Are Watermakers worth the pain?

[silver-fox]

When I first read about water makers my immediate reaction was "fantastic!" - must buy one - now I can be independent of marinas and ports for weeks on end and visit remote places without worrying about water.

Several hours of research later I am starting to go cold on the idea.

Tales about having to replace expensive mebranes at regular intervals, the need to run a generator or the engine for hours to gnerate the power required and the fact that entry level systems only produce 5-10 litres per hour and then need flushing with several litres fresh water is starting to make the whole thing look very expensive both in terms of initial capital costs and running costs.


Its all starting to go against the KISS principle.

Maybe the answer is more water tanks?

Can anybody who has used a watermaker on an extended cruise give me some real life advice?

 

[SVSirius]

It depends how complex your boat is and do you have the other systems to support. We have a 300 gal/day unit and have overall been happy. Therefore it makes 13 gal/hr at about 17 amps draw at 12v. Expensive no question to put in however the water independence is nice. We carry 140 gal US in 2 tanks. the water maker means no worries.

 

[roly_voya]

I asked the same question, then though 'how did people circumnavigate before watermakers?' - Answer, the collected rainwater. Simple KISS use either the boom/sail or collect from the deck or a tarp above the deck. There are few places which don't have rain in settled weather (ie nat mixed wth salt spray!) at least once per month. Caution suggest collecting in jerry cans or a seperate tank so you can check quality before transferring to main tank. In remote places rain or even river water is probably at least as good as that from a watermaker but its easy to purify if necsassary.

 

[desiderata]

We have been living aboard for 5 years. Our first buy was a water filter. They say you can drink the river water with it. Follow the link :=
http://www.generalecologyeurope.com/

We swear by ours

David Viner Web:- http://www.freewebs.com/davidnpat/

 

[TigaWave]

Trouble is, water makers can break down so for safety you still have to carry a full supply of water for drinking. The water maker allows you to have long showers or hose the deck off.

We could carry enough water in a 39' boat for 4 people for 2 months. With two, as we cruised most of the time we had loads of water. This was with standard tank and plastic bottles mainly in the bilges.

I didn't meet one person who saw their water maker as essential...

This boat which I was on for a while was designed to collect rain water...it had clear pipe from deck collectors with diverts so you could see when it was clean and taste it to see if all the salt had gone before diverting it straight into the tanks.
http://www.boats.com/content/default_detail.jsp?contentid=1012

 

[CodStewart]

I'm umming and ahhing about whether or not to add a watermaker, too. My boat can hold 200 gallons and has a lot of extra space for storage, so I might just save the money I would have spent on a watermaker, and try cruising without in the meantime, whilst getting used to always taking a few jerrycans with me each time we go ashore.

 

[r_h]

IMHO they don't belong on a boat that's cruised on a budget. They are added cost and complexity and maintenance. One of the advantages of your boat (compared to the craft of other budget cruisers) is that you have huge storage capacity - this allows you the much cheaper alternative of installing a second tank and/or carrying cans.

Providing you're reasonably conscious of consumption, you can live very comfortably on 1.5 gallons per day per person, so doubling your capacity would give 60 days' supply for four people. And, depending on where you are in the world, don't underestimate the value of collecting rain water - I know people for whom that is their primary fresh water source.

 

[CodStewart]

Thanks, R-H. I think I've convinced myself to avoid adding a watermaker. Keeping it simple should be the path to stick to.
Thanks again.

 

[jimbaerselman]

Watermaker usually means generator too, to top up the batteries.

At that stage, cost plus volume is about the same as squeezing in another 500 litre of tankage.

On 1,000 litres 'Rapaz' happily returned from Australia with no watermaker, alternating 2 and 4 aboard.

 

[davidbains]

Your water consumption is easily variable by allowing/banning showers. So lots of showers when not far from a tap, and rub downs when in conservation mode. We make 60gallons last nearly two weeks even with crew showering frugally. So without showers and using a salt water tap for dishwashing, a month should be possible. How often will you be at sea for that long? Maybe never!! Water is available, if sometimes at a modest price almost everywhere. Remember to use your spinny halliard to lift water containers on deck. Sending crew on water runs makes them more frugal. I can't believe a water maker is desirable unless crossing the Pacific, and even then it's not essential. KISS! The main disadvantage of all the water is it's effect on pefformance.

