More learning

Those of you who are following the posts will know that one of our recent purchases is a watermaker.

On Escapade, we have tanks to carry 600 litres of water which for two people is plenty. A watermaker is classed by many as a luxury item, but our decision to buy one was to help make life a little easier for us, especially as we plan to sail in less populated areas.

Our new watermaker will generate 60 litres per hour, but we will need to run the generator to do this.

Simply put, it takes in salt water and filters it under pressure, so the salt is filtered out ….technical bit below!!

Technical bit by Martin!

So, yes you can drink sea water. All you have to do is remove the salt and other bits. In order to do this, you need to force water through a filter at high pressure. The filter is designed so that water molecules will pass though, but salt and other impurities don’t. After running the water maker, it then goes into a revers flush cycle and puts all the filtered material back into the sea.

Over several years, we did much research (as usual). Jim and Ann from Mactra were very helpful and patient with us, answering all of our questions and offering excellent advice. Eventually, in September 2019, we actually bought one….a Schenker Smart 60

All that was then required was a trip to Weston Super Mare to collect it and get some training on installation, maintenance and how to make water!