All of the water you use will come from a holding tank which is normally located under the front deck of the boat. Capacity varies, anything between 80 and 200 gallons is common, and there are good reasons for keeping this tank topped up. I suggest you top up at least every day.

1) Water is heavy (around 10 lbs. per gallon) and it's weight is often taken into account when the builder decides where and how much ballast to use. As the weight at the front of the boat decreases it has the effect of making the back of the boat sit lower in the water and on shallow waterways like the Llangollen this may make a difference.

2) Running out of water is not much fun, it always happens when you are nowhere near a water point.

3) The water system is pressurised by an electric pump, if you run out this pump will keep trying to pressurise the system and as it is not designed for continuous use it may overheat and / or drain the batteries.

4) By regularly topping up you keep the water supply fresher and stale water makes horrible tea !

Where to fill up

There are numerous free water points along the entire network, though noticeably more on canals than rivers. Boatyards also have reliable supplies, but be aware that they will almost certainly be on a water meter and it is polite to offer payment. The least you can do is visit the shop to top up the milk, bread and bacon supplies.

How it works

The water is fed from the bottom of the tank through a filter to one, or more commonly two pumps. These pump the water at pressure to a sort of spring loaded holding tank, often called an accumulator. Within this tank is a pressure switch, when the water pressure is at it's working level the pump(s) switch off. When you open a tap the water comes from the accumulator tank, the pressure within it drops and this switches on the pumps. When you close the tap the pump(s) run for a few seconds more to restore pressure to the accumulator. Sometimes pressure slowly drops through the night, and the pump(s) will run for a few seconds, for this reason there is often a switch to turn them off at night. Drinking water is now fed via an additional filter and purifier to a nominated tap (normally in the kitchen).