Come on folks... Let's be sensible. Using rain water or A/C condensing dribble, as engine coolant is nuts. The PH or rain water can be way skewed, usually to the acid side. What a great thing to pour into your engine! Either one can have dust, soot, or other airborne contaminants dissolved or suspended within. If you really can't afford distilled water at less than 1$/gal, just use tap water. Maybe I'm missing something, but I've noticed this tendency towards extreme frugality on this list, a kind of frugality that is borderline irrational. "penny-wise, pound-foolish" is the phrase that comes to mind. Are there really people who, while owning a large boat, are so strapped for cash that they can't afford a couple bucks once a year for engine coolant? Confused, Jim Bohn M/V Margaret Ann 1974 Trojan 44

james.m.bohn@boeing.com writes: >Are there >really people who, while owning a large boat, are so strapped for >cash that >they can't afford a couple bucks once a year for engine coolant? Jim, you just don't get it. Some of us whom you accuse of being over-frugal do what we do purely for enjoyment. We're having fun doing things not by the book but by our ingenuity, our ability to adapt whatever is available and make good - even if unconventional - use of our environment. It's not the pennies we save but the right to brag about what we have accomplished and to sport that look of 'the cat that swallowed the canary'. Sometimes these unconventionalisms become fully acceptable in later years. When I was young and beautiful and hanging in god's country 'Vancouver', I remember a guy telling anyone who'd listen: "I don't change the oil in my car - I use toilet paper". He even advertised it on the side of his van. He was of course booed and accused of being cheap and 'borderline irrational'. Well, today that type of filter is an industry standard and I wished I'd bought stock in the company way then.... George of Scaramouche1, stepping off his soapbox with a Cheshire Cat grin.... P.s: Rainwater in batteries is OK. The acids dissolved in rainwater are quite weak, mostly carbon dioxide based, and immediately displaced by the much stronger sulfuric acid in the battery. Trust me, I took four years of analytical chemistry in college. <smile>