We have the original tanks in our recently purchased 26U. For y’all that still have aluminum water tanks what do you use to treat your water? Any recommendations for maintaining all the aluminum tanks? Thanks
Ed
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Very good question. I bleached mine 2.5 years ago when I got the boat, but I hated it because of the wasted water (marina charges by the teaspoon) and bleach going into the fragile bay. Since then I’ve relied on the chlorinated city water that I put into it to do a shock sterilization before the Cl all evaporates away. And I always run drinking water through a Brita pitcher and just used the water straight from the tanks for washing and such. It’s what I’ve done in previous boats, along with a harsher chlorine shock every few years, but in a free flowing river and a cooler climate. My water still seems fine to me, but what do I know? I have a microscope at home - somewhere - but not sure I really want to use it. I’m interested to see what others might suggest.
I started using bleach to shock the original aluminum water tanks at first and it worked if I flushed lines then the tank. I was warned by someone in our group that aluminum and bleach are not friends and can do damage to tanks. Thereafter I flushed out my tanks often. We are not charged extra for water at my dock.
Brian Cayer
Spirit~Wind
N30U 419
Westbrook, CT
I have a 26 with aluminum tanks. At the beginning of the season I scrub and flush the tanks and lines with a mild bleach solution. After that I just fill the tanks and use the water for cooking, washing, and everything. Have been doing this for the past decade and more with no issues. Like Brian, the water seems fine to me so I never bothered to do anything else.
Mark Nerenhausen
Penguin, Nonsuch 26
Washington Island, WI
Thanks for the advice. I wasn’t sure how handle the aluminum water tank. That’s easy to do once a year at spring commissioning. I’m guessing nobody does anything special with the aluminum holding and fuel tank.
Ed
Here’s what I put in my water tanks. Approximately 1 oz for every 20 gallons helps keep the water smelling fresh.
I looked that up. According to their SDS it is 0.2% to 0.4% sodium hypochlorite by volume. The last time I looked your basic Chlorox household bleach is 5.25% sodium hypochlorite by volume. (Yes, I actually have that memorized, having been in the fountain business at one time.) Why they don’t know the actual percentage of the main ingredient in their product is hard to understand.
Taking the average of 0.3%, that would make this Camco product the same as a 17.5 to 1 dilution of household bleach. So if you were to dilute some Chlorox 17.5 to 1 with water you would pretty much duplicate this product.
Another way to think about it: one ounce treats 20 gallons. So one teaspoon (1/6 ounce) treats 3.33 gallons. At 17.5 times the strength, one teaspoon of Chlorox would treat 58.33 gallons of water. If I feel like my water is getting icky I may give that a try.
I’m not doing this to embarrass Jim! It’s actually good information. I’m sure a great many convenience products could be purchased cheaper if we knew the ingredients and/or mix ratios of ingredients. This one just looks particularly easy to replicate.