Water Softener for boat washing?

[MikeP]

This weekend at two different marinas I saw several boaters using water softeners like this one: http://www.stainlesswaterfilters.com/

to wash down their boats. Anyone have any experience with these? Do they actually help reduce the time it takes to clean and eliminate water spotting or are the claims just hype?

There were several different brands being used but they all pretty much look like the one on the website, above.

 

[Freestyle]

A friend bought one for me that I use here in Tampa where our water looks like rust most of the time. It does make the clear plastic curtains look cleaner and the water in the tank taste better. My problem is re-charging the filter all of the time (200 gallons) is a pain. So much of a pain that I get irritated when surrounding boats borrow my hose.

Since hanging out with other boaters is a great deal of the fun, I have generally let my water filter slip into disrepair rather than get anxious about something so easy as sharing a hose.

Bruce

 

[Orion 53MY]

I have the brand you refer to it is not spot free but it really does help. You recharge it with cheap salt pellets it last for about 2000 gallons and is very easy to recharge.
Orion 53MY

 

[Nonchalant1]

Mike,

I've got one ("Spotless" brand, same as picture) and it's just OK. It's definately not like rinsing with distilled water. It cost about $225, which is a lot for a prefilter, some PVC tube and the zealite. It's 2,000 gal to recharge and easy/cheap to do. I got it because my marina has bad water, but it doesn't get all the smell and all the iron out of the marina water for me, so I use it mostly for washdowns.

Doug

 

[MikeP]

Washdowns are the primary reason I am interested. I'm told that using them will remove the salt residue better than water straight out of the hose and that they supposedly eliminate (or mostly eliminate) water spotting. Do you see that to be true? Maybe I'm confusing the water softener with some other product?

 

[double eagle]

basically these units just dionize [sp] the water and make it reduce spots
we had one in our lake home for the well water...seemed to help
if you really want good watere and soft
use a watermaker ...jsut dont let the water stay in the tank
no chlorine in it, but it is soft
double eagle