Adventures in Watermaking

See that missing arm in the upper right hand corner?  That is no bueno.  This is a bad impeller.

What is that they say?  "If it's too good to be true, it is?"  Sigh.  When will I learn?

We have been using our amazing Cruise RO watermaker for about four months now and many of you have been requesting a follow up post re: do we like it?

The short answer is, we don't like it.  We LOVE it.  So lets just get that out there to clear up any confusion.  Installing our high output watermaker is one of the best decisions we made with this boat, no question about that.  Ample fresh water on a boat floating in a sea of salt is a good thing.

I had a post ready to go about the unadulterated love we have for our 30 gallon per hour watermaker (daily showers! plenty of water for dishes! washing the boat at will! rinsing gear liberally!), when - in an ironic twist of fate - we went to run it and it went on the fritz.  Something didn't sound right.  At all.  (Note: ignoring strange sounds on a boat, particularly strange noises with pumps and engines, is not wise).  Scott immediately shut the system down and got to trouble-shooting.  Within ten minutes he had removed and dissected our Jabsco "boost" pump and found the culprit: a damaged shaft seal and a corroded motor, as well as a broken impeller.  This was Jabsco issue and, luckily, it was under warranty.

We called Rich from Cruise RO.  It's not always you get to talk directly to the CEO of a company - on a Sunday of a holiday weekend no less - and, as usual, he answered his phone immediately.  Our part was under warranty and he assured us he'd be shipping us a new one first thing on Tuesday morning (Monday being a holiday). While we're not exactly going anywhere fast at the moment, I braced myself for what was sure to be a long wait, full of customs hiccups, shipping gliches and red tape.  After all, isn't the bane of every cruiser's existence waiting for parts to arrive in exotic locations?

Through the magic of online tracking, we saw that the pump was indeed shipped Tuesday, arrived in Puerto Rico Wednesday, Tortola on Thursday, and the marina where we waited on Friday.  Incredible!  And we didn't pay a cent for this!  I was so happy I did a little jig, I even took to our Facebook Page to gloat.  I mean, shipping boat parts to foreign places never goes that smoothly! Never, ever!!

Sigh.  No it doesn't.

Scott got to work on the installation and, after about an hour of contortionist work in our watermaker locker to re-install the pump, he came up on deck with a very sweaty, very forlorn face. "Um...I was just about to finalize the installation and I happened to read the fine print on the pump.  It's a 24 volt pump".

(Insert loud sound of record scratching).

Our boat is a 12 volt boat.

This was a big problem and if it were me who had been working on the pump for an hour in a steaming sauna and discovered this little fact, I would have dropped a big old "F" bomb that rang through the mountaintops with fervor.

We were shipped the wrong pump.

We called Rich, and again he answered immediately.  Despite holding out hope that maybe just maybe we were supposed to get a 24 volt pump, he admitted the mistake and apologized.  As often as I'd like to think he is an incredible customer service robot who permanently has a phone attached to his ear, he is actually human.  We could have a new pump in four to five days, he promised, they would un-do this mistake.

But we didn't have four or five days.  We need to move on and our weather window is looking like it will be here on Thursday.  Waiting would be too risky.  So Scott took matters into his own hands and started calling around the island to see if we could source the pump ourselves (a frustrating process in itself, mind you).  While there was not a single Jabsco Water Puppy to be found in all of the British Virgin Islands, there was one in St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Scott grabbed his passport, hopped a ferry to the good ole U.S of A and five hours later brought back our puppy.  Running out to get a part when you have to go to another country can take a while.

Later that evening, after a celebratory meal and some wine, the pump was installed and our watermaker was back in action.  And what's best?  Rich and the folks at Cruise RO have decided to reimburse us completely for the pump, saying:

"In a situation like this we would typically say something like, 'we can get it to you for a cost of $150 but if you want to source it yourself to save time then we will cover what our cost would have been for us and you can cover the extra.'  That seems fair to us and most cruisers we have done that with have been happy with that compromise......BUT this whole situation was caused by us sending you the wrong pump, so this make it not a typical situation. We will send a refund check in the amount of $361.55 to the address you listed."

