Watermakers

ashtead

ashtead

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Some boating friends recently set off for the ARC start and installed a water maker . Now I doubt this will be in our plans anytime soon but I did think if moving to travel down to Portugal etc it would be a useful investment. I appreciate many wander to French Med without say a desalator but what are suggestions for a small compact model ? Has anyone recently invested in one and if so via which source? We have reasonable sized stern lockers which would seem obvious location but can you put say under bow lockers and hence use space otherwise only home to a bow thruster really?
 
ashtead said:
Some boating friends recently set off for the ARC start and installed a water maker . Now I doubt this will be in our plans anytime soon but I did think if moving to travel down to Portugal etc it would be a useful investment. I appreciate many wander to French Med without say a desalator but what are suggestions for a small compact model ? Has anyone recently invested in one and if so via which source? We have reasonable sized stern lockers which would seem obvious location but can you put say under bow lockers and hence use space otherwise only home to a bow thruster really?
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You need access to pre filters regularly. Also proximity to a 3/4" inlet seacock that isn't susceptible to air ingress if you want to make water on the move.
We have ours located in an engine room on the wall where access to everything is easy and any leaks end up in the engine bilge.
If you located in a stern locker you would need to protect the watermaker parts from damage. Some parts are delicate.
 
For other reasons, we have a dehumidifier. The takes around 1kW and produces around 3 litres of water per day. Although intended to dry out the boat's interior, the water is quite useful and, of course, is pretty pure.
 
On my last boat prior to an Atlantic circuit I fitted a second hand Katadyn 40e. Installation was simple enough, though it is important to ensure an air free water supply, It helps if the unit is fitted close to the waterline too.

In practical terms, the output is 5 liters an hour for 5 amps. I hoped that the wind generator and small solar panel would provide enough juice in a trade wind anchorage. The wind generator (Rutland 913) was a complete waste of space and money and never produced anything like its claimed output. Therefore I tended to run the watermaker when under power or had the petrol genset running. It saw the most use in The Bahamas, where water can cost 50 cents a US gallon.

In hindsight, I would fit the next size up, the Katadyn 80e and more solar panels.
 
michael_w said:
On my last boat prior to an Atlantic circuit I fitted a second hand Katadyn 40e. Installation was simple enough, though it is important to ensure an air free water supply, It helps if the unit is fitted close to the waterline too.

In practical terms, the output is 5 liters an hour for 5 amps. I hoped that the wind generator and small solar panel would provide enough juice in a trade wind anchorage. The wind generator (Rutland 913) was a complete waste of space and money and never produced anything like its claimed output. Therefore I tended to run the watermaker when under power or had the petrol genset running. It saw the most use in The Bahamas, where water can cost 50 cents a US gallon.

In hindsight, I would fit the next size up, the Katadyn 80e and more solar panels.
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We also previously had small output 12v watermakers on our previous boat. I found them troublesome and unreliable as well as expensive on parts and membranes.
In our current boat we went to the other extreme and built a high output unit that makes 200 l/hr in the warm waters of the Tropics.
If you don't have the space for a generator, engine driven high output is a good way to go. We need an average of 15min a day run time on our generator to make our daily requirements
 
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slight thread drift but I'm on a freshwater lake and was wondering if there's a good filtration solution so I don't have to go and fill my tanks as much...? Was even thinking of a separate washing supply for showering/washing up but that gets more complicated...
 
Had a Dessalator D60 on my last boat (under the V berth) which was dysfunctional when I bought the boat but was repaired by the vendor at some expense. It worked for 18 months then failed again and I didn't bother fixing it. Where I over wintered the boats either side of me had 12v watermakers which had failed and which the owners had no intention of repairing.
IMO, they cannot be relied upon to supply water and, if you need an alternate source of water anyway, there's not much point in having one.
 
