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Two Fish has a Furlex brand furler to manage both the genoa and the rarely used jib. Furling headsails allows a single person to manage the sail plan safely from the confines of the cockpit. No clipping in and roaming the decks in the middle of the night. Gail can easily shorten sail when a threatening storm is detected as an orange blob on the radar.

It is the current fashion for boats to hide the furling mechanism below decks, resulting in a modern look. However, I would consider this a liability on a blue water cruiser. I want a bullet-proof, easy to access furler.

A genoa furler is a bit like a toothbrush, we have used one for years, but, are we using it correctly? Well, here comes a lesson but without novicaine.

 

• When furling or reefing, head downwind.   The lower apparent wind reduces loads and is kinder on the furling apparatus. A power winch is strong enough to furl while sailing hard on the wind, but at some point it will break your furler. The bearings will seize when you are entering a windy marina or at some other inconvenient time.

 

Inside the aluminium furler foil is a traditional headstay. This wire holds up the mast, not the aluminum foil. The foil spins around the hidden wire headstay. The lower drum has to be attached to this foil to allow it to rotate. There are two large bolts at the top of the lower drum that are screwed into the foil. It is worth tightening these bolts to avoid having the drum come free and lose foil rotation. We experienced the wander bolts; not so much fun, so now we carry spares if any bolts go swimming.

 

• Another bolt to check is hidden under the drum. This bolt and plastic plate hold the entire drum in place. If this bolt is loose the furling line will come out but the drum will not spin. This bolt is shy and will only come loose on a dark stormy night so check it while the weather is fair.

• A sail can be furled clockwise or counter-clockwise but only one direction will have the UV protection showing.   Try the wrong way and your sail will look like a barber shop poll. The foil has two tracks. The manual suggests using the track opposite the sail’s first contact on the foil. It is not going to materially impact the furling if fed via the wrong track.

• When the sail is stowed, I like to have five wraps around the drum. Too few wraps and when you stow the sail under load you will run out of furling line.   We have avoided that horror show. Too many wraps and the jib will not fully deploy as the drum gets too full of line. I recently upgraded the furling line to a narrower 10 mm spectra so I may be able to carry more wraps and should have less friction in the furling system.
• This should be rule #1. When furling and the winch sounds odd, STOP. Really STOP. Go look at sail, drum, furling line, sheet, halyard at the head and anything else. Then go look a second time. Your ears are not wrong; something needs to be fixed.   You can save time by holding down the electric winch button and after a few seconds you will hear something break. That later technique is more expensive, but is popular. Power winches are evil.   A halyard around the forestay coupled with a power winch can destroy the foil and place huge stress on the forestay. Now you seem very interested in knowing the causes of a wrapped halyard.   A loose halyard, poor greasing of the top drum or using a smaller sail without a pennant all can cause halyard wrap.
• The distance from the halyard exiting the mast to the rotating drum should be less than 15 inches. This allows the halyard to be sloped towards the foil. If a smaller headsail is hoisted, the distance could be several feet and the foil and halyard will be almost parallel. This increases the chance of halyard wrap. To avoid this, attach a pennant to the sail. I prefer placing the pennant at the foot.
• When stowing the sail, make the wraps neat so wind can not enter but not so tight that the sail is getting crushed.   However, when reefing the wraps should be tight to have a smaller and higher performance luff.

• The following diagram from the manual shows grease points. To do this properly the lower furler must be taken apart.   Four screws detach the feeder from the drum. One bolt from the bottom plate. Wash with fresh water and use a brush on the four sets of ball bearings. Then use the Furlex provided grease. Reading the manual somewhere in this process may also be a good idea, as some furlers with durlon ball bearings hate grease. According to a few riggers, 90% of furlex failures are related to boats that have not greased either drum in 10 years. The top drum tends to fail first.

• Wow, who would have thought that there is so much to discuss on a very basic system? Halyard tension is used to reduce the draft on the sail. Only adjust the halyard with the sail fully deployed. (You knew that!) The trap with a catamaran is that there is a limit to the halyard tension. Since a catamaran lacks a back stay it is possible to add too much halyard.
• To deploy the genoa should not require a herculean effort. Washing the line organizers or ensuring no twist is in the furling line could solve this problem.

A well-maintained furler and a thorough understanding of its mechanisms can reduce the number of unexpected issues and make a dark and stormy night less scary.

 

It has been a while since I have written a dry blog about Two Fish’s parts and set-up along with lots of numbers and photos.  I can not post many photos because my bandwidth is limited,  but I still can write long technical sentences to satisfy my mechanical friends.

