The Water Maker - Liquidity is Good

Well, after making the decision to purchase a watermaker, we needed to order all of the components.  We had chosen the DIY Watermaker system, and had worked closely with the owners of the company to make sure we had all we needed.  Just like an oasis, the system arrived the other day in 3 boxes!

After doing an inventory of the contents, I noticed that elements of the control panel were not included.  A quick email and call to Raymond Fosdick, solved the mystery.  Since we were mounting our control panel for easy access at the galley sink, we needed some customization.  Mystery solved, but it was more like light dawning on my Marblehead rock-like head:  I guess we can take that for granite!

The Aft Bulkhead in Harmony's Engine - a blank canvas for water making components

Now, I had to figure out how to configure the system on the aft bulkhead of our engine room.  One of the advantages of going with a modular or componentized system is the flexibility of installation.  Even though the Westsail 42 offers tremendous interior volume, fitting a rigidly boxed water making system into the boat would have required either a serious compromise of the internal storage space or a rethink of the engine room layout.

Once Raymond patiently walked me through some of the systems elements (remember how dense granite is?), I was able to make headway.  I had constructed a mock-up of the aft bulkhead in the engine room out of dry-erase panels.  This would enable me to sketch hose layouts and component placement before making a permanent design decision. 

Another benefit of this exercise is that I could actually see what the system would look like on the bulkhead.  We very much want a neatly laid out engine room where systems are orderly and easily reached for maintenance and trouble-shooting.  Besides that, I know how quickly a space like an engine room can become a rat's nest of wires, hoses, cables, and other assorted mechanical flotsam.

A view of the commodious engine room for starboard to port

Harmony's engine room is not only huge, but very accommodating for things like workbenches, parts storage, and easy engine maintenance.  Since we want to minimize, if not eliminate, the risk of inadvertent overboard discharge of pollutants, having an easy access to oil filters, fuel filters, and other engine stuff will go a long way to keeping the engine pan AND the bilge relatively pristine.

A look at the bulkhead mock-up and trials of configuration

OK, as I worked and reworked the configuration of the water maker layout, I found the water flow made more sense to me.  I finally arrived at what I felt as an optimal design.  Before I lug all of the components down to boat for installation, I will need to get all of the control panel items in hand.  Additionally, I will have to fabricate a few items to not only facilitate the installation of the membrane tubes, but to make periodic maintenance easy.  Not to worry, however, for the winter is long.

The DIY Watermaker components neatly laid out with drawn-in hose paths

Yes, it is a good feeling to see how the system will be configured and to visualize the clean, fresh, and plentiful water flowing into our tanks.  Yes, liquidity is good in many ways!

Fair Winds and Following Seas!