TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Endless water

Just completed a week on my boat Dream Machine out of CYOA. She had a water maker installed a couple months back and this was our first trip with a seemingly endless amount of water. Game changer! Stand in the shower as long as you want. First time felt a little guilty but got used to it in a hurry. Hose down the cockpit floor. No worries... just turn on the plant and presto the tank is once again full. No need to plan for where to fill water. Water makers are cool!

Watermakers are a big game changer. 5 years ago they were a rarity on charter boats. Now I believe CYOA has them on all their catamarans and their larger monos.

For my charter clients, it provides tremendous itinerary flexibility eliminating the need to seek out a marina every 3-4 days and sometimes more frequently for a water refill (often having to circle and wait for the dock to free up), and it avoids the added stress of docking a 50' cat.

As an owner, I appreciate the 30~40 avoided docking encounters per year with fewer potential hull bruises and less transmission wear.

Other charter companies claim that water makers breakdown too frequently to be worth installing. Does CYOA have a magic potion?

Most charter companies are installing water makers now. They are a maintenance issue but in the last few years are much better. I find however that on a cat with 210 gallons we get water once a trip and don’t ration it. Normally that is at the dock somewhere mid trip so not much of a issue to spend 15 minutes topping the tanks.
One problem is that if a boat has a water maker and it’s not working or breaks charters get upset. Some even demand a boat swap.
G

Like any other marine equipment there are failures. This is a relatively low number. It requires skilled staff, spare parts and maitenance. Not all charter comlpanies are created equal.

So True Capt Jay. : Have used CYOA in past and you are up there with the better charter companies. BIG not always better, especially in charter industry.

Which water maker do you prefer? Do you pickle in-between charters if there is going to be a 3-4 week gap(or flush only?)

Last year, it took our family of four (me, wife and two daughters) 10 days to use the first 110 gallon tank. I wanted to see how far we could go by being smart with water. This year, we will likely use more, but it is amazing how much water you save with showers off the back of the boat.

I know the Moorings is now ordering boats with water makers. What I don’t know is if they will cut the tankage on those boats. A 4 head 4 cabin cat with only 105 gallons will not be fun. Does CYOA retain full tankage?

I can only comment from my own experience. There are no "standard" configurations with the boats at CYOA. Each owner configures their boat the way they want them. In my case Dream Machine has the standard tank plus the aux water tank.

What brand of water maker did you have installed and what is the gph? Thanks

Aqua-base
It runs on 12v and produces roughly 15 gph.
Pretty much all automatic operation. Three buttons. Green to make water. Red to stop making water and blue to back flush.
Package is small enough to fit in one of the rear holds of a Beneteau 45.

We've chartered quite a few boats with Watermakers from CYOA and have never had one fail.
On the flip-side, I'm becoming an expert in changing generator impellers. They hate me.

The generator impeller issue on charter boats I am convinced is because people run them while underway. You get a little rough water and the intake sucks Air. Does not take much to burn it up.

I can't imagine it is much of a boat design that wouldn't allow the generator to be used underway. Making any sort of passage, overnight or multiple days , charter boats aren't made here in the VI, they had to be sailed here from Somewhere!

The only time we have had a problem was when we sucked up enough sea grass overnight that the flow rate was impeded to the point the generator shut itself down (like it's supposed to). We continued to use the generator fine after cleaning out the strainer and didn't have any sign of trouble. But when we returned back to CYOA they immediately yanked the impeller out which indeed had some damage (i.e., a little bit melted).

George... We never had a problem running the generator while underway. Intake was at a low point on the hull, near engine intake.

It's probably a bad after-market generator installation if you have problems with air getting sucked in.

We were told not to run the generator while underway on a Moorings 474 PC. Perhaps newer models have changed this restriction

Maybe, but I never, ever, run it while underway.
I'm 6-for-6 in the last 6 charters.

My understanding from our checkout on a 433PC last year was this was the only Moorings boat where the generator could be run while underway, due to the placement of the intakes.

Burge - can you confirm?