Which Watermaker in My Cat ?

[YOGAO]

Originally Posted by Double-Wide

We installed a Little Wonder by Village Marine and have been very happy with its performance. The Us Coast Guard uses them exclusively.

I know of several cruisers that have had problems with their Spectra units.

Cameron

Little Wonder by Village Marine is a good watermaker, no doubt.

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what the USCG uses since they buy on a sealed bid contract basis and the lowest price wins 99% of the time.

Spectra had some problems that were well-documented over on the SSCA boards, but they have largely worked them out. They have excellent support from their help desk too.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[Dedzaboy]

I've had a Spectra watermaker for nearly three years, it runs faultlessly and uses little power. The other day it developed a leak, turned out to be a cracked end cap (which I think might be a recognised fault) and Spectra immediately sent out the required parts to me here in the southern Caribbean at no cost except for shipping. Would I buy another Spectra? Oh yes!

[Overlord]

Which spectra model do you have and does anyone here have the spectra newport 400 mark 2 ?

[YOGAO]

Chris,

Sorry - we have the Catalina 300 w/MPC5000 controller and Z-Brane. It's been very reliable. Not perfect, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy Spectra again. As I said above, the support desk has been excellent to work with.

We really enjoy that we can run off our batteries. We frequently make water for 3 - 5 hours and hop in the dink to go ashore for the day. When we come home we've added 33 - 55 gallons including the flush.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[biff09]

Just a thought/question here...

Could you carry a portable genset (~2000W) as a backup in case your main genset dies? Portable gensets are a must for my requirements anyway. Or do 110v watermakers generally draw a LOT of power? I like the redundancy capability of this approach if feasible.

Disclaimer: New to the forums, don't own a but, just a dreamer at this point, but very eager to learn!

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by biff09

Just a thought/question here...

Could you carry a portable genset (~2000W) as a backup in case your main genset dies? Portable gensets are a must for my requirements anyway. Or do 110v watermakers generally draw a LOT of power? I like the redundancy capability of this approach if feasible.

Disclaimer: New to the forums, don't own a but, just a dreamer at this point, but very eager to learn!

Some have that as a back up and for the "little" jobs. Also it is portable.

Careful, you will learn too much and get wet.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by biff09

Just a thought/question here...

Could you carry a portable genset (~2000W) as a backup in case your main genset dies? Portable gensets are a must for my requirements anyway. Or do 110v watermakers generally draw a LOT of power? I like the redundancy capability of this approach if feasible.

Disclaimer: New to the forums, don't own a but, just a dreamer at this point, but very eager to learn!

Storage of gas isn't an option on my boat. The dinghy tank outside. I would not put a portable genset in any locker.

If you are worried about the genset going out (they are very reliable, btw), install a 2000W inverter and large alternator on a drive engine. A much better option than storing gas in a locker.