Anchor Set-Up

The boat came with an okay, but not perfect rode for our needs.  We upgraded the system for the Pacific with the goal of being able to anchor in 30 meters with 5 to 1 scope.  We have already anchored in 26 meters.  The old set-up was 35 meters of chain and 30 meters of nylon rode.  The new set-up is 70 meters of chain and 80 meters of nylon rode.  The old chain was unrated, unstamped, heavy but not strong.  Our new chain,  G43 5/16th (WLL 3,900 pounds, 8 mm), received the highest rating from Practical Sailor.  By the foot, it is lighter and stronger than the old chain; this keeps weight out of the bow.  Our anchor is a 33 kg Rocna and we worship at the Rocna altar as it has done a good job of resetting in shifty breezes and swift changing tidal currents. Attached to the anchor we have a Kong anchor swivel, another upgrade from the Antares standard.  It allows twist to come out of the chain when weighing anchor but some consider this a weak point.  Our Kong is rated for more load than the chain and is also tested for horizontal load.  We have a large shackle after the swivel to prevent horizontal loads on the swivel that occur when the chain moves to the side of the anchor . The shackle is stamped and rated number one by Practical Sailor magazine (1/2 inch Titan WLL=4,000 pound).  The shackle is moused with Monel wire.  Next is the chain and then the nylon rode.  To accommodate the smaller but stronger chain we had to change the gypsy on our windlass from a 10mm to an 8mm gypsy.  This size gypsy has the added benefit that it can handle 3/8′ nylon rode much better than the larger 10mm gypsy.

We sleep very well at night on this combination and check the gear regularly.

Floating the rode

In a  typical Caribbean anchorage there are vast areas of sand.  The cruising guide will warn that a portion of the bay has coral, but that is usually broken shards of coral with a few tiny heads.  In the Tuamotus, the bottom can be 70 or 80 percent coral.  To anchor, you need to hover over a small spot of sand and then drop the anchor with precision.   We add fenders to float the chain to protect the coral and avoid major fouling of our chain.  We put our first fender at about 1.5 to 2 times the depth we are anchoring in.  Thereafter, we add fenders every 10 meters.  We tie the fenders on before launching the chain and retrieve them as they come up with the chain.  A strong line for attaching the fenders will help support the large weight of the chain.  Divers will find it close to impossible to adjust the fenders after deployment.  The system works well, but not perfectly.   I enjoy standing on the foredeck to see whether my chain has hooked a coral head.  If all is okay, the fenders will be floating in a line. However, if a few fenders are submerged, all is not well with the chain.  If this occurs, either with the engines or a swimmer we will try to fix the fouling.  One time we were too slow, and a fender was gashed by the coral.   In light air this rig can get confused.  Look closely and you can see the fenders floating in front of Two Fish in the photo below.

Pros:  Good for coral.  Less likelihood of wrapping around coral heads.

Cons:  In a big blow, I would rather be in a place with less coral so that the angle of my rode will not be altered by the floating fenders.

Stern Anchors

I will cut to the chase.  I hate stern anchors but concede that they are useful in certain situations. My hatred of stern anchors is driven by three issues 1) they undermine the bow anchor by preventing the boat from pointing head to wind  2)  the rode leading to the stern anchor can bend stern hand rails or, worse, catch the dinghy propeller, and,  3) I struggle with the deployment and retrieval.

Point number one can be addressed by using the stern anchor in places where the breeze is unlikely to be strong or shifty.  Point number two could be fixed by adding two large U bolts to the inside of the sugar scoops at the stern.  This would copy the bow bridle and eliminate any chance of the rode fouling parts of the boat.  My final short coming could be addressed, like most of my fears, by more practice.

Unlike the bow bridle, the stern bridle needs to be easily adjustable.  With the bow bridle, one can not raise or lower a bit of chain without first detaching the bridle.  To change the main rode length we first raise 6 meters of rode, detach the bridle, adjust rode length, reattach the bridle, and then ease out 6 meters of chain.  This would not work for a stern anchor since the strategy is usually to tighten the stern anchor to keep the boat from swaying.  Instead a system has been created by clever boaters to have the rode (small amount of chain but mostly nylon) attach to the starboard stern cleat.  To keep the rode centered in cross winds a second line that is tied to the port stern cleat is attached to the main rode with a carabiner.  Clear as mud?  I noticed American boats are not as well prepared for stern anchoring as European boats.

Grease the Propeller

Dedicated readers will remember the excitement we experienced when we ran low on propellor grease in Connecticut.   Hoping to avoid another loss of control I decided to grease the props early and often.

Here are the steps I take to add grease underwater.

1)  Prepare grease gun, hex wrench, new screws and grease nipple.

2)  Remove existing grease point screws.  Keeping your propellors clean of barnacles with help in this process.  A wire brush might be required to expose the screw.

3)  Carefully screw grease nipple into one side and leave other side open.

