Sailing Jibseavideo
Tackling Mysterious Substance discovered in our Water System while Off the Grid - Ep 273
31 May 2026 · 30 min · 14K views
Panoramic Isle of Skye sunset from rocky cliff
What this video covers
Flaky white particles appearing in drinking water aboard a cruising sailboat prompt a full water-system flush while anchored off the Isle of Rona, Scotland, with no marina access.▶ 9:29 Steph and Travis first noticed the contamination — described as dandruff-like flakes and "boogers" — about a week before departing Liverpool, where the boat had sat on dock water for five months.▶ 9:42 The suspected causes are hard-water lime-scale deposits or a bacterial biofilm growing in the tanks, pipes, or carbon filter.▶ 11:02 Working from anchor with only their watermaker (roughly two hours per tank of run time on the generator), they scrub one tank, drain and flush both tanks, blow residual water out of all lines by running the pump against an empty tank with faucets open, and replace the carbon filter.▶ 11:34 After flushing, water in a glass tests visually clear and tastes clean, suggesting the contamination had built up in the old filter and was flaking through.▶ 20:48 If the problem returns within days, the plan is a 24-hour bleach soak followed by a pressurized hose flush at the next dock, plus adding a 1-micron inline filter at the sink.▶ 23:37 The episode also covers a wintertime project: enclosing the windlass solenoid and bilge-pump bus bar in watertight junction boxes to reduce stray-current risk in damp areas.▶ 1:08
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