What’s driving water maker pricing?

[Letterkenny]

I’ve seen some older threads on DIY water makers and unsure if there are some newer ones (2019 was the newest I saw) but curious if anyone has some builds to share? All the ones you can buy seem fairly expensive and I’m not sure what components are driving this as they don’t seem overly complicated. Anyone have more insight?

As an aside, there’s a new Seawater Pro portable coming out that is a low GPH but low 12v power draw that may be a good candidate but still rumored to be expensive.

[sailingharry]

* The packages are, well, packages.
* The vendor is on the hook for support (free) and parts for ever.
* Most diy use brass pumps with a short life.
Most packages use SS. The trade-off can be debated, but SS is unquestionably more expensive.
* The low power energy recovery DC units are custom made low production volume units that naturally cost a lot more.

[jcapo]

In 2013:

395 40" Fiberglass pressure vessel
175 SW30-2540 Membrane
295 1/2HP DC Motor
735 .56GPM Hydracell F20 Pump

Another $600 or so for pre-filters, valves, hoses, gauges, DC breaker, wiring, Unistruct for PV mount and ... I used my Johnson centrifugal reefer pump via a three way valve for the feed pump so that saved a few hundred dollars.

Manual pressure adjust.

13 GPH @ 30A

[sailingunity]

I built my own system, saved a little because I got a used 1HP motor off another cruiser. In the end, with the hours of research I spent particularly trying to find the right fittings, valves, flow gauges, etc, I should have just bought a package.

Depends on how valuable your time is to you.

[Windpilot]

Time is valuable, agreed.
A good kit with instructions (my seawaterpro) as well as a source for help and parts is great deal for many of us. Now that I have it and installed it I would feel much more confident diy though.
I have a 41 sail with over 600w solar, sure wouldn't want to tax it with a 12v watermaker. How many hours to make 20 or 40 gallons do you need to listen to the pump.

[OldManMirage]

You've seen this thread Kenny ?

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ph-225683.html

I plan on making one of these myself. I'm just about to buy the pump from Schooner Chandleries. About $650 with shipping I think. Then I'll work on the other components one at a time.

[nelly]

I have a proof of concept for turning a Katadyn Pur 35 (can be found new online for <$600, I think the membranes are replicable as well) into a motorized watermaker. I think this is actually a neat idea, as it can also be used manually if needed very easily, and uses only a few amps. Water output is not high so you'd have to run it for a while, but it's pretty quiet.

I didn't come up with it, I saw someone else did something similar at one point.

My only problem is, the motor I'm using is a windshield wiper motor. It works, but it overheats. I guess I need to find a better motor!

[myketch42]

I have the whole kit , less membrane for a 6 gal hour 12volt using a stainless steel industrial pump , parts were around 2200.00 at todays money , pretty easy theory to understand .