4)  Attach grease gun.  Hold connection firmly.  For every 3 handle clicks rotate the propellor blades three times.  This spreads out the grease.  Stop inserting grease when old grease comes out the open hole.

5)  Remove nipple and replace screws with new screws.  Spend the two bucks on new screws and avoid stripping a very annoying screw.  Job done.

I like the challenge of working under water and Gail likes the fact she can not hear me swear.  During this job three sharks swam by and had no interest.  One remora kept attaching to my leg.  Despite many threats, the fish would not leave.

Genset Temps

The Onan genset has a reputation for eating impeller blades.  In order to monitor the impeller I track the coolant temparture by Genset load.

No Load (start up):   70 degrees

20 amps:   72 degrees

35 amps:   75 degrees

45 amps:   77 degrees

The temp can vary with sea temp, but hot coolant is a sign that it is time to check the impeller.  This requires a bit of effort but after the first few times the process becomes second hand.  I remove the hoses and check the heat exchanger for the blades while Gail systematically reconstructs the impeller on the salon table.  Good spares for the genset are  (gasket for the heat exchanger, spare water pump and spare water flow sensor).   Friends with the same genset have had all of these fail.   We are replacing the gasket and pump as preventive maintaince next week.

Continuing the topic of the Genset, I recently changed the oil and had another reason to curse the Onan engineers.  The oil cap is located in a very annoying spot and the side panel is very difficult to remove.  What were these guys thinking?  A bit of Two Fish ingenuity and the oil filter was removed.

Self-tacking Jib

We have been asked whether the self tacking jib is a must-have on a new Antares.  We have sailed with the jib very little but have realised that is a a very powerful tackle.  I mentioned previously that the sheet for the self-tacking jib can be used as a back up anchor windlass.  Two more ideas have come to mind  1)  adjuster for the spinaker tack line, and,  2)  adjuster to fly the tack from a windward hull.   If on the fence, on buying the self-tacker, the flexiblity of having a powerful line on the bow might tip you in favor of buying the rig.

Dive Compressor

What a joy it is to have a dive compressor.  I dove multiple times a day and refilled with the on board compressor. Only a few atolls have dive shops and they are not always willing to fill tanks.  We sailed thousands of miles to be with the fishes and the dive compressor made it all happen.  The compressor can fill up to 4 tanks at a time and turns off automatically.  The tanks are easy to access since there is space in the rope lockers and the fill is located on deck, making filling easy.

Bilge pump

 

The bilge pump is key safety gear item on any boat.  Whenever we have a hose, I test the pump by washing the bilge and allowing the pump to remove the water.  Recently, the starboard bilge would only work in manual mode, even after a thorough cleaning.  Before replacing the pump, we rewired the electricty for the sensor but still the pump was not working correctly.   A quick shout to Gail and a new pump appeared.  We cut the wires at the blunt splice and spliced in the new pump.  I am new to splicing but here are a few take aways.  Have a great splicing tool and a sharp wire cutter.  Have a variety of blunt connectors.  It is common that the gauge on the two sides might not match.  Finally, buy the deluxe blunt connectors that have the heat shrink preinstalled.  This will make the connection much stronger and keep it dry.  Splices done by soldering seem to be much weaker.  The best connection is by a bus bar, but this would not have been appropriate for this application.

Starter Batteries

Our boat has a very clever but sometimes complex (for me) battery switch system.  Instead of the old switch where you can select house or starter or both, it does the work automatically.   I find automatically safe but only if you understand how it works.  Imagine that the starter battery is an island.  Between the island and the house system is a combiner which joins the starter battery to the system when it will receive a beneficial charge (solar, engine alternator or genset); it will disengage the battery when there is a load.  This protects the battery, but hides its condition.  If you start the engine on a sunny day the solar power will show that the batteries are in great shape.  The only proper way to gauge the battery’s status is to isolate the battery for a few hours and then test the voltage or, better yet go to an auto store to have the battery bench tested.  The Tuamotus did not have auto parts stores so I tried the former and my starter batteries indicated that they needed to be replaced.  I decided to pre-order some batteries in Tahiti and during my visit to the Tuamotus, I used the genset to start the engines.  Very easy trick when necessary.  Start the genset on its separate starter battery.  Ensure battery combiners are engaged and genset is producing 12 volts.  Check engine starter batteries for a voltage in excess of 13 volts.  Start engines.  Turn off genset.   If one engine is already running, then no genset is required as the alternator on the running engine will start the other engine.

The ten minute job of installing the new batteries took much longer since the positive terminal did not fit the post, the battery was too high and the strap got stuck.   After a few hours the job was done and now the engines start up instantly.  Good to replace stuff early.

