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Water, Water,
Everywhere
1/30/03
Blaine Parks
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Two views of the aft-head
where we installed the bulk of our Spectra watermaker.
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A close-up look at the pumps
and control panel installation under the sink.
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The fresh-water flush module
lives under a settee with some chips and other food items.
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That old
sailor’s adage, “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink,”
no longer rings true. Reverse-osmosis
watermakers have completely revolutionized the way boaters think about
their water supply. They’ve
given up on washing dishes in buckets of saltwater followed by a quick
rinse with only a capful of freshwater.
Even the idea of showering more than once a week has gained
momentum among the crustiest of old salts.
And so it was with grandiose hopes of cleaner dishes and a
fresher-smelling crew that I took on the project of installing a
watermaker aboard Charbonneau. Our
choice: the Spectra 380-C with the MPC-3000 remote control panel.
Reverse-osmosis
(RO) is not a new technology. In
fact, large RO plants have provided drinking water from seawater for a
large portion of the world’s population for several decades.
It has only been in the last ten years or so, however, that RO
systems became small enough, reliable enough, and energy efficient enough
to be considered standard gear on cruising boats.
An informal survey among our cruising friends indicated that more
than 50% now have a watermaker installed and an overwhelming majority of
those who don’t wish they did.
The
reverse-osmosis process is fairly simple, contrary to my earlier belief
that making great tasting water from seawater was something just shy of
miraculous. A cruiser once
described the process to me as being akin to a household pressure washer
connected to a high-tech filtering membrane.
After installing our unit, I have to say that his description seems
very fitting. The next few
paragraphs provide a layperson’s overview of watermakers.
Please keep in mind that I’m not an engineer nor have I ever
played one on television; I’m just a cruiser who’s installed one of
these marvelous gadgets.
Let’s start at
the beginning. A watermaker needs a steady supply of seawater via a
thru-hull fitting located well below the boat’s waterline. You can either provide a dedicated thru-hull or share
one with another device. If
you decide to share, make sure there is enough supply to service all the
devices connected to the shared thru-hull.
In addition, we found by trial and error that a thru-hull located
deeper and/or further aft works better than one located further forward.
Either location would work well at anchor, but making water while
underway proved impossible with my first choice of a forward thru-hull
because air bubbles were introduced as we moved through the water.
We moved the intake line further aft, now sharing a thru-hull with
our air-conditioner, and have had no problems since.
The water supply
line should enter the boat via the watermaker manufacturer’s specified
hose size – our Spectra came with ¾” hose – followed by a coarse
sea strainer. Water exiting
the strainer is then plumbed to one or more feed pumps.
These pumps will pull water up from the thru-hull, through the sea
strainer, and push the water to a series of pre-filters, similar to those
you’d find at a hardware store for filtering water in your home.
Once the water has been strained and fed through the pre-filters,
it goes to a high-pressure pump. Spectra
uses their patented Clark pump, increasing the water pressure to
approximately 125 psi. The
highly pressurized water is then forced through a long tube-shaped
membrane where the water is separated into fresh water and brine.
The fresh water is plumbed into your tanks or a collection device. The brine is directed overboard through another thru-hull,
this one above the waterline (we shared with the aft sink drain).
Sounds simple,
right? I thought so too until
I began unpacking all the pieces, trying to determine where to install
them aboard Charbonneau. Remember, our boat already had one of everything available
from West Marine so there was very little free space. After three days of measuring, scratching my head, and then
measuring again, I decided to infringe upon some space in the aft head for
the bulk of the installation. The
remote control panel was easily installed above our navigation station
table and an optional fresh-water flush assembly found a home under one of
the salon settees with some house batteries and a few bags of corn chips.
I have to give
Spectra credit for their well laid-out instructions and do-it-yourself
parts kits. I read through
the installation manual twice before starting, a difficult thing for most
men (we hate instructions), and felt very confident about the installation
process afterwards. The only
parts that were not included with our unit were a 30-amp fuse and some
wire. All hoses, hose clamps,
elbows, fittings, and accessories were provided. In many cases, they provided more than the number required;
they must have heard about me always losing things.
I won’t bore
you with my blow-by-blow installation.
Doing so might reveal how many times I repeated each step,
improving upon my mistakes with each attempt.
