When we bought SVRO it had one stainless steel water tank with about 100 gallons capacity. Unfortunately, it leaked. Before we moved onto the boat full-time we took the leaky tank out and ordered two poly roto-molded tanks from Ronco. Time ran short and we never fully installed the water tanks. Then a few winters ago we had a bunch of power outages at the marina. Since they’re on well water, the pump requires electricity run, which meant when the power went out we had no water. Our solution was to temporarily install one of the tanks and the pressure pump.
The Water Tanks
Four years later, we finally got around to permanently installing the water tanks. Since the bilge slopes aft, both tanks tilt backward slightly so Rich built two small, wooden platforms for the tanks to sit on so they’ll be almost level. The platforms are epoxied to the bottom of the bilge and still allow water to flow underneath.
Valves
We have one deck fill for the tanks, so we installed a two-way diverter valve under the port settee. This allows us to switch between the tanks when we fill them. There are also shut-off valves on each water line to the sinks. This way we can empty one tank at a time or if one gets contaminated we can valve it closed.
We still need to figure out a way to strap the tanks in place to make sure they don’t shift aft or pop out of the bilge if we get knocked down or turtle the boat (knock on wood that never happens).