On Oct 2, 12:43 am, wrote:
On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 20:26:33 -0600, "Canuck57"

wrote:
I later read the Kon-Tiki expedition book, good read. The one thing they
forgot to bring in their ocean trek was salt!!! In an ocean of it, and they
didn't have palatable salt. Go figure. While too much is bad for you, not
enough can also be devastating.

What is unpalatable about sea water other than the salt?

You ever hear of that desalination process that makes use of forward
osmosis by mixing a sweetener with the salt water causing the sweet
water to wick through the material much faster than the salt?
Apparently, they sold it to DoD as an energy drink for emergency
situations but it apparently tastes vile being so sweet.

One of my many schemes is to build an inflatable solar still for use
on boats for emergencies. Most such stills are very inefficient
because the sunlight has to pass through the membrane on which water
is condensing so I propose to separate the light concentration and
condensation surfaces.. It would use a special shape called a
"Compound Parabolic Concentrator" to concentrate sunlight on a small
container of seawater. This shape requires fAr less tracking of the
sun than a parabola does and can work in a cloudy sky too. Of course
this will have to wait till I develop my device that allows any
mainsail to be continously furled............