Watermaker or Parasail

[petert96753]

Aloha,
I'm finally almost ready to leave from Hawaii for our Pacific crossing in April . . . 32' Aries Cutter . . . She is fully outfitted and ready to go . . . she came with a (brand new uninstalled) Katadyn 40e watermaker . . . I trying to decide if I want to keep and install this watermaker or sell it and get one of the downwind Parasails from Istac or a Wingaker . . . so I'm looking for any thoughts about which would be best for our 7 month voyage from Hawaii to Fiji . . . just throwing it out there . . . Mahalo

[Zanshin]

I would recommend going for the watermaker, it will give you a lot of freedom from heading to the docks for a refill just when you'd rather stay where you are. I've buddy-boated with others several times where the others had to plan their itinerary around where they could get freshwater. The parasailor is more of a luxury to make those downwind and slightly off-wind passages faster, you'll still get there without one.

[mrm]

I think it is a case of needs and wants. You likely want a Parasail, but.. will it be of any use if you are dead from dehydration?

[Dulcesuenos]

That Watermakers is a piece of junk, you will regret installing it. It barely squeezes out water while using alot of energy. Then to pickle it it will use 3 gallons or meaning it takes. probably 3 to 4 hours to produce enough product water to just pickle it, its a survival tool at best if it works right to begin with.

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[seandepagnier]

Get the parasail and catch rain for water. Just sail into the squalls if you need water.

[Boatguy30]

I had a PUR 35 on a previous pacific cruise. It is useful on a smaller boat like yours. I would be interesting in buying if you want to sell. Send me a PM.

[Suijin]

In general I would say for your voyage a water maker is waaaaay more important than a parasail, but as mentioned that water maker, at 1.5 gph, is pretty much nothing but a waste of power, depending on your power generation. If you run it four hours a day, that's 6 gallons. They say 4 amps but I bet in the real world it's probably more like 6, so that's 24 amps per day. Can you afford that, and do you want to listen to that thing hammering away for 4 hours a day?

All that said, I think it comes down to the advantages of being able to make water and what that means for your route and how much you have to carry on deck and your water usage patterns. For me, there's nothing like taking a freshwater shower every few days offshore. It's seriously restorative.

Since you're making the passage with your wife, the most prudent thing to do would be to let her decide

[autumnbreeze27]

The sail can get you to water faster, passages will be shorter, less maintenance, fewer moving parts.

[Tellie]

A 40e is pretty anemic for any boat. There's a good reason the word "Survivor" is used to help name it. I don't knock the unit itself, it works, but in today's modern cruising environment it doesn't make sense to spend close to 4k for these. For about $1,700 more you can get one that is twice as energy efficient per hour and makes 6-7gph. A couple of 100watt solar panels during peak hours will put out more power than a Spectra Ventura 150 will use. Install it on your boat, take decent care of it and in three years take it out and sell it on E-bay for 3K+ Spectras command a far better re-sale value than any other watermaker. Or come to the Miami boat show, buy a bunch of raffle tickets. I'm raffling a brand new Spectra Ventura Deluxe 150.

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