TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Water Maker

I have noticed that many of the newer boats come with a water maker. Can a water maker keep up with the water needs of a boat with eight people? If so are they dependable? Lastly can you drink the water? Thanks in advance.
Steve

I can not speak to every company and every install but the boats that we have in the CYOA fleet with water makers will keep up with the typical demand of the boat and crew. We also installed a filtration system with a UV light to sterilize the water so yes the water is potable on our water maker equipped boats.

The feed back over the last couple of seasons has been tremendous from repeat guests that have done it both ways. The availability of water, not having to dock the boat, not having to plan your itinerary around water stops and last but not least fresh water flush heads that don't stink of sulfur all add real value to the trip. Not to mention less plastic trash to dispose of.

Jay

The water maker should be able to keep up with your needs as long as you don't have a long showerers. Even though the water is ok, I still wouldn't drink it because you don't know what's lurking in the tanks <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

CaptainJay

How reliable are water makers on charter boats? Frequent maintenance? Costly?
Are typical charter guests able to operate ?

We have tested three different manufacturers. We have had good service from all three. The simplest to use are the 12 volt units that we have on a half dozen boats. They are made by Aquabase they use energy recovery and are very simple to operate. They make 15 gallons and hour so two to four hours a day keeps up with most boats. They set their own pressure it is a simple on off and back flush buttons. As long as we keep the prefilters clean they have been very reliable. We also have three large 220 volt units made by Blue Water Desalination. While slightly more complicated they make 25 gallons and hour.
We also have one Desalinator that is OEM on a new Beneteau 48 it is dual voltage and works very well. It also is slightly more complicated as you have to set the pressure and decide between 110 volt and 12 volt for operation.


Jay

Keeping clean filters is the main thing to water production. Most boats will have spares and it's an easy switch.

Thanks
I have never been on a charter boat that has a water maker. I do see value (but also potential expense).

we have chartered from CYOA and loved the water maker. We have not used the 12v version, but the 220 volt units make 25 gallons/hr and definitely can keep up (as long as people are reasonable with the shower time)

We did not find the operation to be challenging, but it is not automatic.

It really is a nice item, especially if you are going somewhere with fewer water options like SVI.

Although one has to wonder about bacteria given the practise of dumping holding tanks into the ocean with so many boats in a small area.

Modern water makers are very good tools and very useful on any overnight boat. We have enjoyed several on different boats. It does add complexity for the owner, operator, and end user. Some are better with marine complexity than others. The modern "watermaker" will make cleaner water than the water coming out of your public hose or tap. There is no chlorine so the water is only sterile for the moment. The bacteria and water health risk on any boat is the tank and piping. Once you have serviced a few boat tanks or changed out any boat tubing you will not want to put boat water in your mouth anymore. To be clear there is no way to tell whether the boat you were on was built with medical/food grade tubing or tanks. It differs from day to day in the building process.

If you spend enough time on boats you will figure out that you should never put yourself in a position where you must have an engine, generator, AC, and now the watermaker. If you are going to leave the dock you should be prepared to deal without anything on the boat including the hull.

All that noise aside. I do not want any overnight boat without a genset, AC, and watermaker even though I can do just fine without it. In the BVI we always have at least one clean gallon of emergency fresh water for each person aboard. If ever the boats water supply falls short we hand out those gallons. Further down island we would carry more spare water.

With tens of days using a water-makers aboard. We have experienced one failure on a Voyage Cat related to some type of fuse/thermal breaker we could not self service. The issue was a known problem that Voyage met us and corrected within 24 hours. We have had less luck with gen-sets and AC's coupled with salt water. Get the watermaker if you can. Be prepared to do without the boats water supply no matter what.

Given the topic of " watermakers", one would have to wonder about your conflation of boat tap water tanks with sewage tanks. You might want to reconsider your thoughts.

I had to look up conflation. Sewage contaminated water is sucked up by the watermaker and desalinated. Do these gadgets sanitize the water as well? I don't know.

Going back up thread a few comments you would find this from Capt Jay

"I can not speak to every company and every install but the boats that we have in the CYOA fleet with water makers will keep up with the typical demand of the boat and crew. We also installed a filtration system with a UV light to sterilize the water so yes the water is potable on our water maker equipped boats."