Are watermakers losing their relevance?

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Ah a 380C, and oldie but a goodie. If you ever need any help with it, don't hesitate to ask

Hi Tellie,
I have a Little Wonder watermaker, It has a drowned 12 volt motor on it,
They want $1200-00 for a new motor,
Is there another 12 volt motor I can hook up to it instead of the over priced little wonder 12 volt motor,

I did buy a 10 HP petrol high pressure water cleaner, (4000 PSI) which I hooked up to it and it works fine, But it is big and noisy, Even tho I made a new exhaust and quitened it down a lot, And a couple of new stainless fittings to connect it,

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Cheers, Brian,,

[Olddan1943]

One does not need a 300 gpd water maker. Get a smaller water maker....
On the Nordhavn, I think I carried over 500 gal of FW in 5 tanks. I also had a 12vt 150 gpd water maker. I do not know if it could run on solar panels only via the house batteries. I'll leave that to the experts. If possible to run it on solar, when you clear port, or at a safe anchorage, start up the WM and run it all day. Of course, if your tanks is full, either give the excess away or shut it down.

If you jug it, fill the tanks then refill the jugs, secure them to the deck as you secure you extra fuel for the engine.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Olddan1943

One does not need a 300 gpd water maker. Get a smaller water maker....
On the Nordhavn, I think I carried over 500 gal of FW in 5 tanks. I also had a 12vt 150 gpd water maker. I do not know if it could run on solar panels only via the house batteries. I'll leave that to the experts. If possible to run it on solar, when you clear port, or at a safe anchorage, start up the WM and run it all day. Of course, if your tanks is full, either give the excess away or shut it down.

If you jug it, fill the tanks then refill the jugs, secure them to the deck as you secure you extra fuel for the engine.

first you are correct I myself have a 35 Gpd unit which for me is plenty. ( I have a 35 gallon tank and a 5 gallon collapsible jug.) it is just about the biggest power not in the 12v watermaker market at about 2.75ah per gallon
all 12 volt watermaker can be run on solar and batteries . That's the advantage of a 12v unit there are many ways to power it . A 120 volt unit not so much.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

The bladder is something I would adopt if I didn’t have a Watermaker.
However many places you go you either jug it or have a Watermaker, even built up places on the beaten path.
Last stop was Hatchet Bay, you jug it there from a gentleman who has a dock and a little business of supporting cruisers, he is talking about running water to the dock, but it’s not there yet.
Where I am now, Rock Sound. You jug it, and a pretty good distance too apparently, although Rock Sound is not the back country, has excellent well stocked stores, NAPA parts store etc.
But without a Watermaker, you jug it.
I like it here, will likely stay several days, I wouldn’t without the Watermaker though, I’d head out to where I didn’t have to jug water.

So a Watermaker has opened up places for us to visit, and stay, cause I doubt no matter how nice a place is that we will stay long without taking showers etc.
I’m making water right now, a Watermaker also means a washing machine on board, no having to find a laundry or paying someone else to do your laundry.

A Watermaker is like a refrigerator, yes of course you can do without, but once you have one, you’ll wonder how you ever went without a cold beer or ice in your drink or steaks etc.

Which washing machine do you have and where does it live? Hang dry?

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

One of the joys of a bigger boat is a bigger dinghy.
We carry a 200 liter bladder in the bow of ours for supplementing our 5000 litre supply

5000 liter tank and a 200 liter bladder. At worst that's 25 trips back and forth to get water. I still like my watermaker....and going back to bed to the hum of dingy motors.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by tomfl

My take is anything to do with "most boat owners" varies a lot. In BKH in particular and the Keys in general there are a lot of boat owners who basically use their boats as a last resort to avoid being homeless. For them the cost of even the cheapest watermaker would be more than the cost of the entire boat. I know one guy that bought a bag of ice and a 12 pack every day since he had no fridge on his boat.


Of course there are also folks who have real blue water cruisers (however you want to define it); not what I call condomarans and power boats with AC, dishwashers, hot water heaters, multiple heads with hot showers, satellite TVs on GEM mounts, and fuel tanks that cost six figures to fill; not to mention stuff I am aware of.

