I fear watermakers, but love them too. I chose the simpliest, most rebust unit on the market, VillageMarine, at a killer price during a boat show. The installation was, shall we say, involved. It is plumbed to the port and aft tanks, but not the starboard tank. Because we can't add thru-hulls and the WM warranty requires a dedicated thru-hull, we added a valve to the aft head intake to isolate the WM during operation. Even so, we had problems underway sucking in air, which the pump really doesn't like at all. After consulting with VillageMarine, the installation became even more complicated with an additionally pump and a air/water separator. Added 1A to the operating cost. We haven't had a chance to give this new arrangement a workout, so we'll see...
Turns out dropping the water into the tanks through the vent lines isn't such a good idea. Underway, the vent line can effectively form a trap and prevent the water from draining into the tank. Had some very nice water in the bilge one day... For now, we just have to remember to crack the filler caps every hour or so while filling the tanks. Later we'll come up with a better arrangement, perhaps teeing into the filler hose.
So far its been bulletproof giving us 8GPH on about 15A: knock on wood.
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Latex and very comfy. Made a huge difference in my sleeping, though my wife might offer a differing opinion. Good thing we have a drag alarm, I just might sleep through the whole thing otherwise...
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More energy savings. The original fans were worn out oscillating (well at least they oscillated at one time) Guest model. They move a lot of air but draw a lot of power (more than the fridge) and you can't tone them down to a more modest, quiet volume: on or off. Replaced with Hella fans for significant energy savings, much quieter operation, and sufficient, though somewhat less, air volume. I did keep a Guest in the Galley for increased airflow when cooking, but we leave it off otherwise.
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The original Force 10 was smokey and corroded. A really, really tight fit down the companionway. Otherwise an easy drop in replacement. The new one seems a little better built: stainless instead of iron burner caps, for example. Still, keeping surface rust off the brushed stainless surfaces is a continous effort. Sure is nice that Force 10 finally capitulated to the need for a thermostat on the oven. They used to say it was too dangerous and you kinda had to twiddle with the burner to hold temp.
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Ever come off a wave and slide the seat right off the head... Not my idea, but a good one.
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A big winner towards getting those AHs down. This is a wonderful company to work with and they produce an awesome product. These are the dual flourescent/LED (for red) versions. More light and less Amps! I did not change the head light as we don't use them enough to justify the cost.
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Custom built to fit the hull and provide enough clearance to be able to acccess the wire run w/o removing the speaker. The driver is some exotic full range French job that I can't remeber at the moment. We also have PolyPlanars mounted on the arch for music in the cockpit. I chose box speakers external because I worried about water ingress through a failed flush mount.
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The standard issue spring thingy let the chart table fall on my head one too many times. Easy mod that works great.
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