They say customer service is a thing of the past.  With Cruise RO Water and Power this could not be further from the truth.  This company has the best customer service I have ever experienced.  It is almost comical how good it is and I still secretly believe that Rich is actually a customer service robot with a phone permanently attached to his ear.  They go above and beyond for their customers and I can honestly say I have never been more impressed working with a company.  Can you imagine if all marine companies held the same standard (I'm talking to you electronics companies!)?  We boaters would free ourselves from a huge amount of stress and frustration and be floating around in a perpetual happy-land where questions are answered, warranties are honored and parts arrive without a hitch.

But that would be too good to be true.

Interested in our watermaker? Here are some more posts:

• Why we chose our watermaker
• The dry fit
• How we installed it
• The first test run of the system

* Full disclosure: We are sponsored by Cruise RO Water and Power.  BUT we do not get 'special treatment' - talk to anyone who has worked with this company and you will hear similar stories of them going above and beyond the call of duty.  They are really this awesome.

Want to Conserve Water? Carry It.

"Just because we have a watermaker doesn't mean we can waste water."  Scott gently reminds me of this regularly.  He's still spartan when it comes to good ole H2O.  He showers in the ocean and rinses with a few squirts of the fresh stuff.  When he does the dishes, he uses the tiniest bit of water possible.  Don't get me wrong; I don't let the tap run when I'm brushing my teeth and I'm not washing my hair daily, but lets just say I also feel that if we have a 30 gallon per hour watermaker, why not make the best of it?  In other words, I am not spartan.

When we moved our boat to a semi-enclosed hurricane hole, we were advised not to make water.  Watermakers work best on good, clean salt water and if you find yourself in an anchorage where there's silt, diesel, oil or raw sewage in the water...it's best not to use it.  While we probably would have been okay here - we decided to err on the side of caution and pickle it.  So we are without watermaker.

Our boat carries over 120 gallons of fresh water.  That's a lot.  Scott assured me I'd be set for the two and a half weeks.  "Just watch your water consumption" he warned before he left.  Apparently, I did not.  The night before last I went to grab my dear friend Genevieve a glass of water after dinner and heard our accumulator pump go on, and stay on.  For those of you who don't know, this is the telltale sound of a tank gone dry.

Luckily, we have two tanks.  I switched over to tank number two and all was fine.  But wow, sixty gallons in just over a week?  Sure, I cleaned the deck and cockpit, and true, I do have to rinse down Isla every day after beach time...but still.  That's a lot of water.  So I wanted to fix it.  I decided I would replenish the 60 gallons and yesterday, that's what I did.

Thanks to our good friends on s/v Necess I borrowed enough jerry cans to fill our boat with thirty-five gallons of water (we only carry one spare five gallon jug now, watermaker snobs that we are).  I was heading to shore anyway to drop off some laundry, and figured I'd fill the water too.  Seemed simple enough.  The dinghy ride into town was a breeze.  And then I got to shore.  I'd forgotten my flip-flops.  It's a downside to living on a boat where you almost never have anything on your feet.  I tip-toed through town shoeless, running my errands, and then with very dirty feet, got back in the dinghy with Isla in tow and headed to the free water spout at the dinghy dock.

I filled the thirty-five gallons with Isla watching intently, and then shoved off.  Our anchorage to town is one mile.  That doesn't sound like much, but in a dinghy motoring along at a brisk walk pace, it is.  It became apparent almost immediately that Isla and I were going to get soaked.  The wind was probably 15-18 knots out of the east, and we were heading into sizable waves.  The fact that we had about 300 lbs of water with us in the dinghy didn't help one bit.  Fat man in a little boat.  Isla was not impressed.

When we returned to Asante, we looked like drowned rats.  Soaked to the bone.  I put Isla on the boat and began the laborious exercise of unloading jerry can after jerry can from the dinghy to the aft deck, then from the aft deck to the bow (where our water fill hole is).  A full five pound jerry can clocks in at just over forty pounds.  Schlepping six of these babies the length of our boat is not easy, especially when you have a one year old climbing all over the place.  Take it from me.  I would seriously love to know what my boat neighbors were thinking while this ridiculousness was going down.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson, but nope.  Turns out, I am glutton for punishment.  When I picked up my laundry three hours later I repeated the whole rigamarole again (this time, however, I remembered my shoes and Isla and I wore bathing suits - I'm not a total idiot).   Thirty five gallons, soaking wet dinghy ride, back-breaking lifting, and eight Isla interceptions later, I was finished.  Thus filling our boat with about sixty gallons of water...manually.  It is my new definition of insanity.  How much do I love our watermaker?  A LOT.