A bone dry bilge is my dream and here is what I have learned:

1). Bilge pump cycles on and off.
Few things are less comforting during a night passage than having the bilge pump turn on and off. Up come the floor boards with no conclusive evidence of imminent sinking. The only real cure is to make the water collection pit bigger. Here is my logic. The pump fails to send the last bit of water overboard. This last bit is the amount from the pump to the loop of the loop. Let’s say that is a liter. The liter then returns to the tiny bilge box and becomes a centimeter of water. This volume of water confuses the trigger and restarts the pumping process. Add a bit of a rolly boat and you have an endless loop. Now imagine a much bigger box and the liter of water is only a film. I am not ready to start cutting but this would be a great solution. Newer boats have larger boxes. Lucky ducks.

2. Transmission oil cooler (Volvo feature)

The first photo is of a broken plug, a spent plug and a new plug.  After two happy years, my plugs were dead. Too many marinas? The Volvo engines do not have zincs. So parts can get gobbled. My plugs on both engines were leaking slowly;  this could have resulted in  a dramatic fail, as it would open a fairly large hole in the raw water loop.

I am considering installing a plug that has a screw-in zinc. I found one in St Lucia, but want to email Volvo first.
While on the topic of oil coolers. Mine were both cast poorly and I will swap them out at some point. The output hole is blocked partially from original production. Volvo you are lazy.

3. Hot heater overflow water valves.

After giving up on the Quick Water Heater support desk, I followed the advice of the

forum (thanks Paul and Jeff). My pressure relief valves are now putting water back into the tank. I am very happy about this as we were losing quite a lot of fresh water to the bilge. I still need to track down weather our hot water heaters have zincs. The photos show the install. 1/4 inch hose most of the way and then a barb to convert to 15mm NPT and then joined at the water maker tank inlet hose. Not too tough, but it makes me wonder why I have hot water heaters. If you need them, you are too far north. Okay, clean dishes are nice. Most of my bilge water was from the hot water heater but I was still on patrol.

4. Cam screw on raw water pump.
Dissimilar metals are hell. I found a small leak from the raw water pump. It was not from the face plate or the hose, but from a screw on the

side of the pump that holds the cam. This screw had been eaten by stray electrons in only 9 months. Turns out my new pumps that were all covered in sexy green Volvo paint hid the fact that Volvo did

not use a brass screw. It was eaten and started to leak. The screw broke off in the cam so I used the perfectly good cam from my old pump. Brass screw spares are on order.   By the way Volvo will no longer sell the cam separately. I assume it was hurting pump sales?
You can see I have the speed seals as impeller covers. Still like them. As a safety measure, we cut off an inch of the hose attached to the feeder side of the pump to have a cleaner fit.

5. Clean the shaft

Underneath the elephant nose (aka Tides Marine Shaft Seal) is a home to hearty sea creatures. With the bilge pump on, we removed the black ring and pushed back the baffle revealing some barnacles. Wet sanded them off and new shaft ready for another 1000 hours of dry bilges. Also moved the entire unit forward a centimeter to have the lip seal touch at a new point of the shaft. Our shaft alignment is good, so the seals are in good shape. The second black ring is our back-up seal that allows for changing at sea with shaft removal.

 

 

6. Leaky head solenoid.
The solenoid has a small anti siphon loop that was leaking. Swapped it out for new and no more drips.

7. Years ago we had a leaky sump from the shower, but this has been fixed.

As Two Fish is a catamaran, we got to do most of the jobs twice.

As for my other bilge dripper, the air conditioning condensation, we will be on anchor more from now on, so this should not be an issue.

And so completes the tale of my dry bilge experiences to date. One can only hope it works.

 

Our last two major cruises were motoring on the ICW (InterCoastal Waterway) and sailing along the Caribbean chain.  On the ICW, diesel is easier to find than a NYC Bagel.   During our 6 months sailing south in the West Indies we used the engines for fewer than 40 hours.  In both cases, fuel plans were not needed.

Our next adventures will involve long distances (3,000 miles from the Galapagos  to the Marquesas), no or unreliable quality diesel (Tuamotos) and possibly light air (Bay of Panama).   As is my usual habit when solving problems, I created a spreadsheet to investigate further.

Fuel gauges vary in their accuracy.  I have heard that air pressure gauges and electrical sound gauges are very accurate.  We have traditional WEMA float gauges, which offer a suggestion of the amount of fuel in the tank rather than a definitive statement.   Also, we never push it close to empty to ensure that the engine does not suck in bottom-of-the tank gunk.   I should have more faith in my multiple fuel filters.

Conservatively, (7 gallons in reserve) we have 63 gallons of diesel capacity in each tank.   The builder claims 75 gallons; that may be correct if you draw out the last ounce of diesel.

