indicates that the filters will also not remove many chemicals, such as
pesticides. Purifiers do the same, but at a much finer scale, and also remove viruses.
What I have read indicates purifiers will remove some man made chemical compounds. I only
know of one or two backpackable "purifiers". I like the "First Need" water purifier.
In very silty water you may want to connect a pre-filter to the water stream before it goes through
the purifier to extend the life of the purifier elements. Almost all filters and purifiers have
filter/purifier elements that are only good for a certain number of uses, though some can be
cleaned or backflushed to partially extend their use.
The tablets and drops are generally sensitive to water temperature. The colder the water the
longer it will take them to react. Too cold and you will get almost no reaction.
Another alternative are UV sterilizers. These will handle bacteria, cysts, and viruses in clear
water. Their big advantage over filters, purifiers, and chemicals is that they will function at below
freezing air temperatures. Nothing worse than waking up to find your filter has frozen solid over
night. Freezing basically destroys the integrity of the filter or purifier.
My experience with boiling water for purification is that if you're using liquid fuel you have had to
bring in yourself, it makes more sense just to bring in good water.
When Kayaking Lake Ontario, Georgian Bay, and more northern lakes I have always used the
purifier. For rivers and streams, if there is agricultural activity upstream I won't use the water at
all, being concerned about the agricultural and livestock chemicals." Greg Welker
Greg also suggested viewing a web site that gives a very complete breakdown of the different
types of filtering and purifying systems. SYSTEMS
This comment was received from Paul Helbert, Paddle Duck Racer:
"A few years ago I had a permit for the Grand Canyon. There were 16 of us for 18 days in late
June and early July. We ran 100% with river water gravity siphoned through a Doulton Sterasyl
"candle" ceramic filter in camp each night. It worked flawlessly and effortlessly.
We had three of the 10" X 2" filters on the trip. Two were used regularly and one was kept in
reserve in case of breakage. We had a mixture of canoes, kayaks and rafts on the trip with the
rafts doing the heavy lifting so that the small boats could run empty.
Each raft carried at least one five gallon gerry can for water. Each evening in camp a bucket was
set up,on a table or ledge, a few feet above lower empty can. The upper bucket was filled with
river water, the Doulton candle filter placed in the bottom of the top bucket with the length of
plastic tubing extended into the bottom bucket. The syphon was started and someone would refill
the upper bucket at least once during the evening.
Five drops of Clorox were added to each five gallons of finished water (if I remember the dosage
properly). It was practically hands off automatic and we never were short of water for the
whole trip.
A pecular feature of the Doulton candle filters is that once the syphon is started they continue to
work until every last drop of water is removed from the upper container. One would think that
once a part of the candle was exposed to air the syphon would break and have to be restarted,
but no, they take it all.
There is no need for the fancy housings or any accessories other than the tubing to bit the
oraface of the candle. The system is moderately priced, easy to use (no pumping) , almost fool-
proof (better fools keep being made) and delivers good volume.
The company was easy to deal with. We called them and told them what we wanted to do and
they made recommendations. I am not associated in any way, other than as a satisfied customer.
Their website is:
http://doultonusa.com/HTMLpages/ceramic_candles_gravity.htm#gravity
Paul Helbert
David Chamness, also a Paddle Duck Racer, wrote this in: http://groups.yahoo.
com/group/pdracer/
"The weekend before the PDR Worlds Event I went with our Boy Scout troop on a long
backpacking trip in the Cahutta Wilderness. We each took a canteen of water for the hike, and
most people brought spares.
I used a Sawyer 0.1 micron 3-Way filter. http://www.sawyerproducts.com/SP121.htm
You can connect the filter in a lot of different ways. It's not that expensive, and has a million gallon
life expectancy.
They sell the filter with a gravity feed system, or by itself. When I went to buy the filter, I bought
the Sawyer 1 liter bottle w/filter and I used a camp shower as a water source (the hose size is the
same.) This was $10 cheaper than buying the official gravity feed system, and I got a free 1 liter
bottle with it and the option to use the camp shower bag for its intended purpose.
To make the system the most versatile, I will put a quick disconnect on the filter and the shower
head. That way I can switch them out in a second.
The filter and a camp shower bag, together weigh less than a quart of water, and they allowed
me to fill up at any of the river crossings. At camp, I filled a dozen or more canteens from the
stream we camped beside as well as providing clean water for cooking and cleaning.
Gravity fed filter is THE WAY to go. A camp shower bag makes a very easy container for holding
the unfiltered water, since it's already designed to hang from a tree (or other high point) and is
multi-use." David Chamness
Kent Springs wrote the following:
"A couple of additions: just regular chlorine bleach is quite good as an emergency back-up. It
doesn't taste too good, and you need to wait awhile after adding it to water before it is effective.
But it is cheap and easy to carry - a little bottle will go a long way. Just add a couple of drops per
liter. There is also a device called a Steri-pen which relies on UV light to kill all the bad things.
The worst thing about lake water is that occasionally it will taste like oil if there many motor boats
and the lake is small. Plus the water is often warm in smaller lakes.
As someone who backpacks, the worst water is from lakes - well, the worst "acceptable" water,
excluding the stuff in ponds with cows drinking from it. Look for streams coming into lakes, or
shore side springs." Happy sailing, Kent Spring
Sorry guys & gals, but you salt-water sailors need to carry lots of water with you or
spend a ton of money for equipment to convert salt-water to drinking water!
Desalinators-Watermakers:
Gerard Millelstaedt of McAllen, Texas sent me information on a small desalinator that could be
used on a small sailboat. Most desalinators use electrical power, are big, and cost thousands of
dollars. However, the Survivor 6 Watermaker, manufactured by the Katadyn Co in the UK is hand-
operated, is small in size, and while not cheap...cost less than $1,000.
Katadyn Survivor 6 Watermaker
The unit does require a considerable amount of manual labor to operate, but remember it is
designed for survivor situations. It takes about 80 strokes with the hand-pump to gain one-oz of
fresh water from salt water. The unit removes 98.4% of the salt from the salt water.
If you would like more information you can view the Katadyn Web Site at:
http://www.katadynwatermakers.co.uk/
Some Fresh Water Purifier Manufactures Web Sites:
Klear Water http://www.klearwater.com/
Aquamira http://www.mcnett.com/Water-Filters-Treatments-C144.aspx
Bota of Boulder http://www.botaofboulder.com/
MSR Web Site
Purifying Water for Extended Sailing
by
Bill Nolen
by
Bill Nolen
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