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What is the issue?
Pressurised water systems load up fresh water pipes. If a joint or pipe should fail and it were to happen when the crew were engaged in a distracting activity, or the engine is running masking the water pumps noise, the vessel’s entire fresh water tank could be pumped out without the crew noticing.
Why address this?
Fresh water is the most critical resource upon a yacht and every drop needs to be completely assured. Loosing the main water tank in a long passage would lead to an unscheduled stop or develop into a highly dangerous situation.
How to address this?
Implement a parallel manual foot pump system. Whilst on passage or in areas where water resources are difficult to acquire, turn the automated pressurised system off as a policy. A manual foot pump may be inserted very simply, typically in the galley, as presented in figure 1.
This is a simple low cost technique that will not place water resources at any risk. It also eliminates any resources required from the vessels battery.
Contributor:
Michael Harpur, Yacht Obsession.