At anchor, Two Fish’s batteries require very little charging since the solar panels cover the lights and other anchor based consumption.   We tend to run the genset every 3 days for about 1.5 hours.   However, during passage our consumption skyrockets.   The solar produces 20 -30 amps for the sunny parts of the day, but the boat relentlessly consumes 21 amps every hour, whether the sun is up or down.  8 amps for the fridge and freezer, 7 amps for the navigation screen, 4 amps for the beefy autopilot and radar; other assorted bits fill in the balance.

Two Fish and other Antares boats will run their genset for 2.5 hours a day when on a 100% multiday sailing passage.   To reduce the hours, I purchased a Watt & Sea hydro generator.   It looks like a rudder from a sailing dinghy with a propeller attached.   So far, the results have been okay. It is too early for a final verdict.   The boat does not seem to travel any slower with the hydro on, so it is kind of free energy.   The marketing materials are rather optimistic.   The hydro can be fitted with 3 different size propellers.   We fitted the largest size. It produces in the real world what the marketing gurus say is the medium size propeller’s amps.  At six knots (a speed we exceed most of the time) the hydro can produce between 5 and 10 amps.   This is a game changer as it replaces 1.5 to 3 hours of genset time.   We might only need the genset for the watermaker!   The hydro will produce almost no energy at 4 knots and at 12 knots it cuts out.

This is the plan for our 3,000 mile leg, assuming no hydro amps.   Without any type of rationing, assuming a 21 day passage, we would consume 25 gallons, or 20% of our fuel by running the 2.5 hour top-up.   All hail hydro.

When the wind becomes light the engine typically fills in for the loss in speed  but on a long passage you have to ration your fuel.

What is the magic number of jerry cans to carry?   8 cans can fit nicely in the cockpit locker.  I like to keep the weight out of the bow and stern and this has proven a convenient location when they need to be accessed.   If 8 cans is not enough then tying extra cans under the cockpit table.  They are not too annoying for folks sitting at the table and can be secured well with a few lines.   It is a large boat and there are plenty of places to hide cans.  I once put 17 cans on Two Fish and she does not sail well with that much weight.  The waves are more uncomfortable and the performance is ruined.   However, 8 cans and I did not notice any change.

Our usual one engine, 2200 rpm motoring speed burns .8 gallon/hour has a range of 775.5 nautical miles.   That is  conservative since we give no credit for the hydro generator, no bonus for motor sailing, and reduce speed by 20 percent for bad waves and wind.   More realistically, over 1,000 miles is possible.  In an emergency that number could double if you sacrificed speed and ran the engines at lower rpms.

I need to end this post before I become a motor boat head. Our new screecher headsail should power us up better than the engines. Next post should be about sail trim?

Our greatest luxury and key comfort on Two Fish is fresh water. It is wonderful to be able to shower after ocean swims or before a long watch, to wash away salt from the deck, and, of course, to drink, make ice and clean dishes. Air conditioning, a fancy stereo, comfortable furniture and Internet are not nearly as important to me as an unlimited supply of fresh water. We have met remarkable cruisers that survive on only an eye dropper of water a day. To each is own.

Uses of water
I have not done a scientific analysis but here is my estimate of our water usage.

Washing Machine: 7 gallons per load
Fresh water flush of watermaker (once per week): 5 gallons
Wash down deck: 5 gallons
Navy shower: 2 gallons
Washing dishes: 1.5 gallons per person per day
Head usage: 1 gallon per person per day
Drinking water: 0.5 gallon per person per day

On a passage with four non-cruisers our consumption surged to almost 1 tank a day (55 gallons). This still holds its place as our most wasteful record. Our most frugal streak was with a similarly sized crew of cruisers – a tank lasted 1.5 weeks. When Gail and I are at anchor, a tank can last almost a week.

We have two 55 gallon tanks; when Two Fish was being built, we swapped fuel and water tanks to allow for more fuel to be carried on board.

Sources of water
Our tanks are predominantly filled by the watermaker, but we can also collect rain water or use the hose at a marina.

Rain Capture

 

 

Our boat has a huge hardtop with gulleys for water capture; these funnel to two stainless tubes. The tubes can be plumbed to lead to collapsible water jugs. Some owners insert an inline filter to catch sand. While at anchor, we use the rain water to wash scuba gear, wash vegetables bought from home gardens and wash the salt off the deck from bumpy passages. Typically, it takes an hour of rain to  fill a 5 gallon jug. However, the Two Fish record (yes we keep records on all sorts of things) is 5 minutes and 12 seconds during a strong cloudburst in Brazil.

