[PUP] watermaker

[Peter Pisciotta]

> I am leaning towards the 200 gal unit in 24V but
> would appreciate input from
> those with some experience in these thingies.

You don't specify the size of boat and typical use,
but having 24VDC/220VAC indicates something fairly
sizeable, something large enough that you'll have some
AC power demands anyway so running the genset would be
a near daily routine. Under that assumption, I agree
with Steve Dubnoff and would lean toward the 600gpd
unit. With the 24V/200gpd unit, you might squeeze out
10-hours of running - 70 gallons - before you'll be
running the generator anyway (90-100 amp hours). With
the 600gpd unit, your routine will likely be a couple
hours of generator time (which you'll probably have
anyway) during which time you'll run other A/C items -
oven (assuming it's electric), maybe some small
appliances, vacuum, and washer/dryer if your boat is
so equipped.

7 gph is not a lot of water. 25 gph is. And yes, for
the most part, those are the actual production
numbers. Similar to Dave Cooper's suggestion, its nice
to have excess water to do things like wash down the
windows and handrails to remove salt that seems to
accumulate overnight while underway (more of an issue
in tropics). Or wash down the dinghy.

BTW - my boat has a 200gpd watermaker. I bought it
with under 5 hours on it. The previous owner had it
installed originally on his boat, then decided it was
too small and replaced it with a 600 gpd unit.

Peter
Willard 36
San Francisco