Watermaker usage poll

I'm curious about water maker usage among TF members. So here's a poll asking about your watermaker usage.

Do you:

Have a watermaker and love it
Don't have a watermaker, but plan on getting one.
Don't have a watermaker because you carry enough water for your cruising style without big lifestyle compromises.
Don't have a watermaker because they are expensive and the benefit does not justify the expense.
Don't have a watermaker because they are a hassle to maintain

Have water makers and love them.

But for the cost you can buy a lot of water. Even at .50 a gallon as in the Bahamas. So you really need to take stock of whether you really need one or not before you buy.

We realize we could buy water where ever we are but then we're at the mercy of the quality of the their water. I like having water when I need it and clean.

Next boat will have two of them!

We have a watermaker and would not be as happy without it.

I had planned on putting one on Beachcomber when I bought it in 2010 until I found out they're not feasible for fresh water boaters.

Looking back on the decision not to install one, I'm glad I didn't. The $$$$ it would have taken to install and maintain it would buy a LOT of large jugs of water or cases of 12 ounce bottles when we're cruising.

The one option you didn't list...

How about -

"Have a watermaker, don't use it"

Might remove and sell while it still works and has some value.

Cruising the lower 48 states, there doesn't seem to be much need for a water maker since I have a large storage capacity. If I planned to extensively cruise out of the USA, I might reconsider it. Hard to justify spending thousands plus maintenance plus operating expenses for something that is free and readily available.

Ted

Phyrcooler said:

How about -

"Have a watermaker, don't use it"

Might remove and sell while it still works and has some value.

Click to expand...

Ditto

I have a 3 year old one works great with my cruising I do not use it much

I have a water maker and love it.
Can't get water out at sea.
Best thing I ever put on the boat.
Cut down my water tanks size, more beer/wine space , win/win.
Just wish I had more fuel tankage so I could stay away longer.

GFC said:

. . . . I found out they're not feasible for fresh water boaters.

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Not strictly true. An RO water maker can process "fresh" water - just keep the high pressure/product flow rate down to what the membrane can handle.

Have a spectra. Can't use it when cruising locally due to filters clogging up immediately - mobile Bay Area with a lot of sediment etc in the water. Did use it on our trip last winter to key west and back. It's a peace of mind thing for us allowing for doing laundry and long showers while anchoring instead of relying on marinas for fill ups. Glad I have it with the loop coming up in our plans and more time in the keys.

We have one and love it. We left in March, returned in June and never took on land based water, plus we gave water to a boat. Maintenance is minimal. I changed the pre-filters once and then pickled the membrane when we returned. The water maker's 7.5 years old. Membrane has been changed twice.

Actually no water maker and not that much capacity, but an over abundance of sources to top off at.

Love our Spectra Ventura 150 (150 gpd). Installed in 2005. Still using the original membrane, which we pickle with propylene glycol (as recommended by Spectra). Have never had a bit of trouble with it. We use it every few days during the cruising season, for us March through June, and October-November, in the Sea of Cortez.

I used to have one on my 54 sport fisher but hardly ever used it. When used, it worked well but really wasn't needed for the type of boating we did. (Day trips) I don't have one on my present boat as she carries 150 gallons which is plenty for us.

If I were a "die hard cruiser" I definitely would have one. (They can be a royal PITA, however, if not maintained properly.)

Codger2 said:

...(They can be a royal PITA, however, if not maintained properly.)

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We hear a lot of complaints when we are out. It seems most of the complaints come from boats that have the more sophisticated, automated water makers. The push-one-bottom systems have an attraction but more failure points. The unit Kevin installed and the one on Hobo have a booster pump, a high pressure pump with manual controls. Pretty simple, with off the shelf parts pretty much. kiss.

Larry M said:

We hear a lot of complaints when we are out. It seems most of the complaints come from boats that have the more sophisticated, automated water makers. The push-one-bottom systems have an attraction but more failure points. The unit Kevin installed and the one on Hobo have a booster pump, a high pressure pump with manual controls. Pretty simple, with off the shelf parts pretty much. kiss.

Click to expand...

Yes, nothing electronic.

The panel consists of two switches, two pressure gauges, a pressure adjustment valve and a flow meter, all mechanical. The unit itself consists of a jabsco pump, a high pressure pump that looks like it came from a pressure washer, and two membrane housings.

The katadyne that is coming out was even simpler. Turn it on and it makes water. One switch no knobs. I installed a flow meter myself in the produced water stream so I could see what it was producing. That uniit is even simpler. A High pressure pump, and a membrane, and some plumbing. Super simple, super reliable.

ksanders said:

Yes, nothing electronic.

The panel consists of two switches, two pressure gauges, a pressure adjustment valve and a flow meter, all mechanical. The unit itself consists of a jabsco pump, a high pressure pump that looks like it came from a pressure washer, and two membrane housings.

The katadyne that is coming out was even simpler. Turn it on and it makes water. One switch no knobs. I installed a flow meter myself in the produced water stream so I could see what it was producing. That uniit is even simpler. A High pressure pump, and a membrane, and some plumbing. Super simple, super reliable.

Click to expand...

