Water Maker?

KAL

KAL

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Seeking constructive opinions from people with experience, as to when a watermaker becomes worth having.

For shorter trips and passages, obviously not, but for ocean crossings, probably yes.

Where would the collective conscious say the threshold lies?

It's a pricy bit of kit and, from what I've read here and elsewhere, seems to involve much consternation about pickling, filters and unreliability.

I don't think 73 jerry cans strapped to my guard rails is a particularly desirable aim, if a better, albeit somewhat costlier alternative exists. My water tank holds approx 180 litres.

In my dreams I like to think about long-distance cruising possibilities, sometime in the next 5-8 years, but it takes time and budgeting to gather the necessary kit, especially a big-money item like this.

So, what advice, folks?
 
There are so many variables - some of which you have identified. First you need to work out your potential water consumption, then how long you think you will be away from a reliable source of water. If the water capacity of your boat is inadequate to support that, then you either have to think of ways of reducing your consumption or of producing your own water. Your 180l is small for more than a couple on the boat for short periods, so first thing to do is try and increase it. Watermakers take up space, so arguably better to use the space to store more water.

For many the reducing consumption bit is preferred because of the cost, complexity and power requirements of a water maker. You will therefore find some will not have one at any price and others will deem the negatives less than the positives. However, if you read the reviews of kit on long distance sailing, watermakers come near the top of the list of things that give most problems.

It really is a personal decision, so wait for the opinions of those who have (or have not) and make up your own mind.
 
I have no direct experience of watermakers (but have chatted to plenty of folk who have); they also make considerable energy demands, as you're no doubt aware.

If you went with what you have, I'd say that 180 litres is enough, with moderate care, for a single-handed Atlantic crossing, but marginal for two. On the return trip (to the Azores) you need to allow for around three weeks at sea, which on a Westerly Discus would afford little margin for error. At the least you ought to be thinking of some way to augment your capacity which does not involve jerry cans: perhaps a flexible tank in a space you can spare. (At least, that's what I did, as well as carrying a few gallons of botled water.)

Bear in mind that on your return you may also be carrying spare diesel in jerries: these days there seems to be little telling how pronounced the Azores high will be at the time you're likely to arrive. if it's well-established, motoring the last few hundred miles is far from rare. If you were to head west rather than east from the Carib, of course, your water need could become more acute.

You might also consider foot-pumped sea-water in the galley, which helps spin out the fresh. A method of collecting rainwater also does no harm.
 
We've got a seafresh water maker use it in Med whilst at anchor, never had a problem with it, I think it's the quality of the installation that affects them more than anything. Overall a thoroughly albeit pretty expensive excellent piece of kit
 
If you are technically minded, you could build your own. I built an engine driven one, rather than electrical, so battery demand was not an issue. If we needed to charge batteries with the engine we made water at the same time. It also mean that you can put all the bits and pieces in different parts of the boat, and don't have to put aside a large space.

It also means that if/when it stops working, you should have enough know how to be able to fix it.

We found that it was as useful in the Caribbean as it was on Ocean passages.
 
A few years ago I was hailed by a French yacht in mid atlantic. Their watermaker had broken down. We transferred a couple of cases of 1.5l bottles over to them. We had shedloads and they are easy to stow.
 
How much water do you use? These days water use on boats has got rather excessive, it was once reckoned that about a gallon per person per day was enough for all drinking, cooking and cleaning so on that basis you could get quite far on a 180 litre tank.
 
I am not sure that the use of a watermaker is entirely, or even primarily, for oceanic crossings. It is probably easy to carry sufficient water for a crossing - say less than 20 days for most passages. I've always been able to carry more than enough for this length of time whilst being frugal with water use (ie few showers while actually off-soundings).

We do have a watermaker, but that's because we are travelling to places where the availability of good, potable, water was not at all obvious. We do of course make water at sea but make even more when at anchor in remote places. Almost all cruisers will affirm that the proportion of time spent on ocean crossings is actually quite small, so this is unsurprising. Thus the need for a watermaker is more dependent on your destination and cruising grounds than it is on the desire to cross oceans.
 
Very useful thoughts. Thank you to everyone who has responded. Turns out my tank is only 130 litres, so I'm going to have to look at expanding capacity somehow. We're rather spoiled with a stainless tank and the water always tastes great, after our previous boat which did have a flexible tank.

Food for thought. Thanks.

We do have a foot pump, but it's fresh-water, not sea-water, as an alternative in case the pressure pump breaks down. I've used sea-water foot-pumps on other boats and they do seem like a good idea.
 
We had one for long distance sailing it produced 5 gallons per hour. Our boat had a generator so it was fitted with a 240v industrial one, we also had a 240v industrial fridge. Be aware if you go long distance sailing all boat kit breaks except electronic kit, I used to spend two days a week either servicing something of fixing something that had broken. The reason for that is boat kit is made for weekend and holiday sailors. We carried two spares for everything, exploded diagrams and appropriates tools. We also carried four water containers midships tied to the guard rails.
 
