Again, when we purchased Leela, she came "with watermaker". This turned out to be an overweight and under-maintained lump of metal that produced 2gpm in its prime and, at this point, would have been good as a backup anchor - so, after a year of thinking about it, we started again. We ended up getting a Spectra Ventura 200T. The T model is a little more efficient but cannot be used in cold water - suites us... It consumes a manageable 10amps and produces 7-8gph.

The compact modular form makes it ideal for a small boat. We ended up putting it in the wardrobe (thanks Janaki!). There were a few irritations with poorly made plastic parts causing leaks initially but, having battled past that, it has worked flawlessly. The idea that watermakers are a bear to manage and will take up half your life is now a myth. The key to this is the ZIon system (the smaller white block at the upper center of the photo). This injects silver ions during the flush cycle effectively sterilizing the system. The result is we can go up to thirty days between uses without having to pickle the system. Effectively we have to turn it on, make water, flush for a couple of minutes (just a couple of valve changes) and turn it off. Totally simple. The ZIon system is fairly new and is not particularly well documented on the website.

The main reason we installed the watermaker was to prevent having to lug jerrycans of water with my bad back but the liberating effect of a watermaker cannot be underestimated. We hardly use any fuel if we time our journeys well and we carry plenty of food if we forgo fresh stuff so we can head for remote areas for weeks and even months at a time. It also removes the stress and hassle of contaminated tanks due to being supplied bad water - an all too common problem.

Spectra