If they are so simple and use off the shelf components, why are they so darn expensive?

Donsan said:

If they are so simple and use off the shelf components, why are they so darn expensive?

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You can buy one complete, from the manufacturer, 20 GPH water maker for less than $5K. I know people how have built them for less than 3K. An equivalent output, Spectra, but they aren't that simple, pushing 13K. Now that's expensive.

Donsan said:

If they are so simple and use off the shelf components, why are they so darn expensive?

Click to expand...

Well, the individual components do add up.

Membranes and housings
High pressure pump and motor
boost pump
and a bunch of smaller stuff

I started this process thinking I was going to just figure it out and build one myself.

Then I started adding up all the components and the total cost was not much cheaper than the complete kit with tech support.

If you couple that with the fact that if I figure it out myself I'm bound to make some misatakes and have to re-buy components the price becomes even more competitive.

When you add to this the fact that the owner of the company e-mail'd me back at 8:30 PM answering my questions, and when he gave me honest answers to them, knowing he was giving out info that I might use to go around him...
That made me realize that buying the kit was a GREAT value.

Eventually I may have one on Seaweed. She carries 50 gallons forward and has a 35 gallon secondary tank. Refilling (taking her to a marina) is not fun, especially when I'm anchored in some out-of-the-way spot that is secluded. Rain is good for refilling the tanks.

However, hauling water is physically draining. It's hard work and I don't like it. Still, the costs for new are exhorbitant. That's why I keep my ears open for a used unit. I've "just" missed a couple.

The last one was a Katydin (smallest powered one) for $1500 complete, with spare filters, etc. Seaweed doesn't need a big one..

I would be happy with one as my hair is long (almost waist length) and washing, plus conditioner (so it smells pretty and is soft) take water. I can do it on very little. That said, I enjoy long showers.

Hot ones are even better, and when the water is warm, that works well for the shower water temperature.

Have I mentioned how good it is to be afloat?!? And in St. Pete?!?

ksanders said:

Yes, nothing electronic.

The katadyne that is coming out was even simpler. Turn it on and it makes water. One switch no knobs. I installed a flow meter myself in the produced water stream so I could see what it was producing. That uniit is even simpler. A High pressure pump, and a membrane, and some plumbing. Super simple, super reliable.

Click to expand...

I have the Katadyn and love it.

I replaced the aux pump this past winter thanks to Parks at hopkins Carter and now the unit produces 10 gal per hour. I run it whenever I am in clean water and not near the shore.

i have two sediment filters, 5 mic and 30 mic, which also help a lot.

Well we have a watermaker, a Katydyn 160 and to be honest I have never used it. The PO had it installed and he never used it. I would love to be able to use it but right now just don't have enough time for cruising YET!

Imp they are not for silty water.

For us a water maker is mission critical so we have two.


Via iPhone.

I bought a watermaker and before I installed it I blew up my gen. Then I decided not to install it and I still have it.

I have a Spectra Newport 400. I have not used it much as I have 350 gal in two tanks, which has been enough for relatively short cruises to date. I like the autoflush cycle on the Spectra and dont see it as a maintenance intensive piece of kit. So far only issue was a dead chip on the circuit board, probably caused from a low voltage incident.

I do find the filters clog fairly quickly, and am told that if you remove them when the indicator gets to 3 bars (out of 5) then you can wash them and reuse them a few times. If I recall correctly Dirona installed a sand filter, I guess a smaller version of a swimming pool filter, ahead of the two pre-filters and thereby expended their life by an order of magnitude. Should I have a need to use the Spectra a lot in silty water then I'd look into a sand filter.

On a different point, when in the PNW and BC areas we often came across milky water from the rock flour in the glacier fed rivers. How fine is this material - do the pre-filters remove it? I heard a story, but not sure if its true, that the rock flour is so fine that it passses through the pre-filters and then degrades the membranes. Anyone have experience with watermaking in areas with milky glacier water?

Insequent said:

...On a different point, when in the PNW and BC areas we often came across milky water from the rock flour in the glacier fed rivers. How fine is this material - do the pre-filters remove it? I heard a story, but not sure if its true, that the rock flour is so fine that it passses through the pre-filters and then degrades the membranes. Anyone have experience with watermaking in areas with milky glacier water?

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We used a water maker in AK and Northern BC extensively for about 5 months. I did go through a bunch of the 20 micron pre-filters. The 5's seemed to stay pretty clean. We used the same membrane for 5 years after with no issues. I did clog a 5 micron once around Glacier Bay. I screwed up and installed it first in line.

Maybe there's a TF member who's a geologist and would know what the particle sizing for the glacial runoff would be.

Thanks Larry. Actually I am a geologist, but worked mostly in mineral exploration. Particle sizing in runoff is something a sedimentologist would be more familiar with, or possibly someone in oil & gas exploration. But that's the dark side for me.

Your practical experience with your watermaker would suggest the sizing is mostly >20um. Good to know, thanks.

found in glacial rivers

scale metric inches class other name

> 8 < 3.9 µm < 0.00015 in Clay Mud
>10 < 1 µm < 0.000039 in Colloid Mud


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sediment