5 or 6 years ago, bought a 230V HRO desalinator s/h over ebay.
Was a 30l/h one with a short membrane, worked, but 30l/h is not much.
after a bit of tlc (clean the valves in the pump and generally take care of it) I did three mods:
1. mated the pump to a 3ph motor and related to that
2. added a VFD inverter to slowly up the rpm and slowly shutdown to avoid foobaring the membrane
3. added a SW30-2540 housing/membrane and upped it to 100-110lph

honestly, only #3 was absolutely necessary, but felt that 1+2 made remote operation much safer for the membranes.
using it for 3 summers, haven't used dock to fill up, v.happy with it and fingers crossed, don't see why it should fail.
if you have an idea of what they do, read the manual and study online docs on how to built your own (lots of!) you gain a decent understanding on how they work and (again imho) it's relatively easy to keep them going.

only failure was last year that intake sucked a jellyfish, stopped, cleaned the bits of the strainer, back in business.
Mind haven't pickled it, using it for half an hour every 15days or so even in the winter (good workout for the generator) even in a filthy port.

For the two of us, with quick rinse out of the water 4-5 times a day, showers, washing dishes or whatever else, need 1h every couple of days.
Decent running fridges and a watermaker means I can stay away from ports for a fortnight easily during the summer (1m on board this summer two nights on port and that was to drop daughter and later pick up a couple of friends)
 
Quiddle said:
Had a Dessalator D60 on my last boat (under the V berth) which was dysfunctional when I bought the boat but was repaired by the vendor at some expense. It worked for 18 months then failed again and I didn't bother fixing it. Where I over wintered the boats either side of me had 12v watermakers which had failed and which the owners had no intention of repairing.
IMO, they cannot be relied upon to supply water and, if you need an alternate source of water anyway, there's not much point in having one.
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There where simple high output units come in. No electronics what so ever. No Clarke pump. Off the shelf spares and standard membranes.
 
I had a secondhand PUR 35e for 6 years and it was reliable and produced 20 litres for a 4 hour run from a solar charged battery bank. I upgraded to the Katadyn 40e two years ago. The output is a little higher at 22litres in 4 hours. It provides for all our needs, still powered by solar with occasional use of the Ampair 100 in wind mode when it gets cloudy. It hasn’t missed a beat.
 
typhoonNige said:
I had a secondhand PUR 35e for 6 years and it was reliable and produced 20 litres for a 4 hour run from a solar charged battery bank. I upgraded to the Katadyn 40e two years ago. The output is a little higher at 22litres in 4 hours. It provides for all our needs, still powered by solar with occasional use of the Ampair 100 in wind mode when it gets cloudy. It hasn’t missed a beat.
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We use an average of 50 litres per day. This includes a shower each per day and all our washing. We can't do this on 20l/day
 
We're a family of 4 and have been living aboard for the last year with a Schenker modular 30. I fitted it myself and it has been great and provided enough for us to do whatever we want, even for the 2 months when we had 3 extra people on board. We have 450W of solar a Rutland 1200 windgen and a tow generator and we never have to run the engine to charge.
 
Quiddle said:
Had a Dessalator D60 on my last boat (under the V berth) which was dysfunctional when I bought the boat but was repaired by the vendor at some expense. It worked for 18 months then failed again and I didn't bother fixing it. Where I over wintered the boats either side of me had 12v watermakers which had failed and which the owners had no intention of repairing.
IMO, they cannot be relied upon to supply water and, if you need an alternate source of water anyway, there's not much point in having one.
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I have a Spectra watermaker that came with my 2001 yacht. I love it. Runs off the batteries and not AC so can make water while sailing. Yes I have replaced a few bits but I would not call it unreliable.
TS
 
tudorsailor said:
I have a Spectra watermaker that came with my 2001 yacht. I love it. Runs off the batteries and not AC so can make water while sailing. Yes I have replaced a few bits but I would not call it unreliable.
TS
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We make water whilst sailing. What's unique about yours?
What battery capacity do you have? How do you keep your batteries charged? From my experience even in the sunny Caribbean it hard to keep your batteries in a good state of charge if you have fridge/freezer, autopilot and insufficient solar without the additional demand of a 12v watermaker running for hours each day.
We have a towed generator, wind generator and 760w of solar and we still don't use a 12v watermaker. Friends with 1500/2000w of solar on cats successfully run the bigger 12v watermakers. Boats with less solar dont fare so well. I know of several boats with premature battery failure and 12v watermakers. Unfortunately batteries in the Caribbean are at least double the cost of the UK and they last less time due to the persistent high battery temperatures even if you look after them.
 
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