Hi, Have a word with Jim McDonald at Mactramarine.... in my opinion there isn't much this guy doesn't know about watermakers. We have just installed a Katadyn 80e purchased from Jim on our catamaran and have actually fired it up last week here in the Algarve Portugal. There are pros and cons of different types but what we wanted was a reliable supply, powered by our 400w solar system that gives us enough for a couple to survive for long months at anchor. So far (bear in mind its only first week) we run for 2 hours a day, this does not make any significant demand on our batteries at all (draws only 8amps) and gives us between 25-30lts in those two hours. The unit is so far working flawlessly. we paid a little extra for the additional pre-filtration units. In our opinion service, back up, and Warranty are of the utmost importance and from the research we did and our dealings with Jim in our opinion he is hard to better...our unit comes with a comprehensive 3 yr warranty... do some research and check the feedback for Jim and Mactramarine...you will get the idea of what I liked from what I read. One thing a watermaker gives you which is priceless is independence...we can find a nice spot to anchor and can pretty much stay there as long as we like without having to worry where we can find a tap to fill up.
 
Greets,

We've begun a circumnavigation. During the preparation, we agreed a WM was essential as we wish to spend extended periods on the hook, namely in the Marquesas. Our boat has 1000 liter water tank and our WM is 100 L/HR and operates either on 24 V DC or 220 VAC. This allows us the flexibility of operating the unit while running the genset or the main engine. We also have a big batt bank/solar panels and can produce 1 hour of water during a bright sunny day without killing the batteries. Depends what you want to achieve.

Our unit is a Dessalator DUO 100. We like it.
 
KAL said:
We do have a foot pump, but it's fresh-water, not sea-water, as an alternative in case the pressure pump breaks down. I've used sea-water foot-pumps on other boats and they do seem like a good idea.
Click to expand...
You're half way there then :cool: Turn the pressure pump off and what you have will go so much further. Having a seawater pump is certainly handy, but it's not that big a deal to throw a bucket over the side to get some sea water to wash up in. Might depend on how you view convenience. Single handed I've never had a problem without a water maker, a bucket under the goose neck can catch a lot of drinking water in a squall mid ocean as you quickly get the shampoo out and rinse before it blows over. Again, quite a personal decision with what is quite a big deal for some people might not be as significant for others.
 
We have a Seafresh. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised how good it is and how easy to use after all the horror stories you read.

Do you need one? Well, I think that partly depends on how large your water tanks are, the makeup of your crew and your personal habits! With kids on board, and/or if you enjoy windsurfing, swimming or scuba and your water use will go up alarmingly unless you want to be salty all day long! Add a washig machine and you will really struggle. However for two people, a quick shower or wash a day (or maybe not some days on passage!) and with a reasonable tank(s) you can go for a very long time without filling up. Once at the destination days on the hook will quickly see the water disappear and if this is your thing and you want to avoid marinas then the water maker comes into its own. There are also places where taking on water is perhaps surprisingly more difficult that you might imagine. Some parts of the Windies come to mind as well as the Med.

So the short answer is do your own calculation, see how much water you get through in a typical day especially allowing for showers etc, just let the showers and taps run even if you dont want to do it for real and you will realise how much or little you get through.
 
I suppose with four on board, we go through the tank in about 4 to 5 days, so we're looking at 16-20 person-days, not being massively cautious, but not profligate either. If we're tied up alongside we tend to use shore showers, but occasionally use the one on board if we can't be bothered to walk half a mile in the rain.

I think I'll do a proper measure of the tank and see what the volume works out to be, to make sure. There is space we could fit a smaller one if necessary.

Such useful advice folks, thanks very much!
 
Hi People,
Lucky me (?) I have just been given a Balmar Aquapac Voyager watermaker, complete with spare membranes (still sealed) and I do want to install it into my fisher 34 ketch. I cannot find any information anywhere on the web about them. Does anyone know about these units please? I have no reason to assume it is defective, the CAT pump looks pretty new and the control unit has no corrosion anywhere. It came of a 50 footer last year when the owner fitted a new one for his Atlantic crossing. Any advice much appreciated please.

Thank you

Steve White
SV Wight Mistress
Island Harbour
Isle of Wight
England
 
simonjames said:
We've got a seafresh water maker use it in Med whilst at anchor, never had a problem with it, I think it's the quality of the installation that affects them more than anything. Overall a thoroughly albeit pretty expensive excellent piece of kit
Click to expand...

I know that the idea of proper showers is pretty high on our wish list.
 
We would not be without a watermaker. Sailing in the Caribbean water has to be purchased or you make it. Some places it can't be purchased like Barbuda. If you want to stay a while then water becomes an issue.
Our yacht is bigger enough to have a generator so we chose to run our watermaker from the generator. We make 133litres per hour. Whilst running the generator we usually make a tank of hot water as well from the immersion heater and give the batteries a boost off the mains charger.
I built my watermaker from parts off eBay. We have no electronics involved. We have a simple Cat pump, a 1.5kw 220v motor to drive the pump, a 40 inch and 21 inch pressure vessel and membranes and a home built control panel. We use a domestic water meter with pulsed output to measure accurately the water produced. The system is bullet proof.
We have had 12v watermakers in the past and would not wish to go that route again. Without doubt they are not as robust as our current set up.
Since mid January we have made 6400litres of water for 48 hours of generator use.
 
Thanks Geem. I'd be very interested in perusing design and/or instructions if you would be willing to let me have them.
 
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