But guess how much water I used last night?  Not much!  I hopped in the ocean for my shower, and finished off with just a splash of water.  I decided our salty clothes didn't need rinsing after all and I washed the dishes with nary a cup of water.  Turns out, if you REALLY want to appreciate something, work (really hard) for it.  No doubt this is the reason our society as a whole is so wasteful.  Whatever we want - be it food, information, service, or water - is right at our finger tips.  Life has gotten pretty easy for the "first world", and I can't help but think our appreciation of these things suffers because of it.

That said, I can't wait to run our watermaker again.

Cruise RO Watermaker First Run

Scott, trouble shooting and doing a little "lateral thinking"

It was over two months ago that we first fired up our Cruise RO Water and Power 30 gallon per hour watermaker.  As mentioned in earlier posts, Scott was pretty meticulous about the setup and made sure every piece of the conveniently modular unit was perfectly placed and installed correctly.  We were eager to get it up and running, but wanted to wait until we were in the pollutant-free water of the Bahamas to do it.  Once there, we were good to go.  Or were we?

Scott was so scrupulous about the start-up process that he made his own checklist from the one in the very detailed instruction manual.  We were adamant not to miss a beat and screw it up.   I sat with the manual, reading off line item by line item like a surgeon to a nurse:  "Open seawater thru hull" check..."Turn inlet water selector to seawater intake" check..."Verify the product selector seawater valve is in the to tanks position" check... and on and on we went until we were ready to go.  We'd hear all the parts working, following them closely like a Rube Goldberg Machine until the next step.  Everything was going smoothly and then right when we got to the part when water should have been coming out - the breaker tripped.

Sigh. Why does nothing on a boat go as planned?

After a few phone calls to Rich (I am serious, the customer service alone is reason to work with this company!) we decided to beef up our 15 amp breaker to a 20 amp breaker.  "Sometimes when the boost pump is brand new there's a little extra power needed to get everything running" he told us.  So we did that and started again.  Same thing.  Another phone call to Rich, more trouble shooting.  We re-wired, tried again.  Nothing.  We were stumped.  Everything was exactly as it should be, so why was this not working?

Scott, ever the engineer, traced his mind over the system and poured over the manual repeatedly when suddenly he said, "Maybe our brine water discharge has a clog?" It's amazing how many boat issues can be solved with basic troubleshooting and a little lateral thinking.  So there we were, taking apart our hoses and connectors when we found the culprit:  a hardened mess of sand, dirt, hair and god knows what else in the discharge elbow.  Scott cleaned it out and hooked everything back up.  We were back in business.  We fired up the system again (we were pros by now) and, sure enough, our watermaker worked exactly as promised.  Water came pouring out of the sample hose at an incredible rate...thirty-five gallons per hour.  Our old watermaker made five gallons per hour, we can now make that amount in about nine minutes.  It. is. awesome.

This was after the first clean out of the clog! It was bad!

Gnarly nastiness.

We celebrated with warm, fresh water showers of the back of the boat that night...and just about every night since.  Going with a high-output watermaker goes down as being one of the best decisions we made this time around.  While a watermaker is certainly not a necessity (we know a couple who happily cruise on ten gallons every two weeks), it sure makes life a lot nicer.  If there is one thing I have learned while cruising, it's that being comfortable correlates with being happy.  "Comfort" of course is relative but for us, having ample water makes a big difference.

Here's a video of our test run so you can see the flow, but the most impressive part might be Isla dancing to Paul Van Dyk at the end.  Kid's got rhythm I tell you.

MVI 3950 from Windtraveler on Vimeo.

Interested in our watermaker? Here are some more posts:

• Why we chose our watermaker
• The dry fit
• How we installed it
• Adventures in watermaking

Full disclosure:  We are sponsored by Cruise RO Water and Power. If you are curious as to why we chose this unit, read this post.

