Water maker

[yuukis]

We are planning on an extended cruise up through Desolation Sound and to the Broughtons this summer. We expect to be gone 2-3 months. How difficult is it to get adequate fresh water the further north that one goes? Is a water maker essential or just an added luxury. They are quite pricey, $3000 and up. If it is a necessity, is 1.5 gallons/hr adequate at the $3000 level or is it necessary to go to 6gal./hr at almost $6000, which is on the Ranger 27 that Jeff took out last summer to Desolation. By the way, great article in the January/February issue of " Passage Maker" with a front page picture of the R 27.
Thanks for the feed back,
Charlie and Nancy

 

[NewMoon]

We have a Pur (now Katadyn) Powersurvivor 40E, which does 1.5 gal/hr. Would love to have 2 or 3 times the capacity, but have been doing well all over BC and SE AK with the 40E for 12 summers now. We do fill up with good water whenever we're in town for fuel or groceries, but the watermaker makes it a lot easier to stay out more than a few days. To get by with a small watermaker, we have to be pretty frugal in water use. Being former tent campers, we're pretty good at that.

Navy showers (only one a day for the whole crew - we take turns) and very careful dish washing and rinsing are the keys. Wipe messy dishes off with a paper towel, or get the big pieces off with sea water, before washing. Learn to run the water as slow as you can get by with, and never run it if you aren't actually using the water.

 

[thataway]

My opinion is to skip the water maker for your boat. We cruised the Broughtons one summer and SE Alaksa (from Prince Rupert) on our C Dory 25 another summer, and never had any problem with plenty of water. There are a number of marinas and docks--and we spent about every other or every third day at a dock. There is a lot of social life at these marinas and a lot of fun. Speciality meals and events occur regularly. The water is fine and no problems obtaining it. We could easily go 5 days without fill up--and did carry a 5 gallon can "just in case" of spare water.

We also cruised that area for 4 years, 6 months out of the year in a Cal 46 (motor sailor), where we had a 20 gallon an hour water maker. We did run it 1 to 2 hours a day (if out of harbors), to keep the dedicated tank full. (60 gallons for the water maker, 250 gallons for the dock water tanks). We had the watermaker for ocean passages and Mexico/central America etc where good water was not available.

You don't want to back flush a water maker with any chlorine containing water--it will damage the membrane. Thus we had a tank where we only put the product water. You cannot run the water maker in areas of any oil, gas, sewage or industerial pollution --again it will damage the membrane (I would not run it in a harbor or marina). The membrane has to be "pickled" if you don't use it for a week or so. It has to be cleaned peroidically (chemical treatment)--and the membrane does have to be replaced at times. A watermaker is fairly complex--and is a God send for areas where good drinking water is not available. But good water is avaiable in this area.

 

[Spirit of Gratitude]

Here is one that puts out 3.5 gal per hour and uses 8amps.
It gets great reviews.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=10635

 

[CaptMac]

We added the Power Survivior 40E to Island Ranger (R-25) and would say that it really made our trip up the Inside Passage last summer possible. For us, the 30 gallons on board only lasts 3 days - we do take daily showers and need ice for the martinis (unless there are ice burgs to harvest!). And it is great to rinse dishes in hot fresh water.

We found water available only in some areas - and it was pretty awful (not drinkable) in places like Shearwater. If you plan to visit marinas every few days, and you are just in transit you can get by without one. Once in Alaska - there is plenty of water available. But if you like isolated cruising, I think it is a neccesity. For instance,we spent a week up in Belize Inlet - there are no marinas or facilities of any kind up there. We only saw one other boat while we were there...

We typically ran the water maker whenever we were travelling, but did run it (off the solar panels) while anchored in remote spots. We would not run it at marinas. Since we ran it every few days, we didn't need to pickle until we got home. Pickling is easy, only takes a couple of minutes, and stores the membrane for up to a year....

I still wonder if the 80E wouldn't have been a better choice - more water, but needs higher power. Since we ran it off the engine most of the time, power wasn't an issue, so....I would haveto think twice if I got to choose again...

Mac

 

[Lobo]

If your V-Berth is like mine (R-25) I have put 3 5-gallon plastic water "jerry cans" (the green ones) in the most forward part under the berth. I have a couple of bungee cords holding them in. This takes me from 25 to 40 gallons. I only fill them when I think I'll need them.

Water is available in Desolation, but sparingly. Wells can dry up in the summer heat. Change your habits and never pass up an opportunity to fill up. I wouldn't worry about a water maker. If you run out of water, drink beer! Wash dishes in salt water, rinse only in fresh.

Had a friend on a Hunter sailboat with a non-boating friend. We were 2 boats enroute to the Broughtons a few years ago. Every time the non-boating friend wanted a glass of water he ran the tap until the water was cool. I don't think they have found his body yet.

Dave