Water Maker

[Stella Maris]

This past month, we installed a Spectra Catalina MK II water maker on Destiny. This by far has been one of the best investments we have made for Destiny.

We dropped down into the sound last week and spent three days cruising some of our favorite haunts, Blake Island, Eagle Harbor, and Poulsbo. On each of the legs, we ran the water maker. The unit we bought will produce between 12 and 16 GPH.

We have run it now a total of 12 hours producing 180 gallons of water.

We are looking forward to our trip north this summer and not having to worry about our water consumption. Short showers will no longer be the norm. I have also re-plumbed our raw water wash down to now pull from the fresh water tanks. Now when we arrive at our destination, we will simply wash the salt away whether we are anchored or in a marina.

This is one item that I would recommend to everyone out there. For the Ranger Tugs, the Ventura 150 would be the perfect size. While it will only produce an average of 6 GPH, its small size will not consume your much needed storage space.

I did the majority of the installation myself saving $2,500.00 on installation costs. The installation as well as the instruction book is very straight forward and easy to understand.

The benefit of the Spectra water makers is, they run off of DC power so no need to run your generator. Simply turn it on when you pull your anchor or dock lines and shut it off when you arrive. It is self cleaning and has a great storage mode. It will automatically flush itself every 120 hours. No need to pickle it when you are not using it for a few weeks.

Thanks to Marcus and Jorge for recommending such a great item!

 

[walldog]

I believe this is the water maker that Circle T has also. The specs say output rating is with 77d F seawater. I wonder what happens with 48d F seawater....more or less output? The flushing every 5 days in storage must be done with existing freshwater supply, I assume. Have you posted pictures on Destiny's web page?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[walldog]

Who did you purchase it from?

 

[Salish Rover]

Same one we have on the Salish Rover. It can't be beat. Ours came from Emerald Harbor Marine located at Elliott Bay Marina. Great service

 

[Stella Maris]

We too purchased ours from Emerald Marine in Elliott Bay.

The water temp last week was at 48 degrees. We have averaged an output of 15 GPH.

I did post pictures on Destiny's web site.

You can go here: http://www.helmsman-ph38-destiny.com/enhancements.html

As I said, I did the majority of the install myself over a weekend. The one saving grace we had was we used an existing through hull so we saved a haul out. My labor hours came to 16. Emerald spent another 8. I had them check all of my connections plus cut the hole for the control module.

And yes, it uses fresh water from your tank to flush itself.

 

[mspaugy]

Does the water maker remove toxic substances in the water?

 

[Todd]

Ro water makers remove just about everything that is larger than the water molecule. It is a filter, not unlike a screen and anything smaller than the screen opening will pass through. All units use a filter before the RO unit to remove the larger stuff and keep it from entering the RO unit. Some units have a carbon filter after the RO unit to remove chlorine and some other organic compounds that can pass through the RO unit such as petroleum products. Neither is guaranteed to catch everything.

The RO units do a great job of keeping the boat supplied with fresh water but I would suggest using some common sense and not turn it on around marinas and areas known to have contaminated water.

Another problem for live aboards is long term consumption of RO water. Drinking mineral water provides nourishing minerals to build strong bones and bodies. Drinking RO water does the opposite. Water likes to dissolve stuff. If you strip out all the minerals, which the Ro unit does, then drink the water it will adsorb minerals from you. Check with your doctor and even with a good diet you may want to take a mineral supplement to avoid osteoporosis and stuff like that.

 

[walldog]

Ro water makers remove just about everything that is larger than the water molecule. It is a filter, not unlike a screen and anything smaller than the screen opening will pass through. All units use a filter before the RO unit to remove the larger stuff and keep it from entering the RO unit. Some units have a carbon filter after the RO unit to remove chlorine and some other organic compounds that can pass through the RO unit such as petroleum products. Neither is guaranteed to catch everything.

The RO units do a great job of keeping the boat supplied with fresh water but I would suggest using some common sense and not turn it on around marinas and areas known to have contaminated water.

Another problem for live aboards is long term consumption of RO water. Drinking mineral water provides nourishing minerals to build strong bones and bodies. Drinking RO water does the opposite. Water likes to dissolve stuff. If you strip out all the minerals, which the Ro unit does, then drink the water it will adsorb minerals from you. Check with your doctor and even with a good diet you may want to take a mineral supplement to avoid osteoporosis and stuff like that.

Interesting information, thanks. You also may want to add a bit of clorine to your tank from time to time as the shelf life of RO water is probably not very long. We filled some water bottles with RO water and found that taste became bad after a few days. Probably a small amount of bacteria in our bottles became larger without the inhibiting clorine of city water systems.

 

[sportner]

David,

Please keep us posted of your summer anchorages, we would love to anchor next to good friends with a water maker. try to make your wash down hose long enough to accommodate your neighbor who only carries 40 gal..

Thanks for sharing your water maker add on information. We look forward to seeing you on the water this year in the northwest or Lake Powell.

 

[Stella Maris]

Russ and Toni,
Of course we would share our water with you. It will be nice arriving in an anchorage and being able to wash the salt spray off. Again, I don't know how we ever made it this far without a water maker....

David

 

[daviduphoff]

We have only had a water maker on a couple boats. One thing I remember is thinking that the ice cubes from the water maker water always tasted funny. When we were out I always made sure I shut off the ice maker so it would not use water maker water. Perhaps I was just used to the well water ice cubes at home. Thoughts anyone?

 

[Todd]

RO water defiantly tastes different. It is devoid of all minerals and most everything else. Just spent a couple of weeks on a sailboat with a water maker. Made lemonade to add to and mask the flavor of the RO water.