Cruise RO Watermaker: Installation

Our 30 gallon per hour high output Cruise RO watermaker is fully installed and ready to go.  We have yet to run it, however, as we have not been in clean enough water to do it (marinas, canals, dirty anchorages and the like are not good places to run water makers) but we will be very soon, and rest assured we will let you know how it works.  In the meantime, I want to share some pictures of how our dry-fit went from plan to reality.

Despite the time that it took Scott to design this set up (and it took time!), it was an easy install.  All the necessary fittings (and even a tubing cutter) were supplied as well as incredibly explicit pictorial directions that were easy to follow.  The use of Mur-loc fittings made connecting the hoses a breeze and the modular nature of the unit gave us the flexibility we needed.  The company's owner, Rich, was always immediately available to answer questions via email or phone, day or night, which was a huge bonus.  We're so happy with the way it turned out and think we not only used space efficiently, but made all the necessary components easy to reach and service.  Check it out:

Membranes are mounted on the forward side of our aft hanging locker.  Hardly notice 'em. Scott wants me to point out how the hanging bar goes right through the two of them.  Nice touch, eh?

Hoses about to be hooked up, labeled and ready to perform a little reverse osmosis!

The watermaker locker.  This is on the starboard side of our walk through and holds 95% of our watermaker components. This pic is looking outboard and forward in the locker.

...and this is the same locker, but aft.

Same locker, looking down - this is the high pressure pump.

We built a shelf to cover the motor, and we can store all the filters back there...

And there is still usable space to store other things as well!

The man with the plan

Interested in our watermaker? Here are some more posts:

• Why we chose our watermaker
• The dry fit
• The first test run of the system
• Adventures in watermaking

* Full disclosure:  we are sponsored by Cruise RO Water and Power

Work: The Double Edged Sword

When Scott got his USCG Captain's license, we new that it would open up a whole new world for him in terms of work.  And it did.  It allows him gainful employment as a captain with Island Windjammers and opens up a bunch of other opportunities from doing deliveries to helping out on mega yachts here in Ft. Lauderdale (he's got a five day gig next week with our buddy Travis!).  You never know what the future leads, but I am pretty certain the sea is where his life's work will be, no more going to an office for him.

This is fantastic for us because a) he can potentially find work wherever in the world we are and b) these jobs will allow us to cruise indefinitely.  The down sides, of course, are a) we will not be able cruise while he works and b) we spend weeks apart at a time.  Yep, even when you live like wayward nomads in cool places,  it's difficult to have your cake and eat it too.

Scott reports to Grenada for an eight week rotation at the end of November and he is really scrambling to get all of our major projects completed before he departs.  Our goal is to be - more or less - ready to go when he returns mid-January.  At the moment he's working solo on the boat from 8am to 8pm, stopping for few breaks in between.  I bring him his lunch, steal little moments to help him here and there while Isla is napping, but for the most part - we pass like ships in the night.  Not ideal, but it is what it is.

Projects underway:

• The addition of an inner stay with a roller furling staysail (the boat is already set-up for this, but does not have one) in progress with a local rigging company
• The modification of our bimini and solar panels so that the two can zip together in progress with local canvas company
• Installation of our new watermaker
• Installation of isolation valves on our sea chest (more on this later)
• Installation of dinghy davits by UMT Marine
• Addition of our dinghy motor hoist to our instrument pole
• Mounting of our new Viking life raft canister to the deck

Those are the big ones, there are countless more "little" projects that must be completed as well.  While we might have more money to pay for these projects, we have less time to complete them.  And therein lies the double-edged sword.  We'll get there.  At the moment progress is slow, but slow and steady wins the race, right?

Marine Electrical Engineering 101

We said goodbye to Walt today.  We got a TON done over the past ten days and this wave of forward momentum we're riding has us in great spirits.   It's hard to believe that this is refit number two with him.  We've come a long way... heck, we're practically family now.