 

 

 

 

 

Dock Hose at a Marina

 

Dock water is plentiful but has a few drawbacks. Chemicals in dock water can pit the aluminum water tanks. We always ask twice if the water is drinkable (potable) when staying in a new place. Much of Brazil had water that locals suggested we avoid. My possibly unfounded fear in some countries is that the city water supply can get contaminated during a power outage at the treatment plant. In addition, older marinas may have old rusty pipes leading to the docks. Recently, we have been avoiding the hose and only using watermaker water to fill the tanks. When we do use marina water, we run it through an inline filter first.

Watermaker

Our water maker is a Sea Recovery Ultra Whisper Modular 600, which produces 25 gallons per hour (95 liters). Converting sea water to fresh water can be accomplished via evaporation or by brute force. Most installed watermakers use brute force.

How to operate the watermaker

First, the unit needs power and water. Ours uses 110 volt power for the lift pump that draws the water from the ocean and 12 volt power for the control unit. On an Antares, the seacock must be open and the input/output valves set for water making NOT pickling. Get the input/output valves wrong and you will flood the boat. Fortunately, unless you are leaving your boat for a long time, these can be set correctly and left alone.

The control panel has a green “start” button to start the unit making water. This causes the lift pump to draw water and send it through the system. The system primes for about 40 seconds. Then, the ETD (energy transfer device) pump begins to squeak. Another 40 seconds and the water quality lamp will change from red to green. The manual advises that you may have to wait 30 minutes for the lamp to change color. This has never been the case for me. There is a red “stop” button to stop the unit. There are two other buttons, fresh water flush and fault clear. I stop the unit when the water tank gauge just reads full as I am not sure what would happen if I overfilled the water tanks via the watermaker hoses. If I press the red button only once, then in 90 minutes the unit will wash itself with fresh water. Many new owners think their fresh water flush (FWF) is not working because they do not wait 90 minutes. If you are patient, in 90 minutes you will begin to hear the pulsing of the 12 volt Fresh Water Flush pump and you will see water exiting via the brine port in the stern. We always give the watermaker a good clean after each usage. If you get excessively enthusiastic and press the stop button multiple times then the water maker will not execute the fresh water flush. Since the fresh water flush pump is a 12 volt motor, you do not need to have the genset on for the final step. Also, if the 12V power is left on, every week the watermaker will flush itself, a great way to have the membrane last without effort. The fresh water flush pump has a charcoal filter to protect the membrane from chlorine if city tap water is used for flushing. The fresh water flush uses about 5 gallons from the starboard tank, so make sure this tank has water. The fresh water flush pump makes a pulsing sound while running. If the pump seems more off than on then you need to replace the fresh water flush’s anti-chlorine filter.

 

Behind the scenes at the watermaker

Raw sea water enters the boat via a thru hull and then passes through a strainer on its way to the water maker. The Antares thru hulls are in very smart locations. The Genset, water maker and engines will hardly ever be starved of water as the thru hulls are close to amidships. The cost of this comfort is a secondary raw cooling water pump for the Genset. The extra pump is worth it, to be able to make water in the ocean and not to have to wait until the boat is in a calm harbor, something that is necessary on some mass production cats. After the strainer, a football size lift pump, powered by 110 volts, pulls the water into the boat. Powering this pump requires the generator to be on. The strainer and lift pump are installed below the water line for automatic priming. The sea water now exits the master cabin and enters the rear locker where it passes through two filters to remove particles greater than 25 microns and then 5 microns. Initially, while the system is priming, the sea water takes a short cut and does not reach the membrane. 100% of the sea water exits the boat via the brine waste output located on the starboard stern. After one minute of priming, the control panel instructs the Danfoss valve to open. Danfoss valves are electronically controlled valves that open and close based on the watermaker’s control unit’s instructions. The now open valve allows the salt water to begin its conversion to fresh water. The water also passes through a UV lamp that kills microbes.

The sea water then enters the ETD, also known as a Clark pump, which pressurizes the water before entry into the membrane. The ETD uses the waste brine’s pressure to move the pistons, thus reducing the electrical load requirement of the unit. The ETD may be too complex a solution; other brands use a second pump. However, an ETD has fewer moving parts than a second pump.

The next stop for the now filtered sea water is the membrane, which is 1 meter long and has layers of material whose perforations are too small to allow the passage of salt crystals. The water that passes through to the center of the membrane is clear and good for drinking. Only 12% of the raw sea water is made into “product water” while the other 88% is sent over board as “brine”. These are two good terms to know when you start reading water maker manuals. The membrane should produce product water that has 99% of salt and other contaminants removed.

I do not make water in harbors or lagoons. We mostly make water while at sea to give the membrane the cleanest possible water and to extend the life of the filters. If you do make water in a place with lots of silt, then the filters will be exhausted early. But do not fret, as dirty filters are easy to change. However, oil can kill the expensive membrane, so one should avoid making water near the wreck of a super tanker.

