On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:05:08 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:47:51 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:40:29 -0400, wrote:

Watermaker? Your list is already getting funny. Do you also grow all
your own food?

No, but there are many places in the world where good potable water is
impossible to obtain at any price.

You cruise in the Sahara desert? LOL

Most marinas in the Bahamas, a
very real cruising destination for us North American types, are
already charging 50 cents a gallon for dock water, and the price keeps
going up. For people making long passages, water capacity is always
an issue, and it's really nice to get one or two good showers a day
without worrying about draining the tank.

You'd probably be surprised at the number of long range cruisers who
are already equipped with water makers for exactly these reasons.

There are other ways to supplement fresh water without adding the
expense and problems of a high maintenence watermaker. I'm not
surprised by the number of cruisers who think they can't live without
a watermaker and hot showers.

For fully half the year in the monsoon areas there is little or no
rain. You replenish water supplies by either going ashore and toting
it back to the boat or a watermaker :-)

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:45:39 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:05:08 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:47:51 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:40:29 -0400, wrote:

Watermaker? Your list is already getting funny. Do you also grow all
your own food?

No, but there are many places in the world where good potable water is
impossible to obtain at any price.

You cruise in the Sahara desert? LOL

Most marinas in the Bahamas, a
very real cruising destination for us North American types, are
already charging 50 cents a gallon for dock water, and the price keeps
going up. For people making long passages, water capacity is always
an issue, and it's really nice to get one or two good showers a day
without worrying about draining the tank.

You'd probably be surprised at the number of long range cruisers who
are already equipped with water makers for exactly these reasons.

There are other ways to supplement fresh water without adding the
expense and problems of a high maintenence watermaker. I'm not
surprised by the number of cruisers who think they can't live without
a watermaker and hot showers.

For fully half the year in the monsoon areas there is little or no
rain. You replenish water supplies by either going ashore and toting
it back to the boat or a watermaker :-)


A cruiser with half a brain would take the hint and go elsewhere. I
realize you don't have that option and must do without water for 6
months at a time. Surely you don't walk down the dock and go ASHORE to
get water! What watermaker do you have on board? How often does it
require maintenance? How much water does it provide daily? What powers
it?

Oh... you don't need rain to collect water. Probably not enough to
take long showers, but enough to support life.

On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:34:15 -0400, wrote:

What watermaker do you have on board? How often does it
require maintenance? How much water does it provide daily? What powers
it?


I know you didn't ask me the question, but I think it's one that needs
answering.

I've had a PUR 40E 1.5 GPH in the past and now have a PUR 80E 3.4 GPH.
The 40E ran about 4 to 5 hours every day for most of 2-1/2 years. The
current 80E has just been run for several week-long periods. It takes
about 1-1/2 hours to 2-1/2 hours of daily running, the latter on
"wsshing and shower days". Note that half to one gallon is used to
flush after running.

There's a "silty water" setup, not the mega-buck "kit", which is just
an extra filter housing. We've made water in clean and dirty, and very
dirty water. Filter elements are not a big expense, they are simply
washed out when necessary and will last over a year.

Maintenance: Very little. Put some silicone grease on the pump shaft
when it starts squeaking, clean the pre-filters as above when needed -
month or more in clean water, weekly in silty water. Make half to one
gallon in a jug, as above, and run it though to flush when shutting
down. Run it every day, or at least every three days max, otherwise
pickle it. Pickling is easy, dump 2 caps of biocide into 2 qts of
water and run it through, then forget about it until you use it again.
To start up after pickling, run it for 20 minutes, test, and fill the
tanks.

We use one tank one day, the other the next. The day before tank is
topped off. This way if something happens to the watermaker, we've
still got one full tank of good water.

Power is 12V. Call it 16 Amp Hours per daily run, or about 2.4 Amp
Hours per gallon of water, put back by the solar.

The only downside to a watermaker is they're very overpriced.

Rick

On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:09:10 -0400, wrote:

Thanks, Rick. That sounds less onerous than what I usually hear about
watermakers and the difficulty of maintaining them. On a larger boat
with room for ample solar panels, or even a wind gen, the power draw
you describe wouldn't be impossible to live with, either.

Most folks I've run into have bought larger than needed watermakers,
so they wind up not running them enough. They will give problems if
not run regularly, at least an hour a day. Those folks wind up running
them maybe once a week or even wait a couple weeks until the water
tank is dry, and usually don't flush with product water before
shutdown. A recipe for disaster. They tend not to pickle them when not
going to be used because they haven't run it for a few days then
"forget", another recipe for disaster.

I've heard the excuse, "It's too much trouble." I don't buy that. The
daily routine is a lot less trouble and effort than raising or dousing
the mainsail! Come on, flip the switch, make a glass of water and test
(taste test is best, TDS meter okay), grab a gallon jug, fill the jug,
move the valve to the water tank, when water comes out the tank vent,
drop the slternate intake in the jug, move the intake valve, when
about a half gallon or so of jug water goes in, flip off the switch.
Take a look at the prefilters through the clear case. If ucky, pop
them out and put the 2nd set in, wash off the first set and let dry in
the sun.

Heck, the daily routine takes less effort and time than putting on the
mainsail cover, but everyone seems to know that if you don't put on
the cover, your main will soon be UV rotted!

Rick

On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:32:24 -0500, Rick Morel
wrote:

I've heard the excuse, "It's too much trouble." I don't buy that. The
daily routine is a lot less trouble and effort than raising or dousing
the mainsail! Come on, flip the switch, make a glass of water and test
(taste test is best, TDS meter okay), grab a gallon jug, fill the jug,

If you are using it for an hour a day is it still necessary to do the
daily water test and discard the first gallon? Does it have a UV
sterilizer to kill viruses, etc. ?

On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:31:42 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

If you are using it for an hour a day is it still necessary to do the
daily water test and discard the first gallon? Does it have a UV
sterilizer to kill viruses, etc. ?

Maybe I wasn't clear on that "first gallon". It's not discarded, it's
used to "flush" the sal****er out of the system. Worth it to keep the
membrane happy! The first 5 minutes is discarded, as per instructions.
This can (notice CAN) contain byproducts of bacterial decomposition
small enough to make it through, such as Hydrogen Sulfide, the "rotten
egg" smell stuff. It won't really hurt you, but yuck. That's a good
"proof" of the value of the flush. Don't flush, just turn off, then
the next day sniff the first water coming out.

Yes, the water should be tested after that 5-minute discard, mainly
because a cracked membrane will let stuff though. I occasionally use a
TDS meter, but usually just put the hose in a cup for a bit and have a
drink. The "taste test" is recommended over TDS meter by the
manufacturer. I guess if one is a bit on the overcautious side one
could use the meter first.

No UV steriizer. I feel that's a waste of power. All viruses,
bacteria, cysts, etc. are supposed to be unable to pass through the
membrane. I've been flamed before about this, but the fact remains
that we've drunk literally thousands of gallons of RO water with no
ill effects. Now I do chlorinate the water in the tanks occasionally.
BTW, chlorine and oil will quickly DESTROY the membrane. That's why I
use that jug for collecting the flush water.

Rick