T&T: Water Maker

[Milt Baker]

Rich,

This may be overkill for your Carver 43 but we have a Village Marine Tec Squirt 600 model which is rated for 25 GPH or 600 GPD and produces that in 75 degree water, a bit less in cooler water.  I've had it for four years and am extremely pleased with it.  It's required nothing beyond routine maintenance, essentially changing prefilters and oil.  It's available in a self-contained "box" unit, or for those with space problems is also available as separate compoments which can be mounted wherever you have room.  Mine has electronic controls which have been completely troublefree, but some sage cruisers opt for the no-frills non-electronic model which means a little more work for the captain but it's less expensive and there's less to go wrong.  My Squirt unit draws about 6 amps at 240 volts, and it's available with a 120-volt motor which would likely draw about 12 amps.

There are lots of watermaker companies out there, but Village Marine has been around for many years, supplies lots of large companies (and the U.S. Navy) and was recently acquired by Parker Hannifin, the company that owns Racor, so it's a company with staying power.  They have offices on the east coast and west coast and offer good tech support by phone.

This is my second Village Marine watermaker.  On my Grand Banks 42 I had a Little Wonder which produced a whopping 6 GPH or 150 GPD.  That's not enough to live on unless you run it a great deal, but it was a terrific, inexpensive small watermaker.  Somethng I liked a lot about it is that it was easily removable so anytime it needed service (I owned it for 12 years and replaced the membrane once or twice, I cannot remember which) I simply removed it and took it to the VMT for service--very convenient.  It was totally manual.  Little Wonders are available with either AC or DC motors.

Check out Village Marine at: http://www.villagemarine.com/

No connection with the company other than as a very satisfied customer.

--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, offshore Delaware enroute Block Island


Rich wrote:

Does anyone have a water maker on board that produces all of their fresh
water needs? What are the recommendations for a small unit?

I would like to add this feature to my boat but have limited space...