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Old 01-08-2018, 09:21 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by HeadedToTexas View Post
They are what they are. And RO membranes are RO membranes. Seawater would definitely have a higher rejection rate than most fresh water sources, but the membranes are the same. The difference is how rugged the housing and hose connections are in marine systems vs. home "aquarium" systems.

Will 100 gallons a day really not do it? Sounds like a problem for boats with "only" a few hundred gallons of fresh water storage.
Show some real data. Do you even know the difference between running them in salt water and fresh? Most boats only have a few hundred gallons of fresh water storage. 100 gpd rated doesn't mean you're going to get 100 gpd and do you really intend it to be run 24/7? Is that 100 gallons a day fresh water or salt water?
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Old 01-09-2018, 05:20 AM   #42
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from the user manual.....

"The RO Buddie should only be connected to a potable municipal or well cold water supply."

I would think the maritime community would be all over these things if they worked on sea water....havent heard a peep till niw, and the narketing strategy seems to be for only aquariums right now.
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Old 01-09-2018, 06:53 AM   #43
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I have 15 collapsible 5-gallon water jugs I transport with the dinghy to wherever the source of freshwater is ,in Key West it's the dinghy dock at the Turtle Crawl. In Marathon it's the city Mooring field dock. Sometimes it's necessary to be a pirate and use the cover of Darkness at a marina
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Old 01-09-2018, 07:19 AM   #44
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It’s not me, it’s the Rainman

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Originally Posted by Dougcole View Post
Is it the Rainman watermaker itself that is loud, or are they running it with a honda generator? One of their models comes with the generator, so maybe that is where the noise is coming from?

I'm considering a Rainman in the future. Do you see any other good/bad things about it?

Thanks
No, my neighbors were plugged into shore power. It is the rainman that was so noisy. Comparable to say the compressor on a power washer.

I know of no ther negative... I can tell you that the water they made was about 300 ppm total dissolved solids. My unit produces about 180 ppm with a membrane of unknown age. Also mine is DC.

And mine probably costs much more than the rainman
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Old 01-09-2018, 09:21 AM   #45
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A little off topic and not really news to some folks, but one of the keys to cruising is conserving (water, in this case). Once you leave the dock, your boat is a "closed world of its own" until you reach the next dock. You have "X" amount of fuel, "X" amount of electrical power, "X" amount of ice, "X" amount of sewage capacity and "X" amount of water. In our case, we typically run out of ice first. One can do without the ice, but not the others.

Sail boaters often go to great extremes to conserve water. They will wash their cooking and eating utensils in sea water with just a fresh water rinse. They will climb into the sea water, get out and lather up, climb into the sea water to remove the soap and then rinse their bodies with fresh water.

Some of their conservation tactics seem extreme to power boaters but learning to conserve allows us to go longer between marina stops if that's our goal.
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Old 01-09-2018, 09:51 AM   #46
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"Most sailboats" have *far* less than 100 gallons (800lbs!), even many designed for blue water passage making.

And if you get a watermaker appropriate for your setup all such concerns just go away.

For far less than the cost of expanding your tankage and maybe affecting your trim, seakindly ride in heavy weather, or even fatally screwing up your capsize ratio.

Of course none of which applies to a big trawler regularly visiting docks.
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Old 01-09-2018, 09:54 AM   #47
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Watermakers designed for saltwater are a completely different market segment than those intended for filtering fresh.

It would be a challenge to add all the pre-filtering required to create a system that could handle both.

If living aboard fulltime, make sure to get your trace minerals elsewhere!
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Old 01-09-2018, 09:54 AM   #48
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I don't know a lot about watermakers but my understanding is that they need pretty clean water to start with. That's fine in the ocean but maybe not on the AICW or inland rivers and bays.
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Old 01-09-2018, 10:07 AM   #49
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadedToTexas View Post
So I'm in the water business and the notion of expensive reverse osmosis systems was replaced by inexpensive systems a decade or more ago. Calling it a "watermaker" doesn't improve its function or multiply its value by an order of magnitude. I get that what works quietly mounted on a basement wall falls apart in one storm on a boat, but that doesn't add an order of magnitude to the price either.



https://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-...%2Bfilter&th=1

???

Saltwater in, potable water out?

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Old 01-09-2018, 10:07 AM   #50
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fine in the ocean but maybe not on the AICW or inland rivers and bays.
Yes most people are sensible enough to avoid making water near coasts with large man-swarms.

Fun fact: cold waters are much more biologically active than in the tropics.
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Old 01-09-2018, 10:50 AM   #51
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???

Saltwater in, potable water out?

-Chris
That is the definition of a proper watermaker.

