Water water everywhere
Yet not a drop to drink
Fresh water can fall from the sky and collected in our tanks via water catchment systems; be lugged out to our boats via our dinghies from a source on shore: streams or waterfalls or discovered wells and/or springs, or even that marvelous hose. When we are docked in a marina with water right at the tap or staying ashore like the shore dwellers (a.k.a. "landlubbers") we tend to take the water for granted.When heading back out on a cruise, how do we monitor our usage? Some people use a 5 gallon "day tank" to help keep things in perspective. Others have sight tubes on their water tanks with markings equating to certain gallons in the tank. Foot and hand pumps help, rather than automatic/electric pump systems. No matter what our strategy, it is very helpful to have some system in place to monitor our water consumption, especially on a long ocean passage.
Here's an idea that I ran across in Cutting the Dragon's Tail by Lynda and David Chidell. They built a large junk-rigged yacht for charter work. The question of how to monitor water consumption in a way that guests would understand directly was worked out while installing the pumping. They used a gravity tank to create the pressure needed for all the water needs aboard the boat. This involved using a large day tank. The water was pumped into the day tank via a high capacity (think bilge-type) hand pump. A mark was made upon a chart indicating how many pumps were needed each day to keep the tank topped off. A guest who was using lots of water, could be shown how many more pumps were needed each day since they stepped aboard. The Chidells remark that this system was quite effective.
No matter how you monitor your fresh water, may you find yourself thankful for this gift.
May your use of fresh water remind you of your blessedness.
Blessed Be
Joel
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