Boat Upgrades
Rainman Watermaker
We suffered over the decision to buy a watermaker. Did we really need one? Was it worth the expense? Should we get a built in version? Can't we just get water at docks or jerry jug water in? In the end, we decided to add a watermaker. We are hoping to do a lot of cruising in the out islands of the Bahamas this winter and want to be as self sufficient as possible.
Not having a generator onboard we were limited to systems that use 12 VDC or can function off of our little 2000W Honda generator.
The Rainman is made specifically for the Honda generator and is completely portable. It, like our portable A/C, takes some lugging around (it’s heavy!) and setting up, but it definitely beats the complexity of a built in system. It makes 32 gallons an hour, which is enough for us for 4 or 5 days. The Honda uses about a quart of gas an hour while operating the watermaker.
One accessory we opted for that has completely paid off this summer in the Chesapeake was the brackish water flow guage. This allows the unit to be used in pretty much any type of water.
Rainman watermakers can also be mounted inside the boat, in lockers and to through-hulls if you are so inclined. We toyed with this idea, but in the end we have put the membranes in the aft stateroom, the pressure pump assembly in the forward v-berth and run the hoses between. The raw water pick up goes out the porthole. So far the unit has worked great! We have even used it while underway.
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| The Rainman's pressure pump assembly and our Honda genny on the swim step. |
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| Hastings monitoring water creation! |
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| Now I leave the membranes in the aft cabin. Tucked in their case, they fit perfectly on the shelf by the bed. |
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| Brine goes overboard through the drain in the head. |
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| The pressure unit sits on a shelf in the forward v-berth. The raw water pick up goes out the portlight. It even works when making way (you just have to be careful not to get air in the line). |
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| Obviously we don't run the Honda genny down below, because we don't want to die. So it still gets lugged out from it's storage locker. |
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| Filling the tanks! |
On another note, we have diesel and gas containers that we use to fill our tanks with. Even in the Chesapeake, we have come across marinas that are too shallow or sketchy for us; we have been able to use our dinghy and containers to fill up on diesel for our engines and gas for our dinghy engine and generator.
We purchased the Rainman from SeaTask in Ft. Lauderdale. Chris has been wonderful showing us how to use the unit and answering follow-up questions. We have no affiliation, just happy customers!
9 comments
Good to read your review. We're looking into getting a watermaker at some point and are quite interested in the rainman option.
ReplyDeleteYou can always just follow us around. We'll dinghy our water maker over to you and fill your tanks while you make sausage rolls and pineapple upside down cake! Win-win!
DeleteNow, that's a brilliant plan :-)
DeleteWe have a watermaker aboard, but I've been interested in hearing about what people think about the Rainman option. What a great opinion!
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had any issues with it, but if we did, it's nice that we could put it on a table to investigate instead of doing the hunching and stretching in dark tiny places thing we often have to do!
DeleteThe portable version comes with pros and cons, I guess. It's a little bit of a hassle to move both units around, but they store relatively easy and are cheaper than a built-in one, I'm sure. It should work great, as long as it doesn't rain (the generator would need a tarp then, something we had to deal with quite often with our Honda 2000; we usually put it under the cockpit table with a tarp on top when it rained and we needed electricity for the batteries - loud and smelly!). But, then you can collect water instead of making it! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had to use the generator in the rain - yet! One of these days I'm going to work on a rain catching system - hate to let good water go to waste!
DeleteI bought a rainman 220v, so i can make water with my generator, and with my Inverter i hope. Inverter is 3000w sinus Inverter. Hope it works, in case the generator fail.
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ReplyDelete