Email Comment from Client:
I had originally considered putting together my own watermaker from off the shelf parts purchased here and there over the internet, but really, when I ran the tally on what all the components would end up costing, it was a no-brainer, your unit was not a whole lot more expensive and when your help in assembly and customer service was factored in, it was really a no brainer.
Jim

The Aft Lockers on a 1988 Grand Banks Classic


The Prefilter, Boost Pump and Valving and Cleaning Assembly


RO Pressure Vessel and Hp Pump and Motor are shown below.
This water maker is a SM20S ("S" stands for simple) which does away with the remote panel and mounts the system controls right on the end of the Pressure Vessel. At $3800 for a 20 gallon per hour water maker, it's the best deal going in the water maker industry!

The SeaMaker 40 water maker was installed in the Starboard Aft Cabin.
You can see the remote panel in the bottom right of the photo, all the prefiltering and boost pump on the back wall, and the dual 40" RO Pressurre Vessel.


Another view showing the high pressure water maker pump and motor.

"Do we need a dedicated through for the water maker?"

No - BUT, by not having it’s own dedicated through hull, you could be asking for trouble.

Here’s a quick list of the potential risks in attempting to share a through hull and it’s our recommendation that your water maker does have a dedicated sea water inlet through hull.

1. The high pressure pump and RO membranes do not like air bubbles (possible damage). When the system is operating there will be a vacuum at the through hull and any T-fitting, so that without the proper hard shut off valve, first water and then air could be sucked into the water maker intake lines from the other system attached to the through hull.

2. There is the “risk” of insufficient flow to the inlet of the water maker if two systems are pulling from the same through hull.

3. The other system now sharing the water maker through hull may be starved for flow or suck back air through the water maker plumbing. If T-ed into the engine’s raw water cooling system, for example, this would be bad with obvious problems in overheating the ships main engine.

All of these concerns can be addressed by a proper plumbing installation and with a few extra on/off ball valves, but it will also then add extra complexity to the operation of your water maker, with extra valves to access and select at start-up and shut down. Some people are ok with this as a trade-off for the extra cost in putting an extra “hole” in the bottom of their boat, but Cruise RO Water’s cruising and design ethos is simplicity, so we would strongly recommend a dedicated through hull for your water maker.

Every time I answer a water maker service all on a Saturday or Sunday or late into the evening I can usually hear the surprise in people's voice when a real person answers the phone. We say we have, "7 day a week customer support and service", but I think people are still a bit shocked when we actually follow through on the promise. Talking to cruisers while living and working aboard my Hudson Force 50 sailboat in Morro Bay California makes even a long day of work seem easy. Besides, I'm always looking for a break to the never ending teak varnish job!

Alex installed the Cruise RO Water SeaMaker 40 gallon per hour water maker in the engine room of his 1982 Defever 44 power boat. The engine room provided tons of room to mount the system modules on a board behind his 135Hp Ford Lehman engine that was clean enough to eat off of! The boat is currently in Mexico and heading up to the Northern Sea of Cortez, where there are no docks to take on water, so being able to make 40 gallons per hour will keep Alex from playing the Jerry can water shuffle!



Alex took advantage of the ability to rotate the high pressure pump 90-degrees on the motor shaft so that he could mount the motor on the vertical surface and still have his high pressure pump in the correct orientation.


In this photo, you can see the Boost Pump and the Valving and Cleaning Assembly, as we call it.

"I cannot say enough about CruiseRO and the customer service they provide. I installed a sea maker 40 in my Jeanneau 54DS and upon startup I noticed I had a feed problem to the high pressure pump. I contacted Rich and he put me in touch with his partner Charlie. Charlie asked for all the water line run lengths and built a mockup of my system. He discovered I needed a larger output low pressure feed pump and 3/4" feed lines. He obtained the new pump and installed it in his mockup to ensure it would work before shipping to me. I then received an overnight package with everything needed to install the new pump. Everything was labeled as to where it was to be installed in the system. After two hours I was making water. This is one incredible company."

s/v Somewhere
Cruising the Caribbean

The Jeanneau 54DS has a location designed for a water maker controll panel, so the folks at Cruise RO Water designed a custom panel to fit into the space.


The next two photo show the mounting of the high pressure pump and boost pump.




The tops of the prefilters and the activated carbon filter can be seen below.


Under Sail...what it is all about!