A bad taste in the mouth?

[Spacewaist]

Watermakers - do I need one?

Having had one on my last boat (100 lph Aquafresh), I probably used it in earnest to make about only 1000 litres of water. The rest of the 8 years I had it it tended to be laid up, recommissioned, run for a test to keep it in commission or laid up again. We got most of our water from the quayside in Europe and the Caribbean.

Now we are considering venturing further afield into the Pacific in a different boat I an reconsidering their utility - should I spend the £5-7,000 that it would cost to install and do I want to maintain it? ((We have a 6kV genset).

We carry about 700ltrs (155 Imperial gals - 250 US gals) in a single tank and that will get us through any ocean passage - it's really the avaiability and accessiblity of water when we reach land that is of concern.


Never really looked at the Pacific. Is the water drinkable/available or should we cough up and maintain our own supply - any views? (I know I could look it up in a book but asking the audience might be quicker).

 

[stevesales]

For what it's worth (and I have one installed) I think they're a complete waste of time. Always going wrong or being cossetted (?sp), very noisy + energy hungry.
Maybe the small emergency hand operated gadgets are OK in a disaster (but I would like to see figures for the water loss from sweat while operating it vs water produced).
Just think of the wine cellar you could have on board for 5K - it might make a good subsequent post but some good wines can survive on board - and for that money you could just stock champagne - 500 magnums (a bottle is too small for one) if you bought from a producer, OK you might have to jettison the odd crew member to make room but life can be tough.
Wherever there are people there is, obviously, water although probably of dubious quality so perhaps spend money on filtration/sterilization equipment instead.

 

[roly_voya]

Tend to agree the cost dosnt seam worth it my solution is to set up a means of collecting and filtering rainwater and on the rare occations that dosnt work a stack of jeerry cans. Watermakers seam to primarily go on boats that use large amounts of water for showers etc.

 

[rallyveteran]

Whether a watermaker is value for money depends largely on your budget. If it is the only £5,000 you have to spend, it isn't essential, but if you have £5,000 'spare' a watermaker makes a big difference to your quality of life. The best way to convey this is to tell the story of the time we were in the Marquesas, greeting yacts as they arrived after 3 weeks crossing the Pacific. The crew on the boats with watermakers arrived looking fresh and relaxed. Conversely, I will never forget the look on the faces of one crew (with an inadequate 12V watermaker) who arrived not having had a decent wash for three weeks and who had clearly been fantasising about the plentiful supplies of water that would await them, only to be told that the island water supply was contaminated and could not be put in their tanks. Fortunately a large yacht offered to make them some and that evening I saw a hose slung between their yachts pumping vital nectar on board.
I had engine driven Seafresh on board which only let me down once in five years.

Rallyveteran

 

[stevesales]

But how many hours would you have to run your engine to produce enough water for a shower for each crew member ?
12V watermakers with any decent output take more watts than solar panels and windgen can produce.
We use our tank water (with a generous dollop of bleach) for washing and rinsing the washing up if it needs it after being done in sea water and drink bottled water (but only when out of champagne).
No fresh water (unless contaminated with heavy metals) is incapable of conversion to good drinking water by fairly simple means - how many kidneys has London tap water been through?
It seems an ecological crime to wash one's bum in near distilled water produced inefficiently by burning large amounts of diseasel.

 

[rallyveteran]

My seafresh engine driven made over 60 litres an hour. On an Ocean crossing with 4 crew an hour a day of watermaking was more than enough to enable us to complete the passage with full tanks having showers every other day. We had to run the engine more than this to charge the batteries so whilst there is some extra diesel used for the watermaker, the amount was minimal.

Rallyveteran

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
12V watermakers with any decent output take more watts than solar panels and windgen can produce.

[/ QUOTE ]My Spectra produces 30 litres per hour at 10A and 60 litres per hour at 20A in sea temperatures of around 15C. My solar panels provide around 20A maximum so in the Med around noon, I would be making 60 litres per hour from the solar alone. When we are unrestricted in the marina, our total usage for the two of us, including clothes washing, showers, etc., is about 140 litres per day. So a couple of hours watermaker usage should suffice. When there is insufficient solar, we have a 6kVA genset and we will run that for a couple of hours a day for other charging, hot water, etc.

 

[stevesales]

All I can say is that things have advanced impressively in the last 5 years.
Please give me the URL for this miracle machine.
I still vote for champagne.

