New Project

I am still working in LA, but work has slowed down which means I am getting bored. I can handle bored when I am at home on the boat. In fact my favorite thing to do in life is to be bored sitting on the bow or the flybridge. I don't like being bored 2,700 miles from home, so it is time for a project or two.

We have been wanting a watermaker for a long time. A watermaker changes sea water into drinking water. I had some plans with a parts list saved on my computer so I started hunting for the parts on the internet. It was surprisingly time consuming to find all the parts that I need and at the best price of course, but time I have. I ordered everything I need except for the few small pieces that I know I can get locally once I am back on the boat.

A new off the shelf Spectra brand or equivalent unit would cost $7K and up. I did find one company that basically
sold a kit for $4.5 K. Still way too much. It looks like I will end up with about $1,500 in the one I am building. Once I get back and start building it I will post how it is constructed and how well it works.

I have been also working on plans for a solar water heater and a solar cabin heater. We would love to reduce our dependence on electricity and propane. More to come on that later.

Watermaker design by Leo Litchfield.

The above design is the one I am using to build our watermaker with a few small modifications.