Off The Charts In Guyana - Water Collections And Conservation

11-13-16

Confession time.  We are not the best at water conservation.  We are not bad.  And I would challenge any dirt dwellers in a heartbeat, but in comparison to other cruisers, I would say we are average in terms of our water useage.  I’ve mentioned before that the Caliber 40 LRC has tankage.  Hello…..LRC = Long Range Cruiser!  And that is one of the reasons we picked this boat.  Additionally, we have a small, older (aka energy sucking) watermaker that does a great job at keep our tanks topped off.  And more importantly, keeps us from schlepping water from shore.    

Rain gutter in place and ready for rain

Being in Guyana up the river 45 miles from sea means fresh water.  However, not that fresh.  As I have said previously, it is very muddy.  VERY!  Additionally, there is the worry about mercury in the water from the mining industry.  Despite legislation, accords and pledges, change is coming slowly and thus mercury is still used in small to medium scale gold mining.  Finally, there are the normal water quality concerns of run off and local human use. 

Trying another location for bimini funnel collection

For the above reasons, we have not been running the watermaker and instead trying to use our tank water very conservatively.  We have also been trying our hand at various water collection methods.  Cruisers who were here previously said it would rain every day even though it was the dry season when we first arrived.  It did not rain every day.  We started to worry.  However, we did get some really good downpours – frog stranglers as my mother call those type of heavy rains. 

Rain catching methods we are testing –

• Gutter off the bimini –

Rain gutter

Screen to filter out big nasties

Hose connection ready

In place and ready to go

Hose drains directly into the deck fill

• Funnel off the bimini -

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain

Another view of the funnel method

Open deck fitting damming -

I have no idea why this pic is double but enjoy

The three methods all worked to varying degrees.  Sometimes it depended on the velocity of rain and whether or not there was wind driving the rain.  Regardless, they worked well enough that we didn't have to stress about water.  We did sharpen our water conservation skills so that was a good thing.  Additionally, we have a new water collection design shaping up as part of our replacement for the sun/rain shade.  But that is a project for next hurricane season.