Quietest DC watermaker on the market?

[GRIT]

Village marine watermaker used to be a good deal. We paid $2300 for our little wonder, back in 2004 or so. It really was a little wonder. Made 7 gallons an hour, and was mounted under a settee. You had to raise your voice if you were to carry on a conversation in the saloon, but for most folks, it wasn't considered very noisy.

They're not so cheap now though!

Cheers.
Paul.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Does little wonder make a dc unit ?
That was poo ne of the top criteria of the op.

The Negative of a Little Wonder water maker is that their High Priced Proprietary membranes will make you "Wonder" why you bought it.

If looking for a 12v DC water maker, the best option out there is a Spectra, hands down.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

The Negative of a Little Wonder water maker is that their High Priced Proprietary membranes will make you "Wonder" why you bought it.

If looking for a 12v DC water maker, the best option out there is a Spectra, hands down.

Rich I know all, that I just didn't know that village marine lil wonder had a 12v model. I have a survivor 35 manual unit .

[buzzstar]

The only watermakers that are quiet are the ones that you might be willing to run when you not aboard, or a hand powered one. I do not currently have one in any category, but can say this via past experience.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

The Negative of a Little Wonder water maker is that their High Priced Proprietary membranes will make you "Wonder" why you bought it.

If looking for a 12v DC water maker, the best option out there is a Spectra, hands down.

$390 a membrane instead of $200 for generic over maybe 5+ years. Not really a big deal.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Paul L

$390 a membrane instead of $200 for generic over maybe 5+ years. Not really a big deal.

Sorry Paul but I fail to see your logic here. $390 for their membrane vs $200 for generic membrane that's a difference of $190 or almost the cost of the generic membrane. So with little wonder you get a membrane every five years for $390. With the generic membrane you get 2membranes for $400 which figures out to be 10 years. Imo it's worth the extra $10 to esentually double the life of membrane.

[akprb]

Originally Posted by epiic

2600 new?

That does not sound right to me. A new Katadyn 40E is $4000

You are correct, that was a long time ago (2002) that I paid sub 3K. I think I'm leaning towards the spectra. A little wonder at 8K plus is crazy for a 12V watermaker.

Village Marina sold to Parker at some point and perhaps that explains.

I've met guys who built their own (110/220, not 12v) with off the shelf parts that produced like crazy. That's my next model, want to make enough for fresh water washdowns without thinking about it! :-)

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Sorry Paul but I fail to see your logic here. $390 for their membrane vs $200 for generic membrane that's a difference of $190 or almost the cost of the generic membrane. So with little wonder you get a membrane every five years for $390. With the generic membrane you get 2membranes for $400 which figures out to be 10 years. Imo it's worth the extra $10 to esentually double the life of membrane.

The point was that it is a minor amount of money spread over a long period, not some big evil screw job. How many Honda 2000s will you go through in the same 10 year period at what cost?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Paul L

The point was that it is a minor amount of money spread over a long period, not some big evil screw job. How many Honda 2000s will you go through in the same 10 year period at what cost?

I never saidbitbwas an evil plot but it is eventually doubling the maintenance cost over the. Five year time period. I won't go through any Honda generators. I have a $89 harbor freight one that has only been run for about a half hour in the last year. ( maintenance runs) .

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Paul L

$390 a membrane instead of $200 for generic over maybe 5+ years. Not really a big deal.

Sure it's not if you're in the US where the proprietary membrane is easily available but try needing a new membrane in Tahiti or the Bahamas and then you wish you had an off-the-shelf membrane that's available any place in the world. But of course we all know it's not just the membrane that's proprietary it's everything else on the unit as well.

I was checking out the latest model from Village Marine at the boat show last weekend and instead of using standard off-the-shelf stainless steel fittings and a needle valve the engineers decided to Mill their own plastic block manifold. How much do you think that custom-made milled plastic manifold is going to cost when it eventually cracks like they all do?

The proprietary Parts game is the death knell of cruising gear and why some manufacturers continue to play the game just for extra profits down the road is insanity, especially if the proprietary parts are not giving you better products. Everyone knows the Clark pump is proprietary to Spectra but it gives you something, you're getting value out of that proprietary piece of equipment but why make a proprietary membrane housing, a proprietary Plumbing manifold, a proprietary filter housing, when you're not getting any extra value or performance out of it? The only extra value is to the stockholders of the company when they get to sell you that high-priced replacement part down the road. It's also a common strategy of Manufacturers used to guarantee their dealers continuous profit on the sale of replacement parts.

But what do I know I'm just a cruising bozo getting ready to head back to Mexico after all....