When we take on water we just stick the hose into the tank. No sense in filtering it as we use the entire boat as a rain catcher and that makes it impossible to keep the tanks clean. Since we're traveling a lot the boat churns up the water and doesn't leave junk in the bottom.

What we do in a situations of unknown water quality is to add a bit of bleach to the tanks. 1/4 cup for 150 gallons.

All drinking water is filtered through a standard size plastic filter ( like Culligan ) that goes to a dedicated spigot in the galley. The main part of the system is a $14.00 filter made by a company called Matrikx. They have a charcoal sub micron ( .2 ) filter that cleans out 99.95 % of the impurities along with the bleach smell or taste ( CERAMIKX Ceramic Water filter Standard Size OBE Cartridge 20-250-190-975 from KX Industries ). It works as well as one of those Seagull systems that cost $500.00. We've been using this system now for 9 years with no problems at a cost of a new filter every 4 months. That's $4.00 a month for pure water anywhere we go.

We're try to use the Kiss system whenever possible. It keeps the boat simple without needing to sacrifice any creature comforts.

Here's the info on the filter.