 

[davidbains]

140litres is a huge amount for two people for one day. While sailing long distance daily showers have to stop!!

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
140litres is a huge amount for two people for one day. While sailing long distance daily showers have to stop!!

[/ QUOTE ]It's vastly less than the average consumption of two people in a house - we live aboard and we don't feel inclined to rough it without good cause. If you have a watermaker there is no need to do without the comfort of water and, as I have explained, ample fresh water can readily be provided by solar power.

 

[macdonaldsatsea]

try www.schenker-watermakers.co.uk

 

[macdonaldsatsea]

You have to assess your own situation.
1. Are you crossing an ocean or cruising in an area with dubious water? If the answer to these is no then you dont need a watermaker.
In the Bahamas last year I was paying 50cents US for a US gallon of water. Much of the caribbean is the same. It doesnt take to long to start to see a return on your investment.
The most important thing with a watermaker is to make sure it is properly installed at the start and that you get full back up from the supplier. Make sure that you buy from a supplier giving full installation back up and after sales service.

The new generation machines seem to be more user friendly. With a small 5ltr per hour model drawing 4 amps our family of four were able to have 5 or 5 showers each on a 24 day Atlantic crossing.It just made fo a more comfortable passage. Newer machines produce much more and dont draw that much more power. If we had a 30ltr/hour unit we could have run it an hour a day when charging the batteries with the engine and had a shower every day.

 

[ccscott49]

Toally agree, we are not water hungry aboard, but we do use a fair amount whilst in port, without wasting it, try to conserve as much as possible. At anchor we also charge batteries, two hour a day, sometimes every other day, we make water then, two hours 6-7 gallons, plenty enough for two showerws every other day and everything else. I have just bought 2 75 watt solar panels, for 150 watts 24volts, so I will be qable to reduce my diesel consumption, tryiong to buy a wind genny aswell, time Englander got greener! Solar showers already in use!

 

[MedMan]

[ QUOTE ]
140litres is a huge amount for two people for one day. While sailing long distance daily showers have to stop!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I too was flabergasted by this figure. Our pressurised water comes from a 160 litre tank which lasts us from 7 to 10 days.

For those who haven't discovered it yet, Dove Shower Cream lathers in salt water. That single piece of knowledge can dramtically cut one's need for fresh water.

 

[Anonymous]

If you re-read my message you will see that I said this was our usage INCLUDING clothes washing, given UNLIMITED marina water. That is the 'baseline' - i.e. all the comforts of home (which our boat is). Naturally we economise when not in a marina but with a watermaker giving 60l per hour we don't have to economise at all if we don't want to. Without a watermaker you don't have that choice - or at least, not the same degree of freedom. I met a Dutch couple in Caen a few weeks ago who were proud to use only 7 or 8 litres a day between them. Each to his own, but it isn't the way we like to live.

 

[AndrewB]

So many large yachts have over-capacity water-makers, I'm relying on being able to buy water or trade for diesel from one of them if caught out in those areas where water is scarce. Seems stupid for everyone to carry one.

 

[ccscott49]

I use dove, but didnt know that!!! That's going to save me a bunch of water!! Quick rinse in fresh!! Wonderful!

 

[fireball]

So in a sheltered anchorage, jump over the back with your dove soap, then when done, climb aboard and use the stern shower to rinse off ... excellent - I'll ahve to get some! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sea Devil]

I had a water maker on board from Trinidad all the way through the Pacific Indian Ocean back to Europe and I would not buy one again unless I owned a 'super yacht'.

There is no where in the world that you cannot get water.

The Pacific has water everywhere and it is excellent quality - only down side is maybe you have to 'jug' it back to the boat.
On very long passages you are going to set off with enough water on board for the entire passage in case the water maker breaks down!
Local sailing it is always possible to get water.
The cost in fuel for generators is much higher than the pennies you have to pay for water sometimes and the capital costs of the water maker are high.
You would need a lot of solar panels to generate enough power for 2 people to have FW showers each day or need to run the diesel genny frequently -

 

[jeremyshaw]

We have a Sea Recovery unit that knocks out a crazy 50 gallons an hour (AC of course). We get through 25 gallons of water a day because we can. It's lovely in the Caribbean to be able to shower twice a day without a thought. Maintenance is not a big issue, in fact the more regularly they are used the less problems you are likely to have. As so often, there's no right or wrong, it comes down to how much difference plentiful fresh water will make to you. Given you have a genset already, then I'd go for an AC version if you decide to put one in.