Sounds like a water maker is in order. Can't make any recommendations as I have no experience with them but I'll bet @ttmott and others could advise.

 

Just curious…..what do you use the water for? I got rid of my 70 gallon tank and installed a 35 gallon tank and the water still starts to smell after 3 weeks.

I use the pink antifreeze for the head in the winter and bottled water for everything else.

Our Marina has a really nice shower ….so no water needed for bathing.

 

If your water starts to smell after 3 weeks you've either got some nasty dockside water or your system needs a good cleaning!

 

Google Halizone.

 

Go get one of those big jugs of water from the grocery store. Pour it into your freshwater tank. Take it home and refill it will tap water. Rinse and repeat until your tank is full or your arms give out.

or go to your local fuel dock and ask for the water hose while you’re refueling.

 

I see a handful of the popular sailors online use the brand linked below. I've seen them at boat shows as well. Not cheap...

https://www.rainmandesal.com/12vdc-watermaker/

 

So the title of your thread is "Using river water" - the only way to use "river" or salt/brackish water in your water tank is by using a desalination system to fill your tank over time. The issue there is, they are expensive and maintenance intensive. They are meant for extended cruise type of boats, mainly ocean crossing types.

The thing to be very leary of is brackish water. That is the dirtiest of water and the highest level of bacteria in most cases.

You could setup an external pump to get the water and then process it with an RO system. But even that would be a few boat bucks too many I would think.

Not sure how many nights in a row your wanting to stay on the boat, but if just for the weekend, I might fore go a shower for one day and leave your water tank for the ice maker. But that's just me.

 

Any chance your marina has a frost-free spigot within range? We run 200'+ of hose with tees down our dock for a few weeks after the water's turned off.

I've been on the Occoquan and that water's nasty!

 

When I first read the subject I thought the OP wanted to bathe in the river, and I thought "why not?"

I am one creek south on the Neabsco, it ain't pretty

 

There is no worse water than the raw water in a marina. The coliform bacteria count is high plus the heavy metals from years of bottom paints and who knows what else is dumped by the good boaters there. Where do you pump out? Fill with good water there. Watermaker systems are designed for clear ocean water so that isn't a good solution; they will get crapped up and ruined in short order.

 

We all know what the guy in the boat that never moves from his slip, but is there every weekend is dumping into the marina.

 

Sounds like you should fill up at home. Maybe invest in one of these water storage bladders.

Water Storage Bladder, Collapsible Water Bladder Tanks, Large-Capacity Water Storage Container, Portable Emergency Water Storage Tank, Soft Drought-Resistant Water Bag Water Tank (240L) https://a.co/d/06dDST7

 

Don't do it

Like others mentioned, it's not an easy process to do it right. Do it wrong - or "half way" - and no you have multiple systems that need a serious cleaning to make them right again.

Google for "gas caddy". They come in various capacity sizes and would make it very easy to bring water from home each time you go to the boat. Depending on how careful you are with your onboard water usage, you might find you are left with a net increase of your onboard amount.

Also, as noted above, is there ANY spigot that the marina can let you use? They must still have an active spigot somewhere, even if it's just inside a door.

 

I would buy 10 - 15 one gallon water jugs from the grocery store. When you go to the boat empty into your tank. Refill jugs at home for the next trip and repeat.

Take quick showers.

 

Oh yeah, there is nothing I mean nothing that I would go in my marina water for if I dropped something. last spring I dropped the gas cap from an outboard in the water. My slip neighbor jumped in, swam under and found it. He was nuts.
PS. I am at the top of the river. There is very little tidal currents flushing the crap out. Nasty water.
PSS. As JM said we have a lot of live aboards, whose boats never move, and the marina has no pump out facilities. Where you think their morning constitutional is going?

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. Think I got my answer. Don't put raw Marina water in your boat for any reason. Got it.

Thanks again.

Bill

 

If you can reach your dock with a car the easiest way is a cheap barrell filled with tap water home and a cheap electric waterpump .

 

We have a jetboat that I put in a 6 gallon hot water tank that heats off the engine cooling system. I used the wash down pump to fill and provide pressure. Work great but we go to remote areas so standing on swim platform to show is not a problem.

 

When I kept a boat in Deltaville, VA, which is well water that really stink's, a dockmate used to bring his own water to his boat, using a big tank in the back of his truck.

 

Not entirely serious, but in theory, if you MacGyver a filter onto your shower drain, you could recirculate the shower water and treat it with non-chlorine hot tub shock and throw a chlorine puck into the tank somehow (the puck eats whatever it touches so it has to float somehow). Unless someone is totally filthy, hot tub water lasts quite a while if it’s treated properly. I’d get the majority of the grime off at the marina or a gym shower and use the boat for touch-ups

 

The week after I graduated from College, my buddy and I took my little runabout on a cruise along the iconic Erie Canal. We slept in the boat and often had to walk from a municipal dock with portable gas cans to get gas. Gas docks were minimal and they frowned upon giving a mere 6 gallons to a couple kids.

One night we moored in Rochester NY, alongside a big cruiser. When we awakened I pulled down the stern canvas cover to walk over to the men's room in the marina. As I exited the boat, the cruiser next dock began emitting a foul smelling brown liquid from an above waterline port.

That was 51 years ago. Yeah, I don't swim in marinas.....LOL...