 

[sailinglegend420]

[ QUOTE ]
Water is available, if sometimes at a modest price almost everywhere.

[/ QUOTE ] What experiences do other people have of having to pay heavily for water? Is the quality always drinkable?

 

[KellysEye]

I think I'm in the minority but I'm a great fan of watermakers, they do give great freedom to stay 'in the wilds'. Also constantly rationing water becomes a serious pain particularly to her indoors.

We also have a deck catchment system and an awning catchment system but we only use the awnings occasionally when it is really pouring. The problem with catchment systems is that you basically need to clean the deck or awning before filling the tank - the slightest bird dropping or deck fungus will ruin your water.

Our last mebrane lasted for six or seven years but you do need to look after it, clean it occasionally and pickle if not in use. Not much work really.

It's difficult to comment on water prices because we don't buy much but we've always found water to be clean, except Venezuela where you should filter it before putting it in the tank.

It's worth noting that a significant number of cruisers leave home without a watermaker and fit one later - I remember in Trinidad six boats were fitting watermakers in one week alone.

 

[dratsea]

We set off without one, showered only when it rained and I can confirm that it is not essential to have one, even to cross the pacific. However when we discovered we were going to get mini-crew joining us in 9 months we fitted one and the extra water was essential to be able to hand wash nappies from Fiji back to Europe. But we did find it a big bonus to be able to shower before bed at night.

Watermakers are a fiddle, and I would certainly not recommend our machine. We are going back to the pacific and plan to replace it with another machine. I had a good look at some of the alternatives at boat show. Most seem a bit over automated, and in my experience it is often the automation which goes wrong. I think I am going to buy the components and build my own so we can shower as and when we wish (but definitely no more nappies!).

John

 

[tobble]

Opinions on this?:
http://www.yachtwatermaker.com/watermakers%20ffp.htm

seems ideal to me, no electrical power, easy to use, no automation to go wrong...

would really value comments here, as planning on getting one of these for the great escape!

 

[wizard]

Thanks for that reference even though it looks too good to be true.

But it is certainly affordable and maintenance looks dead simple. I'm away to research and find out if there are any users over this side of the pond.

 

[Captain_Wolfie]

Certainly seems too good to be true! I have seen the Waterlog being mentioned before and the sceptical comments are quite a few. Search for waterlog on the forums and read between the lines. It seems that several critical posts have been pulled on the request of the manufacturer...

 

[CodStewart]

Hmm, yes I remember something dodgy being said about this kind of watermaker. Really does seem to be too good to be true.

 

[Sea Devil]

Like a lot of others I fitted a water-maker in Trinidad and thought it would make life easy!!! Frankly it was the worst investment in equipment I ever made. As already stated you must carry enough water to make the voyage assuming that the water-maker breaks down - so it is generating water for showers... However there really are only 3 longish ocean passages in the world.. Atlantic, pacific, Indian ocean.. So the rest of the time the water-maker is useful for showers and not having to fill the tank with jerry jugs...

Before the water-maker I caught rain - refilled the tanks whenever I refueled and sometimes had to pay for water - normally a few pence and nothing like the thousands it costs to buy and install a w/maker..

The worst part of the water-maker was it required almost daily attention, could not be left for more than a few days without 'laying up' its spares - filters etc were not cheap - the chemicals for laying it up for extended periods were sometimes difficult to obtain and there is nowhere in the world where you cannot get water.

If you are a big luxury motor yacht with a paid crew then probably it is really useful - if you are the skipper, crew, engineer, deck hand yourself then do you really want the fuss..

 

[KellysEye]

I think I must be losing the plot on the negatiive comments. A watermaker is one of the simplest bits of kit on the boat - electric motor, high pressure pump, membrane, salinity detector/switch, couple of pre-filters and that's about it. Very easy to service.

Also, we can leave ours for a month before having to pickle it, and we occasionally clean the coarse filter, change the fine pre-filter and change the oil.

Ours is a 240v HRO and I'm wondering what the kit is that is giving so much trouble and needs daily attention and to pickle it after 2 days non-use?

 

[macd]

"pay heavily"?
Where did that come from?