My Seawind has specs for 106 gallons of water and I have 5 6-7 gallon jerry cans. I left BKH and spent three months going to Dry Tortugas and back. After maybe a month in DT I had become friends with the rangers there. I had offered to volunteer there and the rangers said there was a six month waiting list. But one day a ranger said since I had been there for some time I must have a watermaker and I could volunteer to fix their watermaker. The ranger was shocked when I told him I did not have a watermaker.

When I got back to BKH I refilled my tanks and by my measure used 87 gallons of water in 85 days. I should add that I was able to take hot (solar heated) showers on the fastboat every day I wanted. By contrast in 1975 just before I started law school I too my Dad's Kenner Privateer from Marathon to DT, back to the Cay Sal Banks, then to Marathon and used 20 gallons of water in 21 days.


All that being said I have been looking at getting a watermaker. Problem for me is not so much the cost (even if they do seem overpriced) or the power requirements (I have a nice solar array and house bank and never seen lower than 85% battery level; not to mention a Honda 2000), but as I told the ranger in the DT I have no idea how to maintain a watermaker. Maybe it is just my old school attitude but I use so little water cruising that running one every day would mean I would need to dump water overboard.

The nature of the beast is that once you have a watermaker you will use more water.

[Mike OReilly]

I have a question about WM sizing. I understand they need to be run fairly regularly. This suggests that one should size the WM capacity to match some factor of daily water usage.

Is this the correct way of thinking? If so, what period of use should I be thinking of? Running it every few days? Every week, or longer? Or can you just run it for a short period every day to recoup what water is used that day?

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Hi Tellie,
I have a Little Wonder watermaker, It has a drowned 12 volt motor on it,
They want $1200-00 for a new motor,
Is there another 12 volt motor I can hook up to it instead of the over priced little wonder 12 volt motor,

I did buy a 10 HP petrol high pressure water cleaner, (4000 PSI) which I hooked up to it and it works fine, But it is big and noisy, Even tho I made a new exhaust and quitened it down a lot, And a couple of new stainless fittings to connect it,

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Cheers, Brian,,

Let me make a few calls and see what I ca do on a better price.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I have a question about WM sizing. I understand they need to be run fairly regularly. This suggests that one should size the WM capacity to match some factor of daily water usage.

Is this the correct way of thinking? If so, what period of use should I be thinking of? Running it every few days? Every week, or longer? Or can you just run it for a short period every day to recoup what water is used that day?

That's actually a very good question Mike.

Everything is a balance on what your wants and needs are for water and your boats capabilities to handle a watermaker. Don't let anyone tell you that you can never make to much water. You can certainly under-size a watermaker for your needs and you can surely over size one. For those that say bigger is better I will be more than happy to sell them, after a lot of discouragement, a 125 gallon per hour watermaker that they can run of their Honda EU2000.
What I tell all new customers is that choosing a watermaker that best suits "YOU" not necessarily the guy two boats down, takes some thought. I call it the Goldilocks approach. I like to find out, on average, ones daily water usage for the amount of people again on average on board. Usually this is two people. I then like to size the watermaker that will produce in about on hour the daily water requirements. This way instead of running the watermaker every day for an hour we can run it every three days for example for three hours making the same water needed. This gives them the flexibility for when family and guests are on board that they can run the system every day for a few hours to keep up. Watermakers like to be run to keep the membrane/s healthy. Most manufacturers will say one hour minimum run time. My rules are two hours. Choose a watermaker that makes too little and you'll run it to an early grave. One too large and it will sit unused for longer periods of time which comes with it's own set of issues and problems. Remember this as well when you hear that you can buy a lot of water for the cost of a watermaker. You have an expensive boat with a ton of expensive equipment constantly exposed to salt air, spray and dunking. Winches ,sheets, sails, blocks, rigging, dive gear, fishing gear, outboards, etc. If you could rinse this equipment off with a few gallons of fresh water two or three times a week do you think the equipment might last longer? Many times this advantage to having a watermaker on board will pay for the watermaker itself in the longevity and repair cost savings in boat equipment. Then your drinking, showers, cooking, etc. are just gravy on your biscuits. There's a whole lot more to watermakers than just providing drinking water and showers.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Tellie

5000 liter tank and a 200 liter bladder. At worst that's 25 trips back and forth to get water. I still like my watermaker....and going back to bed to the hum of dingy motors.