The control unit does a few things behind the scenes. First, it ensures the pump pressure matches the needs of the system. Brackish water will perform differently than salty water. Second, the water maker tests the product for being drinkable. When the salinity tester deems that the water is clean, it opens another valve and allows the product water to enter the tank. There are isolating valves installed by Antares that route the product water to port, starboard or both tanks. Never have it routed to neither. I wish the system had a port to fill buckets. Someday I might add that, but in the interim I just unplug the quick connect hose.
After starting the unit it is worth checking the gauges for proper performance. For the Ultra Whisper 600, the product water output, which is read from the top of the silver float, should always read 25 gallons per hour when producing product. The main unit also displays the pressure on the low pressure and high pressure sides.   The pressure reading will increase with colder or more saline water. These readings are taken just before and after the ETD. A proper reading for the low pressure side is 150 psi and 650 psi for the high pressure side. They will vary, depending on salinity and water temp. Finally, there is a gauge by the filters that should warn you of dirty filters. Some of the gauges suffer from chronic inaccuracy and need oiling or need to be reset. I write my gauge readings down frequently to see if something has changed. I have placed a label next to the gauges with the average expected reading.

The watermaker uses fewer than 10 amps @ 110 volts, so there is plenty of room while the genset is running to wash clothes, heat water, charge laptops and charge house batteries.

If you plan on leaving the boat for a month or two at a dock, the automatic fresh water flush will keep the membrane clean. Just make sure you have enough water in the starboard tank for the time you are gone. If you plan on hauling out for a season, the membrane requires pickling. The Antares watermaker is set up well for pickling; you can replace the sea water input with pickling agent from a bucket. Adjacent to the watermaker thru hull, there is a source selection valve that routes seawater to the water maker. Obviously, when water is being made the source must be the sea. If you wish to pickle the watermaker, the source must be set to hose. There is a hose in this locker that you can use to suck pickling agent out of a bucket. Bucket not included. This valve is operated in tandem with a second valve in the water maker locker that determines where the brine goes. It goes over board when producing water or back to the bucket when pickling. This is a very dangerous valve as accidentally routing brine into the boat could fill the locker with water very quickly. I always make sure, when running the watermaker, that the brine is going overboard. I have yet to pickle my watermaker; to do this, one needs a pressure release valve which I will install soon.  I may spend the big bucks to buy a new membrane for our Pacific passage.  Probably way too early, but I do appreciate tasty water.

History

It has been over a year since we have had issues with the watermaker so it is a bit unfair to go back and complain now. Sea Recovery originally sold us a watermaker with a faulty ETD (energy transfer device) and a broken Danfoss valve. This led to a horror show of no water maker for our first 5,000 miles, in an area with limited fresh water. The ETD is a block of plastic with two pistons. Our ETD had poorly milled pistons and locked up when we used it. However, the lift pump would keep pumping water and the resulting water pressure would cause hoses to come off their barbs. I quickly had humor failure. The crew were great and never complained even though they had to ration water. We then took apart the ETD, a multi-hour process, and hammered the pistons back to the correct positions. The water maker then would work once, but not twice before blowing off another hose. We also had a few bad Danfoss valves. When the Danfoss valve was broken, I did a work around with a manual ball valve. Instead of electronically opening after a minute of priming I would manually open the valve. Bit of an ugly solution, but it worked okay until the pistons froze again. After running out of expletives, we gave up and waited for Sea Recovery to send us a new ETD. Like many marine companies, they claimed to have a global network but it is closer to global acquaintances, some of whom were not talking to them anymore. In short, we wasted lots of time in strange ports but now we know a bit more about the operation of a water maker. We also learned that fixing it yourself, now matter how clueless you are, is the fastest solution. The water maker has worked for over a year, since the repairs.

Conspiracy Theory

I tend to believe in free markets but in order for them to work consumers need to enforce the invisible hand. Plenty of watermaker buyers are clueless like me. I did not know the difference between a membrane and a pump, so I fell for marketing hype. Reverse osmosis water makers are old technology that is commoditized but the manufacturers wish to distinguish their products. They add features and great marketing slogans to lure the unknowing consumer. Then they make the spare parts slightly different shapes and sizes from off the shelf filters. This allows the watermaker manufacturer and dealer to lock the buyer in as a long term revenue stream. Sounds like my computer printer. Maybe my blog will educate a few future water maker buyers and the invisible hand will cause manufacturers to change their behavior?

Dream Installation

Watermakers often fail on boats. I do not think there is another brand that would outperform Sea Recovery. I would consider buying a “standard parts solution”. The Sea Recovery is very convenient with one button operation, automatic priming, automatic pressure control, automatic salinity sensor and flushing. But a “standard parts” solution would have fewer parts to break and replacement non-proprietary parts would be easier to find. I found this manufacturer on the web as an example. (http://www.cruiserowaterandpower.com/40_GPH_Water_Maker_2.html). With this model, one would have more switches and valves to operate; that might be annoying on a frequent use basis. I do not have experience with their products, but would research if we did this again.

