When we started the refit on Selkie, we decided to remove a 15 gallon diesel tank in order to store more fresh water. We figured we would be water limited more than anything else in planning our time away from civilization. As it turns out, we’ve yet to come close to running out of fresh water and we’ve been staying out for 4-6 weeks at a time.

We carry 40 gallons of fresh water that we deem “potable in a pinch,” that is to say it’s drinkable, but it might not taste great. In addition, we have 12 gallons of purified water in brand new jerry jugs that we use for human imbibement. This has been more than sufficient for two people and a dog that hike  many, many miles through the desert.

We are extremely, hmm, conservative shall we say, with the water we use for showering, and we have a salt water pump that takes care of 99% of the dish water needs. Wylie is probably the biggest consumer, but even he supplements with a fair amount of seawater guzzling whenever he can, much to all of our chagrin a few hours later.  (Believe us, you don’t want more details.)

The lessons learned are that we’ve gotten by just fine with limited tankage and no watermaker. Oh, and also that Katie and I are probably, on any average day, massively dehydrated and near the verge of complete cellular death according to the FDA.  Perhaps the daily tequila and coffee rations are keeping us just wet enough to stay alive.

%d bloggers like this: