Winter Water Fill Up

--Blogpost written by Bob

We carry 104 gallons of fresh water onboard s/v Rainy Days.  During the winter while living aboard in our marina in Baltimore our three tanks together will last us about 2-1/2 to 3 weeks.  Our onboard fresh water tanks are located within our living area (under settees and under the v-berth) and protected from freezing because our living area is kept warm.

Each water tank has its own deck fill connection.  The deck fill connection for
the forward tank and the starboard tank are on the starboard foredeck
while the port tank's deck fill on the the port foredeck.

During the winter (late-November to mid-March) the normal dockside water lines are shutdown and blown free of pockets of water so the dock plumbing is not damaged by freezing.  Our marina maintains one heat-traced water line with a faucet at the shore-end of each pier where fresh water is available throughout the winter. 

The winter water supply line for each pier is heat traced (to keep its
temperature above freezing) and the faucet is cracked open
slightly so that there is always some small amount
of water flow to keep it form freezing.

  

A liveaboard is either: 

(1) someone who resides on a boat, typically on a small yacht in a marina, 

(2) a boat designed for people to live aboard it, or 

(3) a dive boat where divers live aboard the dive boat during their diving excursion.

Liveaboards (as in definition #1 above) use the marina's long hoses to reach their boat from the shore-end water supply faucet.  The approximately 300-feet long hoses are kept on large reels mounted on carts.  To reach some liveaboard boats at the far end of the pier, two hose carts are sometimes needed.  Filling up your tanks takes a couple hours because you have to get the carts from their storage area, roll them onto the pier, and pull enough hose (possibly hundreds of feet) out to reach your boat.  Then the hose has to be reeled up again and the hose carts returned to their storage area.  Because so much time is involved in getting out and returning the hoses, filling multiple boats at the same time is an advantage.

Each hose cart contains several hoses connected in
series for a total length of about 300 feet.

Filling water tanks is generally done on a weekend in the middle of a day, unless a winter storm is approaching and requires an early fill up. 

Miami Boat Show Up Next

On Wednesday morning I leave for Miami to attend the Miami International Boat Show held February 11 thru 15.  I'm looking forward to sunny weather in the high 70's and low 80's!

This is a site map for the Miami International Boat Show in Miami Marine Stadium Park Basin.
Strictly Sail Miami is held at a different location, Miamarina at Bayside Marketplace.

I have a list of things I will be looking to buy at the Miami show but it is subject to change.


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