Dock water shutoff

[Oldlaxer1]

As a liveaboard, we are almost always connect to dock water. Once again today I left the boat and forgot to turn off the water at the dock. Damn. I'm thinking of installing one of these "whole house" water flow shutoff valves. https://www.waterdamagedefense.com/c...ve-whole-house

Has anyone found a cheaper or more effective solution?

I also have to confirm my high water alarms work and connect them to my Piper online monitoring system. Does anyone have suggestions on where the best place to put the water sensor(s) on a 53 MY?
Thanks
John

[Pascal]

In 15 years living aboard i have never connected to dock water. Some people use water timers shere you set a number of gallons and it will shut off. Silly as you will run out of water in the middle of a shower... by using the tanks, the water and the tanks stay fresh

Ideally high water sensors should be placed in each ER, the gen room and the aft bilge. Thats were i placed mines

[kingsley_oasis]

Agree with Pascal. I live aboard using water from tanks. Turning them over has not given me a problem in 4 years. Run hose for five minutes to clear line of any nasty water, Fill usually every two weeks or so. No need to add any chlorine. Any leaks no problem when running off tanks as at worst I only have the same amount of water onboard . While the city has more than enough water to sink my boat.

[rustybucket]

I'm paranoid about dock water as well.... But I do connect to it regularly. We are weekend warriors at this point, so when we arrive to the boat I connect the quick connect fitting to the boat, turn on the water and the hot water heater. Before we leave I shut off the water heater and disconnect the quick connect fitting and just leave it laying in the cockpit and turn the hose off.

I'm paranoid about leaving the hose connected to the boat b/c someone else may inadvertently turn my hose on. If the fitting is disconnected I at least know even if the hose is turned on the boat cannot flood.

[Oldlaxer1]

In 15 years living aboard i have never connected to dock water. Some people use water timers shere you set a number of gallons and it will shut off. Silly as you will run out of water in the middle of a shower... by using the tanks, the water and the tanks stay fresh

Ideally high water sensors should be placed in each ER, the gen room and the aft bilge. Thats were i placed mines

The cheap versions only allow 13 gallons before shutting off and then resetting. Not nearly enough. This one works in two ways. It detects a broken pipe by the sudden large drop in water pressure and shuts off. It also detects water flow for more than a preset time limit (adjustable from 15 minutes up to 2 hours) and will shut off to stop a slow leak issue.
During the winter we'll be running off the tanks and perhaps I'll find that is the easiest and perhaps safer way to go. Running the water pump for all water is just another thing that can break (albeit not as dangerous as a flooded boat).
Thanks for the input!
John

[Oldlaxer1]

I'm paranoid about leaving the hose connected to the boat b/c someone else may inadvertently turn my hose on. If the fitting is disconnected I at least know even if the hose is turned on the boat cannot flood.

Great point.

[captainwjm]

[QUOTE=kingsley_oasis;334359]Agree with Pascal. I live aboard using water from tanks. Turning them over has not given me a problem in 4 years. Run hose for five minutes to clear line of any nasty water, Fill usually every two weeks or so. No need to add any chlorine. Any leaks no problem when running off tanks as at worst I only have the same amount of water onboard . While the city has more than enough water to sink my boat.[/QUOTE

I'm a liveaboard, too. Never hook to shore water.

[34Hatt]

Sometimes I hook to the dock but never worry about it because I added bilge pumps.

I have put a hose in the bilge and let it run full open and the pump cycles with a sort time to pump it out. If a line breaks it after the regulator and will be a lower pressure and flow. Never hurts to flush out the bilge

[GJH]

We lived aboard full time for years. Almost always connected to shore water. I tried to remember to turn it off when we left for some period of time, but never worried if I forgot because we maintained our plumbing system.
I mean really folks, do you also disconnect shore power when you leave? That's a much bigger danger and the prime cause of boat fires. When you leave your land-based house do you turn off the water there too? If not, why not?

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Water valve at pedestal is 1; Y splitter there is valve 2, and shutoff valve at QC onboard is no. 3. Three valves is good enough margin for me. And tanks can run dry during a shower. I guess it could also depend on how easy it is to stretch out the hose to fill the tank.