Want To Buy: watermaker

[Tellie]

Lets step back a bit to tomtriad original post. Usually when someone ask for basically the smallest practical watermaker like the 40e there are questions to be asked to determine his thought process in arriving at this particular unit. As Momma always said "The devil is in the details so listen carefully". What we do know at this point is limited. We know there are 3X85Watt panels, 2X105AH house batteries and a small outboard for propulsion with limited charge capability. What information we do not have is any idea of what make boat this is, the size, how many people on average will be using it, the type of cruising intentions he has, water tank">fresh water tank capacity, or what tomtriad thinks he and or crew needs or would like for a daily water usage budget. My guess, from years of experience, and tomtriad can certainly correct me, is that this a smaller boat with very limited space. Just quoting the largest capacity watermaker can be a problem in this type of application. I'm also going to assume that price point is extremely important as well because he is starting at the 40e which is going to be the least expensive and reliable watermaker. But even the 40e comes at a cost in the form of the energy needed to produce one gallon of water, and where does the regenerative energy come from. These questions need to be asked and answered first before any watermaker recommendations can or should be responsibly made. I could easily recommend a 120V system I have that will run off a Honda2000 that will easily make 120 gallons an hour on 1,200 Watts or 2800 gallons a day and still have 800 Watts left to do what ever with. But this certainly makes no sense in tomtriad application. Point being, what it takes to make a proper decision on a watermaker that will truly fit your wants and your boats capabilities is not done on the two most common mistakes made by a boat owner on their first watermaker which is price and capacity.

www.HaldenMarineService.com

[tomtriad]

The boat in question is a 42' Newick Creative racer/cruiser wing deck trimaran. I have limited capacity for storage and weight. Currently use three 6 gallon jerry jugs for water plus a couple of collapsible containers; there is no plumbing apart from hand pumps for fresh water and a foot pump for one saltwater spigot in the galley.

My needs are small - on the order of 4 or 5 gallons a day to supply fresh water for cooking drinking and a sun shower for 2 or 3 passangers. A friend of mine has a 4 gph watermaker on his tri which he powers with a wind generator for 2 hours a day ; such a setup would be ideal for me particularly if I could use solar panels instead of a wind machine which requires a dedicated mount and comes with maintenance, weight, and windage issues.

The boat sails at wind speed, topping out around 25 knots so I'm inclined to keep the decks clear as "normal" winds are 30 - 40 knots on deck (aws).

I have a limited budget and hope a low capacity water maker could serve me well for considerations of size, power requirements and cost.

[sanibel sailor]

Sounds like you are going spartan already. I would get more 5 gal jerry jugs. You can buy and carry a lot of water for what a watermaker costs in dollars/complexity/headaches.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

Sounds like you are going spartan already. I would get more 5 gal jerry jugs. You can buy and carry a lot of water for what a watermaker costs in dollars/complexity/headaches.

With a consumption rate of one jug a day, be hard to justify a water maker. My desire for one is so that we can be wasteful and use probably a day what he does in a week. If I could cut our use to 5 gl a day, I think I may not want one. I'm not sure which way would save you weight either, having one or not having one?


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[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

With a consumption rate of one jug a day, be hard to justify a water maker. My desire for one is so that we can be wasteful and use probably a day what he does in a week. If I could cut our use to 5 gl a day, I think I may not want one. I'm not sure which way would save you weight either, having one or not having one?


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We use roughly the same amount of water as the OP. I put the watermaker onboard to have clean water everywhere.
Finding water.......easy.
Finding clean non-odoriferous non-brackish water extremely difficult!!


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[Tellie]

Originally Posted by tomtriad

The boat in question is a 42' Newick Creative racer/cruiser wing deck trimaran. I have limited capacity for storage and weight. Currently use three 6 gallon jerry jugs for water plus a couple of collapsible containers; there is no plumbing apart from hand pumps for fresh water and a foot pump for one saltwater spigot in the galley.

My needs are small - on the order of 4 or 5 gallons a day to supply fresh water for cooking drinking and a sun shower for 2 or 3 passangers. A friend of mine has a 4 gph watermaker on his tri which he powers with a wind generator for 2 hours a day ; such a setup would be ideal for me particularly if I could use solar panels instead of a wind machine which requires a dedicated mount and comes with maintenance, weight, and windage issues.

The boat sails at wind speed, topping out around 25 knots so I'm inclined to keep the decks clear as "normal" winds are 30 - 40 knots on deck (aws).

I have a limited budget and hope a low capacity water maker could serve me well for considerations of size, power requirements and cost.

I can see why a 40e would make sense on a Tri like yours. Your fresh water holding capacity is pretty limited at 20-26 gallons. But even that weighs in at 170-210 lbs of water weight and weight is a big issue on a Tri. Using 4-5 gallons a day still means you'd be running a 40e 3.5-4 hours every day to keep up with your usage that's 14-16ah. A Ventura 150 will make 6.5 gallons per hour on 9ah. Run it for 1.5 hours and it's 10 gallons for 13.5 ah. This is a far more efficient way to make water on a limited battery bank. This also gives you the capability to operate the system for longer periods of time when you want more water. Plus there is a lot less wear and tear. But if cost point is the biggest deciding factor and the 40e is the way you want to go, give me a shout with your best price quote and I'll see if I can't help you do better.

Halden Marine Services | Marine Watermakers, Solar Panels, Wind Generators

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

We use roughly the same amount of water as the OP. I put the watermaker onboard to have clean water everywhere.
Finding water.......easy.
Finding clean non-odoriferous non-brackish water extremely difficult!!


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This is sooo true. One fill up of bad water and it tends to mess with your whole day.


Halden Marine Services | Marine Watermakers, Solar Panels, Wind Generators

[Sirocco]

I have a Katadyn 40e for sale. It yields 1.4 gal per hour and uses 3.5 amps. I used for about 10 months in Mexico. It is a small self contained unit. I have biocided it every six months. Asking $1500. Zip 92054 weighs approx. 17 lbs