That one is for filtering tap water (should be already potable) for fish in your aquarium.

I bet the 100-gallons means tank size, not production per hour.

And IMO not even worth researching further.

Rich at Cruise RO will help you build your own from parts, but a proper unit won't save you any money for the **many** hours just the research, sourcing parts etc will take you.

Just the consumable membranes cost many hundreds, and a good pump suitable for marine use, both effective and efficient, costs ballpark a grand.

Then a good motor, lots of food-grade fittings and pipe...

And as I said, freshwater is a lot more involved if you need that as well.

There are very low gph manual systems, but a good automatic one is $3K+
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Old 01-09-2018, 11:37 AM   #52
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Craigslist watermaker

So anybody have an opinion on this add on craigslist for a watermaker

Brand new in box complete marine watermaker $1495.00 !! See video for details.

www.SeaWaterPro.com
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Old 01-09-2018, 01:16 PM   #53
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Interesting. Part of me thinks you get what you pay for? The pump(s) maybe a weak link. They is also no high over pressure safety valve that I saw and I don’t like trusting check valves where a couple of 2 way or 3 way bay valves would work. I like to talk to someone who has run one for a year first.
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Old 01-09-2018, 02:56 PM   #54
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Yes I would only go with a maker thoroughly vetted and recommended by the cruising forums.

I bring up Rich@CruiseRO specifically because so many members I trust in multiple forums

have literally been raving about the guy and his products (fridge/gennies also) as long as I've been hanging out

A key point is you don't want to be locked into anyone vendor's proprietary consumables, especially the membrane$.

Rich's systems are designed to be serviceable

long after he's dead and most of these companies are out of business

in remote third-world conditions, mostly with stuff you can find at generic hardware suppliers.

And yes the efficiency and longevity of the pumps are the most critical factors.
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Old 01-09-2018, 03:12 PM   #55
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there are some nice how tos on the net on building up your own system.

every bit as good as the package deals but often much less or a little less but upgraded.

you get the pieces and parts you want and can locate them for ease on your boat versus whats given to you.
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Old 01-09-2018, 05:27 PM   #56
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If any are well-known to be good, links would be great.
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Old 01-09-2018, 07:06 PM   #57
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google...dont have them handy
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Old 01-09-2018, 07:48 PM   #58
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Quote:
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Show some real data. Do you even know the difference between running them in salt water and fresh? Most boats only have a few hundred gallons of fresh water storage. 100 gpd rated doesn't mean you're going to get 100 gpd and do you really intend it to be run 24/7? Is that 100 gallons a day fresh water or salt water?
While I may be a trawler noob, I've been in the water treatment business for going on 40 years. Thanks for asking. While some appliances seem to have a lot of crossover between home and marine applications, I don't see much in the RO industry. Given the replies thus far, I suspect few if any have looked into it. RO manufacturers have and probably realize they can charge ten times more if they call it a "watermaker," beef up the fittings and mount it on a stainless back plate.

And no, I don't find much data. I do know that I've used RO in well water applications with salt intrusion where the TDS was approaching 10,000 ppm. Brackish in terms of seawater, but in the same order of magnitude. Permeate flow and rejection rate would certainly be lower, but the real problem may be creating the pressure needed to produce any permeate at all.

Reducing the number of things hanging off one's engine seems to be a rule of thumb, but adding another belt driven water pump could provide the pressure. Making water while under way would mean time is on your side. Seems like a missed opportunity.
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Old 01-09-2018, 08:04 PM   #59
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While I may be a trawler noob, I've been in the water treatment business for going on 40 years. Thanks for asking. While some appliances seem to have a lot of crossover between home and marine applications, I don't see much in the RO industry. Given the replies thus far, I suspect few if any have looked into it.
Or actually read the manual seeing that the product you're pushing is inappropriate for our use. What is your role in all this? Are you a salesman or owner or what? You didn't disclose the affiliation from what I could tell. Here you are pushing an aquarium and home faucet system to supply a trawler in the ocean.
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Old 01-09-2018, 08:23 PM   #60
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Steady, B. I have no affiliation with any manufacturer and I am not pushing products; are you? I did a quick search on Amazon for a generic prefab RO unit as an example from that market segment of the RO industry. I am simply a guy who hopes to one day buy a boat. I am also a guy who likes to take a shower every night. And I'm a guy who has showered in enough campground showers to know I'd rather shower in my own than in a public one.

I have read here on many threads that among the benefits cruisers look forward to during marina stays are long hot showers. An expensive watermaker doesn't seem economically practical for coastal cruising (Florida being the subject here), but a system priced more in line with the application may be worth the effort, at least to me. Simple as that.
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