In the Bahamas, you are surrounded by some of the world's most beautiful waters, but of course being saltwater means finding potable fresh water can be a challenge. Most water in the islands is RO (Reverse Osmosis) commercially produced, and often you have to pay 25-75 cents per gallon to fill your water tanks! The process of hauling jugs of water to the boat is an arduous task as well. The alternative for independent minded cruisers is to install a de-salination system, or "watermaker".
We were going to make up our own watermaker from different sourced parts, but it was going to take a while to select parts from different companies and hope that they will be compatible. Finally, we decided to purchase a kit of well engineered parts proven to work reliably.
SeaWater Pro
This is the 40 gallon per hour kit we selected. To see how these systems work visit;
https://seawaterpro.com/pages/products
The word "kit" makes it sound easy but there are a lot of parts, hoses that need to be in a particular place, this one with 2 40-inch membranes. We had a ready to use location on board where the original refridgerator compressor compartment had been located. Low and high pressure pumps, filters and valving fit nicely into the available space without taking up any precious available storage room. will reside nearby.
The system control panel hides very nicely in one of the hanging clothes closets. The water intake and cooling water plumbing were already there from the refridgerator cooling system, greatly simplifying the installation process.
The membranes that separate the salt molecules from the water molecules need to be rinsed with fresh water once a week or so. This kit includes an automatic system that accomplishes this task. If you leave the boat for a few days unattended this process is automatically completed.
You can watch videos on the SeaWater Pro website to learn more about watermakers. They have a reputation for really good customer service; that was definitely our experience.
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