Here's what was accomplished:

• Mounted the new instrument pole
• Got AIS up and running
• Wired the new ICOM 802 SSB, up and running
• Relocated chartplotter and autopilot
• Aft deck flood light up and running
• Installed new VHF
• New Fusion stereo up and running
• New Victron battery monitor up and running
• Began installation of our Cruise RO Watermaker
• Ran spare VHF antenna to the pole
• General clean up of existing wiring (labeling, zip-tying, removing dead wire..etc)
• Made new nav station panels and mounted all gear on it (more on this later!)
• Ran a crap ton of wires to make it all work

The best part of all this?  Scott now knows the boat like the back of his hand and he has become incredibly proficient with boat electronics.  He's learned the proper technique for soldering, labeling, splicing and running electrical wire (fyi, wire nuts have no place on a boat!) and has become so competent that Walt is seriously considering bringing him along on jobs!  Tip: If you want to cruise indefinitely, gain skills in any boat related field.  It will help you tremendously.

We've come across few professionals who are as meticulous as Walt, and we've benefitted tremendously from him setting the bar high for us.  Last night during dinner Walt said, "You know what I love most about working with you guys?" he paused with a smile as he tousled his mop of thick, grey hair, "We're a great team."  And we are.  Unlike most of the jobs that Walt goes on, we work side by side with him and it's a win/win for all of us:  we learn from his genius, and he gets more accomplished by delegating.  We also tend to have a lot of fun in between.  Thank you Walt for your expertise, friendship and total dedication to our dreams!

In other news:  today we had a rigger come look at our rig.  We're going be adding a permanent inner stay in the next couple weeks so that we can have a stays'l on deck at all times.  While there are plusses and minuses to everything; having a "cutter" rig has been at the top of our list of "wants" since we began cruising.  We'll tell you more about it when we get there...for now, we're going to relax poolside!

Water, Water, Everywhere...

...And LOTS AND LOTS to drink! 

One of the best decisions Scott and I made with Rasmus was to put a watermaker on board.  We loved it and loved knowing that we didn't have to schlep jerry cans back and forth from boat to shore to fill up.  We also loved knowing that we could take showers daily, use fresh water to clean and rinse our boat, and, in general, use good ole H2O a little more liberally from time to time.

Notice I said a "little" more liberally.

When we bought our new boat, we decided that we wanted to install a high-output watermaker to allow ourselves even more liberal use of water to accomodate our growing crew (Isla likes her bathtime!).  The ability to take longer showers, thoroughly rinse our boat and gear after passages, and drink as much water as we please all make cruising more like living and less like camping.  Once we decided that a high-output unit was what we wanted, I did what I do best; and hit the interweb to do some research.  I've mentioned before that a perk of having a fairly popular blog is the fact that we get lots of emails and input from followers, and more than a couple of you suggested we check out Cruise RO Water and Power.  I did some more investigation and I liked what I found.  Designed for cruisers by cruisers, Cruise RO Water and Power creates affordable, efficient, high-output watermakers to quench the saltiest of sailors!

There are so many "perks" with this company that it's hard to single one out - but to me, the biggest perk is their customer service.  They pride themselves in getting back to inquiries within hours and in today's world of telephone automation and "push one for...", having some decent customer service is a major plus.

The other perk is the fact that the units are incredibly competitively priced.   Their watermakers use no proprietary parts which not only helps keep the cost of the units down, but means you can buy parts for your watermaker at most hardware stores.

What also makes these watermakers unique is the fact that they are designed to run off a Honda generator, rather than your ship's batteries.  Because we have a genset on our new boat, we will be hooking our new SeaMaker 30 up to that.  We anticipate only having to run our generator one hour every five days.  Sure, you can run your watermaker off your batteries, but at such a high amperage draw most people have to run their engines to make water anyway, and we've decided powering our unit off the genset is the way to go.

Finally, Cruise RO (that's Reverse Osmosis if you were wondering) Water and Power backs their product by offering an industry best three year warranty and a lifetime guarantee of stainless steel parts.  That's pretty good if you ask me.

We'll keep you posted on the entire process with our new watermaker; from the dry fit to the installation, from the test run to a recap and review 2-4 months down the line.  We're looking forward to it!

Interested in our watermaker? Here are some more posts:

• The dry fit
• How we installed it
• The first test run of the system
• Adventures in watermaking

* Full disclosure:  we are sponsored by Cruise RO Water and Power