Instead, I’ll say that the required plumbing and wiring was very
straightforward once I decided where the devices were to be mounted –
tedious, but straightforward. I
found the most difficult part of the installation to be the routing of
hoses and wires in a boat already full of their cousins.
I’m well over my fear of cutting holes aboard Charbonneau after
three years of cruising, but choosing where to cut those holes for best
access or easiest routing took time, lots of time.
I believe it might have been much simpler had I been able to
install the entire device in one larger space.
But I, like most of the cruisers I know, didn’t have that luxury.
The only conflict
I found between the instructions and the actual installation was with the
wiring of the pre-filter pressure sensors.
The installation manual indicates an “In” and “Out”
connection on the main wiring panel.
The diagram in the manual has those connections shown directly
opposite to what was stamped on the panel’s circuit board.
I assumed the error was in the manual and wired the sensors
according to the panel’s labeling.
I was wrong; the manual is correct.
I called Spectra’s customer service number and was told that
there was a printing problem with the boards.
Thankfully, those of you buying newer units should receive panels
with correct labeling.
After ten days of
hard work interspersed with colorful language, I closed my eyes, said a
prayer, and pushed the start button.
Can you believe that the damn thing started right up?
I must have looked like Captain Ron, jumping up and down in the
cabin, cheering that watermaker on. Our
neighbors in the marina probably thought I’d finally lost my mind,
knowing they’d overheard some of my colorful language previously.
But, it worked. I
could hear the fresh water running into our tanks and couldn’t wait to
push a glass of our ‘Charbonneau Springs’ water into somebody’s hand
to try. You didn’t think I
was going to taste it first, did you?
Janet agreed to
be the first taste-tester. I
tried to increase her life insurance and rearrange the wills first, but it
didn’t matter; she tasted the water, liked what she tasted, and has been
healthy ever since. From that first drink, we’ve been liberated from dockside
water supplies. We don’t
measure our shower water in quart-sized buckets anymore or agonize over
how many glasses of water our dinner guests drink.
We now have the freedom to explore distant ports and uninhabited
islands without the worry of where our next glass of water will come from. That freedom, however, didn’t come cheaply.
There are several
brands of watermakers on the market; none are inexpensive.
Our 12-volt Spectra 380-C with the MPC-3000 control panel and
freshwater flush assembly cost us $6,000 at the Annapolis Boat Show, not
including installation. If we
had paid someone to install the unit, it could have run as high as $8,000.
The 380-C produces 16 gallons per hour drawing 18-20 amps per hour.
The 380-C can also be run using only one of its two feed-pumps to
make 8 gallons per hour drawing 8 amps, effectively making it a 200-C
unit.
The MPC-3000 and
freshwater flush assembly was a $1,000 option, but one that we thought
important for our installation. The
MPC-3000 automates almost all functions of the watermaker, making
operation as simple as pressing one button.
There is no need to manually test water salinity, turn valves, or
flush the system after each operation.
An LCD panel gives monitoring information on salinity, water
pressure, filter conditions, and water output.
One of the best features is the ‘Auto/Store’ function.
The unit has a timer and will automatically give the system a
freshwater flush every five days if the system hasn’t been run.
Flushing the membrane with freshwater after each operation and then
every five days, if not run, eliminates the need to pickle the membrane
with chemicals and extends the time before replacement.
Our choice of the
Spectra unit was based on several years of barstool conversations with
cruisers about their own watermaker experiences, not on price alone.
Spectra units are far from the least expensive units on the market,
but are regarded by cruisers as the industry leader in both product
quality and customer support. Of
course, we’ll keep you informed if that reputation doesn’t stand up to
its claim.
So far, we’re
extremely pleased with our decision and the Spectra’s operation.
My water rations have been increased so that I can make all the
lemonade I want and there’s no problem with my taking long showers on
those days when a long hot shower is what I truly want.
I can’t say that I enjoyed the ten days required to install the
watermaker, but I’m certainly proud of my work and am enjoying the
fruits of my labor. Stop by
sometime and I’ll pour you a refreshing glass of ‘Charbonneau
Springs’ water.
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Here's what the boat
looked like during the installation. I saved this messy
picture until the end so you wouldn't be scared off. It was
worth it!
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