Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I finally found my topsides leak - the fresh water tank vent, which has been disconnected for a couple of years since I removed the fresh water plumbing. When it rains, water drips through this vent.
Should water be able to go through this vent or is it faulty? If this is normal, and you're sailing with saltwater over the bow, how do you prevent saltwater from contaminating your fresh water tank?
The vent although not ideally located on the deck needs to breathe both directions. They are made to minimize water intrusion. If I was looking to actually drink that water and I hope nobody does, I would run the vent hose up inside a stanchion. I call that water potable but not drinkable and is used to rinse off after a swim or rinse the cockpit floor but drink it? No way.
Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688 Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound
Potable means drinkable. I call my fresh water supply "non-potable."
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Lol, Ok so maybe I need a new name for that type of water. It's on the level of pool water or lake water yet it's not grey water that 'Non Potable includes,You can swim in it but you really don't want to drink it. I think that cruisers who do need to drink tank water probably take precautions against contamination with tablets or some sort of purification system.
Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688 Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound
I don't use the tank for any purpose so I cleaned it out a few years back and it's dry. Rain water doesn't seem like a problem. It goes a lot of other places but not there. I bought a 5 gallon Coleman water jug for drinking water. I take it home, wash it out and replace the water every two weeks in the summer. For hand washing and such I've got some plastic milk jugs that fit snugly behind the porta potty. Sadly, no matter what I do I can't keep the holding tank water "fresh" and odor free, even for hand washing.
Bruce Ross Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032 Port Captain — Milford, CT
My freshwater tank is removed and I plugged the vent. I found the vent on the holding tank was filling the holding tank when it rained. I bought a new one from Catalina direct and added an additional gasket to make it seat a little higher on the deck and it fixed the problem with normal rain amounts...
Whoops... I deleted my back flow check valve suggestion lest somebody gets confused, like me... Yep Islander, it needs to vent both ways ...
Ray in Atlanta, Ga. "Lee Key" '84 Catalina 25 Standard Rig / Fin Keel
Back flow preventer? The tank needs to breathe both ways so it doesn't expand when filled or collapse as you use the water. Raising the vent off the deck sounds like a good option.
Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688 Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound
I re-routed the water tank overflow to a spout that overhangs the lavy sink. I fill the tank until it overflows at the inlet, but then the level falls as the excess vents into the sink. Prior to routing it to the lavy sink it simply overflowed into the bilges, so it was using the air space under the settee for breathing.
I do use that water for drinking, so it's important to me to prevent contamination. I even clean the deck around the inlet before opening it to fill the tank.
Just another idea for others to consider.
The trouble with a destination - any destination, really - is that it interrupts The Journey.
Lee Panza SR/SK #2134 San Francisco Bay (Brisbane, CA)
I re-routed the water tank overflow to a spout that overhangs the lavy sink. I fill the tank until it overflows at the inlet, but then the level falls as the excess vents into the sink. Prior to routing it to the lavy sink it simply overflowed into the bilges, so it was using the air space under the settee for breathing.
I do use that water for drinking, so it's important to me to prevent contamination. I even clean the deck around the inlet before opening it to fill the tank.
Just another idea for others to consider.
Venting the fresh water tank inside the boat is a great idea. I wonder why they bother with the external vent.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.