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We have had Mind's Eye now for 16 years and have made many changes and "improvements" during that time. The most challenging has been the just- completed watermaker installation, which we decided we "needed" for our next adventure of extended sailing in the Sea of Cortez and points beyond. We didn't want to have to depend on questionable local water supplies.
After a fair amount of research we decided on the Little Wonder Modular 150 that operates on 12 volts. The promotional literature seemed pretty straight forward and it appeared that it would meet our needs by putting out 5-7 gallons of water per hour. The clincher was the good report from PRACTICAL SAILOR.
The unit was purchased through the Watermaker Store in San Diego, and they have proved very helpful in answering my questions when I called in on their toll free number, 888-419-5662.
Mind's Eye is an aft cabin model, and there really isn't a lot of "free" space, however, the previous owners had remodeled the head area to provide a crawl- through space for their 2 young daughters from the aft cabin. This has never been that usable for adults, so this area was selected for the watermaker location.
The high pressure pump with 1/4 HP electric motor was mounted just behind the head, extending into the port berth in the aft cabin about 6". The reverse osmosis membrane vessel was mounted horizontally on vertical frames already bonded to the hull in this same area. The high pressure hose then loops up under the gunnel from the pump and back down to the vessel. These cannot be placed in the engine compartment because of temperature limits...110 F maximum.
You can see by the attached drawing that the plumbing is fairly complex and that some of the items need to be below the waterline, while others need to be above. You MUST read the owner's manual to get the complete picture of do's and don't's.
One item -not- mentioned is the fact the boost pump needs to be mounted with the "out" tube on top to allow air to be purged. The pump is -not- self priming. I found out the hard way and had to reinstall the unit. In retrospect, I should have installed a self-priming pump, which would make it much easier to perform maintenance on the system while the boat is "on the hard" or a trailer.
The installation instructions in the owner's manual are confusing because they describe the installation without considering whether you are including the freshwater flush and cleaning plumbing as part of the total job. Once I figured that out and just went by the diagram provided by the Watermaker Store, it went better. I modified the Watermaker Store's diagram by excluding the "bucket," since the boost pump is not capable of drawing water and pushing it through the system. Once the system has water throughout, things worked OK, but getting the system full was a problem because the boost pump was not self-priming.
A bulkhead was mounted athwartship above the electric motor and high pressure pump, blocking the mentioned crawl-through. The five 3-way valves were mounted on this bulkhead. The 5-micron pre-filter and carbon block filter were both mounted in the engine compartment on the port side. The reinforced flexible PVC hoses were run from the various valves to the filters and the two water tanks. Simple on/off blocking valves in the tank out lines are shown, but not labeled for lack of space on the drawing.
This setup allows easy freshwater flushing of the system so that the system can go several days without operation. The system has to be operated every 2-3 days if the saltwater isn't purged. It also allows for easy cleaning and "pickling" if the system isn't going to be used for several weeks or months. The owner's manual has all the details regarding this.
The Watermaker Store's sketch diagram (see previous hot link) helped a great deal in understanding how to connect the unit to the vessel. I neated it up a bit.
I ordered the Little Wonder Modular (LWM150): $3195
Cleaning Valves: for ease of maintenance, cleaning & preservation: $120
Freshwater Flush Kit Complete: $150
Hand Held Salinity Meter: $49
Additional 3-way valve for tank selection + hose, clamps, ss elbows: $90
More hose, clamps, nylon fittings from local hardware store (cheaper): est. $46
Total: $3650
Now all we need to do is finish some odds and ends on the boat and then head for Mexico. I'll provide another report after we've used the watermaker in real life.
