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Size of water tank?


IanR

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Hi folks, more questions!!!

We intend to use our boat for living though we will keep our house and its washing machine etc. There are two of us and a dawg and we are already pretty frugal when it comes to water wastage etc (not in the slightest bit stinky though you understand) The idea is there'll be a shower and two sinks on board, plus a loo of some sort (composting or cassette) Question is, what size tanks do you have in terms of fresh water and calorifier? There was a new plastic tank in the hold of our boat when we bought it, about 360 litres. This seems far too big for our needs as we wouldn't want water to sit around for too long. I was thinking of a tank of about 180 litres or so, with a 70 litre ish calorifier. Next question, this plastic tank, is it feasible to cut it down and fit a new end. I would take it to a tank manufacturer and no doubt pay over the odds for the work, but at least the tank wouldn't be wasted! Some folks prefer stainless tanks, but the water tanks in houses are mostly plastic so are there any fores and againsts!!??

Thanks again fine people, Ian.

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I'd not be keen to have a 180 litre water tank as I think finding a water point would be a major factor in your navigation. My 57' Narrowboat with 2 sinks, a shower so similar to you has a 450 litre (100 gallon) fw tank. I find it pretty much ideal because I always have sufficient capacity to top up when convenient rather than ever be looking for water.

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We live aboard with similar requirements. Our tank is about 350 litres or so, and I wouldn't want much less. 
We have had various types of water tanks, the current one being stainless. They all have their advantages/disadvantages.

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Thanks for the quick responses folks! Brian, what size calorifier would you imagine for two? Heating it will be a Rayburn Royal in one coil and the propulsion Ruston in tuther coil.

Concensus seems to be pointing at needing a bit more than 180 litres! This 180 was arrived at through me cutting the tank we have down to fit in some of the space I'd allocated for water. The tank the boat came with is an underbed flat tank which we didn't want. Our plan is to have an upright tank from near base plate to gunwale so we might go back to that idea and bin the idea of recycling the unwanted tank we already have!

Ian.

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Well ours is much smaller I think 55lt,  you will be constantly reheating it if you use a rayburn. We shower every morning when we get up before the engine runs, so we are using water tha was heated at about 3pm the day before. We also do the washing up in the evening etc

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Hmm. How do I get toilets into this topic?? Ah, here goes: The smaller your toilet capacity, the smaller your freshwater tank can be. If you are having to empty a cassette every 10 mins then you can refill your FW tank at the same time (usually) so you only need 10 mins FW capacity. I on the other hand have to suffer the hardship (tee hee!) of a pumpout at rare intervals so I need a larger FW tank. How does that sound?

I have 800L FW (under the bed) & 280L PO & 55L Cal but mostly (at present) use the Morco instant water heater.

Edited by system 4-50
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My fresh water tank is 800 litres which means we can last about a week before looking to refill which can be beneficial.  The advantage of a small calorifier is fast heat up, the disadvantage is running out of hot water and as our calorifier never gets above about 75 it does not need a lot of water using before it will not stay hot overnight.  

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If you live on a boat then a house is simply a liability. Rent it out.

If you need a washing machine (and they are almost essential) then get a washing machine on the boat. If you are going back to a house everytime you need to wash clothes then you are not really living on the boat.

For water tanks on a liveaboard boat the simple answer is the bigger the better. However, much more than about 1000 litres can become troublesome if not done correctly as a full tank will upset the trim of the boat too much, so I suggest 800-1200 litres is about right (water does not go stale, stop worrying about that). A big calorifier is also good. Storage for three gas bottles and a big battery bank are good. A big poo tank is also good, cassettes are very small. Are you getting the idea?  If you want to live off grid then big is good.   A big engine is good too, and a big diesel tank.

............Dave

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Dave is bang on, we have 800ltr of FW which lasts at least a week , don't worry about water sitting around, look how long it's in reservoirs 

Get your washing machine in board ( we have a tumble dryer too) we've always said we may live in a boat but we  ain't camping. 

Phil 

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What everyone has said. Big is good. You never know when you might need that capacity. A cold snap can freeze up every water point for weeks on end. The most unusual one I've experienced was when Anglian water accidentally dumped some nasty chemical in to their supply some years ago. BW as was then, put warnings on all the affected water points saying not to use it for drinking  and it took a couple of days cruising to get out of the affected area before refilling. Home owners had bottled water delivered, but we didn't.

In winter I keep an eye on the forecast and make sure the boat goes in to a freeze with the tank full.

Jen

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We have 450 Ltrs. Can't imagine anything smaller. It would be a real pain having to fill up every one or two days, summer or winter.

Dont try and weld a plastic tank. The weld is a weak point and will likely fail. Tanks that are welded have been designed for that but yours will have unknown stresses after welding which could cause stress cracking. I'd never buy a welded plastic tank anyway.

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15 hours ago, IanR said:

Hi folks, more questions!!!

