Janice, Congrats! How do you power it? In other words, what sequence or combination of generator, batteries, solar do you find works best? Do you notice better output in the fresh/brackish parts of the ICW?
Thank you Shoalwaters. I'm very excited.
She run off 12-volts and has her own breaker on the panel. Cost is 4 amp hours. Output is reported to be 1.5 gallons an hour.
I will crank her up at the end of January. Kidlet is taking me on my first ever vacation to a Resort (at Disney -- will share a room with my Grand daughter) and after I get back the watermaker gets turned on.
She's never been run (new/old stock)
A friend bought her and installed on his boat but never used it.
I suspect I'll have to use one of the two sets of seals that came with the unit. he o-rings are old for certain so who knows? It's my theory that once I start her I should continue to use her in order to get the longest life possible out of it.
As for power supply, I have 445 watts on the top of Seaweed providing me with 150A (give or take) each day. I also have an Air-Breeze wind genny that does great when the wind blows.
Seaweed is outfitted for completely off-the-grid life. I love remote areas such as I spent my youth. I am truly fortunate. Those last two panels (taking me up from 225 watts made all the difference in the world. Now, regardless, I have my refrigerator working.
Folks don't understand how wonderful it is to have ice cubes and the ability to keep things cool. Although our boat (the 40'er) didn't have refrigeration until the early 70's, I still missed it those first years aboard Seaweed.
Having power is so huge -- and I have a big battery bank too which gives me more wriggle room. With volt meters all over the boat I constantly know what my power state is.
Yes, I've seen those fancy meters -- for $200 they will tell me the SOC (state of charge) however $200 will buy two more 100A batts so that was my choice. More batteries and cheap ($3 or $4) volt meters everywhere seemed a better option.
The added batteries, low down in the bilge have made Seaweed far more stable. She still rocks but the pitching is gone. Ballast, don't 'cha know?!?
Life is good afloat.
As for the filtering, etc. this watermaker has the optional pre-filter. It should eliminate problems associated with the water though here (near John's Pass in St. Pete) there is good flow of gulf water.
I read a book (which makes me an expert, right?) and it suggested swapping out the pre-filters Very frequently. Because they can be reused, it won't be a high dollar event. PDF was found on Cruiser's Forum when I did a search for Katadyn... guy on a boat named ISHI wrote it and he seems to have a good track on potential problems.
Anyone with a watermaker might benefit from reading his book. It's 96 pages, and I had a local printer spiral bind it for me. She did a great job. And she's not high-$$ which is even better.
Her name is MaryJane 727-545-9000
Email
advancedprintingMJ@gmail.com
Nice lady...
I took ISHI's advice and the unit is mounted with easy access to the prefilter. I didn't take his advice about placement (Katy is next to my bunk) as easy access was paramount to noise considerations.
No doubt I have lots to learn about this unit. I'm very grateful for certain. All my wishes are coming true. On Pi Day 3-14 I'll have called Seaweed home for 9 years. She's pretty amazing now. I am truly blessed.
