Catching rain

[Steve Laume]

Has anyone come up with a good way to collect rain? I would want to put it in 5 gal containers and then dump into my tanks. Seems like it might be a sewing project.

[Jim Walsh]

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAING ... t-x-42X291

This is just an example, all the industrial supply houses sell them in numerous sizes. Might be the cheapest way to go or just an example to base your own design on.

[John Stone]

I have caught many hundreds of gallons. I'll post some pics. No later than tomorrow.

[John Stone]

I could not find the pictures I was looking for but posted a few below that kind of depict my rain catch system.

I have caught rain in three different awnings. I have a big awning that came with the boat. Maybe 15' long by about 10' wide with telescopic poles at each end. You know the kind of sun saw I am talking about. Made from sail cloth. It will catch an enormous amount of water. But I never sewed in the udders to connect to hoses. Also it's too big to have up in a squall so often accompanying rain.

The two awning I use the most are made from sunbrella. One is grey and I use it as a sun awning over the cockpit when sailing. It's about 6'x6'. I secure the front end to the gallows. You could secure the front to the aft end of your dodger. I secure the aft end to the back stay. I installed grommets around the edges to tie to the lifelines. I slope one side and tie it down to the deck running the line through a funnel. I run the water into a bucket then just as you suggest pour it into my baja filter and into the tanks via a hose. I caught about 50 gallons in a single down pour one time and I wasted a lot as I cobbled it together on the fly. What I like is I can manage it in a squall which I can't do with the big 10x10 sun awning.

Last year we sewed up a bigger awning from blue sunbrella. It's like the grey one and attaches the same way. But it's much bigger--maybe 10' long by 8' at the wide end and 7' at the narrow end. I estimate it will catch 2-3 times as much water as the grey one. But, we have not had a decent sustained rain to really give it a work out. With the blue awning I just lower the back end and tie it to the aft cockpit. The water runs down towards the back and into a Rubber-Made wash tub. I have two so I can keep collecting while I pour the full one. I pour the water into a collapsible five gallon jug then into the tanks via the Baja filter. My experience with it so far is good.

I have read the coating on sunbrella is not really good to drink from but it's what I use. Plus the coating wears off after awhile. I mention because I read that somewhere years ago.

I think connected to your hard dodger and then to the back-stay and secured to the top life line should give you a great spread. Then it's just a matter of sewing in udders at key spots and funneling it to a bucket. Figuring that part out is kinda fun though.

I have met people that collect it off the deck and I would never drink from the deck unless it was a survival situation. With raised bulwarks I can't collect off the deck even if I wanted to.

I have a plan for a way to catch rainwater off the mains'l when sailing but have not got to it yet. I'm still refining my system and always eager to hear what others are doing.

I have film of collecting rain which I will post to our YouTube channel soon. Just have not got that far chronologically yet.

[John Stone]

The Baja filter. I made it from PVC pipe. I purchased the 3 micron filtersfrom McMaster-Carr. I read about how to make it from an article in a practical sailor magazine.

https://www.practical-sailor.com/belowd ... ter-filter

I made some changes to make it work better for my needs.

[John Stone]

Another mod I think could work is to sew a flap along the outside edge of the awning on both sides. The flap would be about 3-4" wide. If the sides of the awning are angled down then the water would flow down under the edge of the flap which would then function like a gutter. The collected water runs down "gutter" flap to the end of the awning and runs off. An udder or funnel placed there would catch the water and divert it into a jug or a container. Set up as such you could collect rainwater while sleeping or ashore. Seems like it would be a simple mod to make.