We intend to use our boat for living though we will keep our house and its washing machine etc. There are two of us and a dawg and we are already pretty frugal when it comes to water wastage etc (not in the slightest bit stinky though you understand) The idea is there'll be a shower and two sinks on board, plus a loo of some sort (composting or cassette) Question is, what size tanks do you have in terms of fresh water and calorifier? There was a new plastic tank in the hold of our boat when we bought it, about 360 litres. This seems far too big for our needs as we wouldn't want water to sit around for too long. I was thinking of a tank of about 180 litres or so, with a 70 litre ish calorifier. Next question, this plastic tank, is it feasible to cut it down and fit a new end. I would take it to a tank manufacturer and no doubt pay over the odds for the work, but at least the tank wouldn't be wasted! Some folks prefer stainless tanks, but the water tanks in houses are mostly plastic so are there any fores and againsts!!??

Thanks again fine people, Ian.

If you allow 15 litres for a sink full of water, your 180 litres won't last long-even without considering the shower. Running out of water will make your calorifier a pain to live with, both needing to isolate it before travelling to a water point and not getting the benefit of a hot shower on arrival. If you're worried about stale water, perhaps design in a quick means of discharging the contents when you're not likely to be on board for a while. 

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My boat has a 250 litre fresh water tank.

We don't live aboard . However we do spend holidays aboard up to two weeks at a time and would say the tank capacity could be sufficient for  the equivalent of a long weekend of 3 to 4 days.

However, in practice, we may top up more frequently - whenever a tap is easily available. 

We use 5 litre containers for day to day drinking water . 

1 minute ago, BWM said:

 Running out of water will make your calorifier a pain to live with... needing to isolate it before travelling to a water point 

why would it be  necessary to isolate  the calorifier?

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10 minutes ago, MartynG said:

My boat has a 250 litre fresh water tank.

We don't live aboard . However we do spend holidays aboard up to two weeks at a time and would say the tank capacity could be sufficient for  the equivalent of a long weekend of 3 to 4 days.

However, in practice, we may top up more frequently - whenever a tap is easily available. 

We use 5 litre containers for day to day drinking water . 

why would it be  necessary to isolate  the calorifier?

Heating an empty one would be a mistake. 

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I perhaps should have mentioned that we are keeping the house as it is next to (but sadly not alongside) the canal, about a minutes walk away. We both need the workshops we have there and one of us at least will be working from there every day. Like I said a bit up, the 180 litres is what I could cut the existing tank down to and get it to fit in the footprint I'd allocated in our plans, but it looks like I'll have to go back to those original plans and get a tank made that has the same footprint as the cut down tank, but could be nearly three times taller, making I guess 500 litres or so. Space is an issue for us, so the plan is to 'try' and work out what we need as opposed to taking up space with massive tanks and stuff that we might never get full value of. Gas bottles and locker gives us the same issues, space for a deep locker isn't available so we are limited to smaller bottles, but apart from the comparative costs, if you have two and a manual switch over then surely a small bottle will never be an issue??

Anyone recommend a tank maker? There's a local one here in Stoke but its always nice to hear recommendations.

Cheers, Ian.

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24 minutes ago, BWM said:

  Running out of water will make your calorifier a pain to live with, both needing to isolate it before travelling to a water point and not getting the benefit of a hot shower on arrival.  

No need to isolate it, it would still be full of water.

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Go for the biggest tank you can. Having to ration water makes it like living in a tent. Our lumpy water boat had a 200lt tank and it meant having very short sub showers. If you are cruising in the summer, you dont want to have to go and get a refill every couple of days. In the winter, you dont want to have to refill every couple of days if the water tap gets frozen. Having 3 to 4 days supply (thats 450lts for us) is a minimum. I would prefer double the size. I have never found the water going stale is a problem as it is turned over every 3 to 4 days - and if we are leaving the boat for any time then you run it down before you leave. Maybe if you were worried you could fit another fitting on the bottom to rapidly drain the tank without having to use the water pump. As someone said above, anyone looking to buy a boat will be wanting a decent size water tank.

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13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

No need to isolate it, it would still be full of water.

I didn't know that, I haven't had a calorifier for some time but used to isolate ours if out of water, perhaps unnecessarily?

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22 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

Our lumpy water boat had a 200lt tank and it meant having very short sub showers.

Geez Dr Barb, I thought you would just jump into the Med for a wash. Not suggesting you jump into the Grand Union though unless you have a giant rubber duck to cling to.

Edited by rusty69
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I have no idea what a Litre? is perhaps its some foreign measurement? We live aboard and less than 100 GALLONS will be a pain in the backside if you move the  boat about, bigger if at all possible. You say you intend to " Live " aboard but will have the washing machine in your house? does that mean you intend humping washing back there like using a launderette?  Are you going to cruise around or live alongside somewhere permanently as these require different living tactics. A big cauliflower is a bonus.

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