We don’t worry much about our fresh water supply when we sail the Great Lakes. While cruising Lake Superior, we regularly took our drinking water right from the Lake while we were underway in open waters. But cruising salty seas, our fresh water supply is as important as food provisions.

During our winters in Florida, unless our vessel is at a dock, we’re transporting our fresh water via a 6-gallon water jug from the water source on shore. Thyme Hyssop & Wry, our GulfStar 36, carries 80 gallons of fresh water in two 40-gallon tanks; our trawler carries a total of 200 gallons! Six gallons of water is a heavy lift to hoist from dinghy to deck and a 100-gallon tank is many trips to shore!

When we leave the boatyard, our water tanks are filled. In previous years, we’ve spent a night or two at a dock and have taken the opportunity to fill water tanks before heading back out. But this winter we have spent the entire 3 months on a mooring ball at Fort Myers Beach. We took the opportunity to fill our water tanks while taking on fuel in late January, but since then have needed to put on additional fresh water. It wasn’t until I was trying to find a better way to pour from jug to deck fitting (so as to not lose so much precious fresh water) that our good friend offered us his siphon hose to test out. It’s what he’s been using for years:

So simple! We ordered our own siphon hose that very day. With me on deck with the hoisting line and Ron with the full jug on our swim platform, and then using our siphon hose, getting fresh water here in salty seas has become less of a chore. —jes