Main fill is always done at the fuel dock.
Single dinghy fill every couple of weeks keeps us out here several months longer.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Tellie

That's actually a very good question Mike.

Everything is a balance on what your wants and needs are for water and your boats capabilities to handle a watermaker. Don't let anyone tell you that you can never make to much water. You can certainly under-size a watermaker for your needs and you can surely over size one. For those that say bigger is better I will be more than happy to sell them, after a lot of discouragement, a 125 gallon per hour watermaker that they can run of their Honda EU2000.
What I tell all new customers is that choosing a watermaker that best suits "YOU" not necessarily the guy two boats down, takes some thought. I call it the Goldilocks approach. I like to find out, on average, ones daily water usage for the amount of people again on average on board. Usually this is two people. I then like to size the watermaker that will produce in about on hour the daily water requirements. This way instead of running the watermaker every day for an hour we can run it every three days for example for three hours making the same water needed. This gives them the flexibility for when family and guests are on board that they can run the system every day for a few hours to keep up. Watermakers like to be run to keep the membrane/s healthy. Most manufacturers will say one hour minimum run time. My rules are two hours. Choose a watermaker that makes too little and you'll run it to an early grave. One too large and it will sit unused for longer periods of time which comes with it's own set of issues and problems. ...

Great answer Tellie. Very helpful. I truly love your contributions on this subject. Clearly you’re not just in it to sell more stuff. You want to sell the right stuff.

[Olddan1943]

Originally Posted by malbert73

Which washing machine do you have and where does it live? Hang dry?

They are all known as "wear it wrinkled" machines.

[Recy]

Originally Posted by Tellie

That's actually a very good question Mike.

Everything is a balance on what your wants and needs are for water and your boats capabilities to handle a watermaker. Don't let anyone tell you that you can never make to much water. You can certainly under-size a watermaker for your needs and you can surely over size one. For those that say bigger is better I will be more than happy to sell them, after a lot of discouragement, a 125 gallon per hour watermaker that they can run of their Honda EU2000.
What I tell all new customers is that choosing a watermaker that best suits "YOU" not necessarily the guy two boats down, takes some thought. I call it the Goldilocks approach. I like to find out, on average, ones daily water usage for the amount of people again on average on board. Usually this is two people. I then like to size the watermaker that will produce in about on hour the daily water requirements. This way instead of running the watermaker every day for an hour we can run it every three days for example for three hours making the same water needed. This gives them the flexibility for when family and guests are on board that they can run the system every day for a few hours to keep up. Watermakers like to be run to keep the membrane/s healthy. Most manufacturers will say one hour minimum run time. My rules are two hours. Choose a watermaker that makes too little and you'll run it to an early grave. One too large and it will sit unused for longer periods of time which comes with it's own set of issues and problems. Remember this as well when you hear that you can buy a lot of water for the cost of a watermaker. You have an expensive boat with a ton of expensive equipment constantly exposed to salt air, spray and dunking. Winches ,sheets, sails, blocks, rigging, dive gear, fishing gear, outboards, etc. If you could rinse this equipment off with a few gallons of fresh water two or three times a week do you think the equipment might last longer? Many times this advantage to having a watermaker on board will pay for the watermaker itself in the longevity and repair cost savings in boat equipment. Then your drinking, showers, cooking, etc. are just gravy on your biscuits. There's a whole lot more to watermakers than just providing drinking water and showers.

Is running it every third day enough to keep the watermaker fit?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by malbert73

Which washing machine do you have and where does it live? Hang dry?

Mine is a Haier, it’s just sits strapped down on top of the “Spare” head.
It’s very easy to remove that way. Yes we use the lifelines to dry, as we stay in the tropics it doesn’t take long on a sunny day.
Hanging dry in the sun is better I think than machine drying, the UV sterilizes and it’s less wear on the clothes.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Olddan1943

They are all known as "wear it wrinkled" machines.

Actually hanging to dry usually takes care of the wrinkles, and what it doesn’t, she has an iron onboard.
Me, I just wear T-shirt’s and don’t care, although I do prefer clean over smelly. Wrinkled is irrelevant to me.