My dream installation would be to have a second 12 volt watermaker. When on motoring passages, I could slowly top up the tanks without running the Genset and while on pure sailing passage I would fill the tanks while charging the batteries with the Genset. This set-up would offer a back-up, which would be comforting. For our Pacific crossing, I have decided to buy a portable 12 volt system that I will store in the sail locker in case old faithful decides to take a break at the beginning of our 3,000 mile leg. Two weeks ago, one of teams in the the Volvo ocean race had their watermaker stop working. For three weeks, the team will be manually pumping for eight hours a day from Brazil to Newport, Rhode Island. My arm hurts thinking about it.

While I am talking about my dream installation, I would like an hour meter to monitor the usage. This would not be useful in determining the time to change the filters since water quality can be a huge variable in filter life. The manual says change the filters when the unit stops working. I have not pushed it that far and change my filters too early. A remote starter panel might be nice but also adds another point of failure. I did add a taster port that allows for testing the product water. If the watermaker has not been used for more than two weeks, I reject the initial product water longer than the unit requires. I also have a handheld detector that measures parts per million of the product water. I use it, but I am not sure of its accuracy.

Another feature is to be able “plug into” a hose when in a Marina.  The hose pressure replaces the need for a water pump and you do not have to fill your tanks.  We do not have this feature, but before installing I would research how to avoid sinking the boat if the hose leaked.

I do enjoy the modular version on Two Fish as it makes service much easier. The compact version stuffs all the bits into a crowded space.

Golden Rules of Water Makers

1. No air in the system.
o Make sure the system has a good prime. Ensure good water flow at start up. If poor water flow, check for hose kinks or leaks on low pressure side.
2. Enough pressure from boost pump.
o Sea Recovery pump is matched to the unit’s need. Some home-made systems have lift pumps that are too weak or too strong.
o Ensure thru hull is not clogged and that it is underwater.
3. Clean filters
o Most common problem is clogged filters. We use only Sea Recovery filters to ensure the chairman’s child can go to private school.
4. Well-attached hoses
o There is significant pressure in the entire system. Check hose clamps and attachments to barbs. Ensure hose diameters match the barb.
o High pressure hoses will either be crimped or have a swagelok. Good to have a few swagelok spares. Ferrule ends can NOT be reused. Buy a few spares.

From Tank to Tap

Two selector taps exist under the floor boards on top of the starboard water tank to route the tank water from either the port or starboard tank to the boat’s water system. We only draw from one tank at a time; if a tap were to be left on, it would only empty one tank. We rotate the active tank from time to time so that the water is fresh.
After the tank selector, the water passes through a string filter. Sand, mostly oxidized aluminum from the tanks, will collect here. The water then flows to a variable speed water pump. When the pump senses the pressure in the water system has dropped, it starts pulling water from the water tank. If the pressure drops more, the pump increases its speed of pumping. When the tap is closed the pump eventually re-pressurizes the water system and the pump turns off. If a pipe were to come loose, the pump would keep pumping for eternity or until the motor burned out. In this case, the bilge would fill with fresh water until the bilge pump sent the water overboard. We often turn our fresh water pump off when leaving the boat overnight. We also track down the causes of unexpected water pump noises as they are clues to leaks in the system. The pump is fairly noisy, which sailors claim is good since you can hear when a tap is left open. I would prefer it if it were silent. They do not make these variable pumps anymore so we have a second pump as a spare. Our boat does not have an accumulator (pressurized fresh water reservoir).

After the pump, there is a charcoal filter to ensure tasty water. We change these filters every three months. If the water system has reduced pressure, then it is time to change the two filters. Fill a jug with some extra water. Turn off the water pump and open a tap to release pressure. Then fill the filter vessels with the extra water to assist in priming the water system. Without this help, the pump will struggle to reprime the system. The construction is very clever since spilled water lands in the bilge.

The fresh water from this point is pressurized and drinkable. There are several junctions as fresh water must feed 3 sinks, 3 showers, 2 heads, 1 deck wash down, 1 ice maker, 1 washing machine and 2 water heaters. The paths double as some devices require hot and cold water. The system is easy to maintain as all the connections are quick-connect plastic hoses. A leak can be fixed in no time, as long as you have spare tubing and a hose cutter.

The pipes are color coded (blue=cold, red=hot and teal=watermaker product). We also carry spare pipe connections and isolator valves. If you are trying to find a slow leak, the isolator valves allow you to shut off a portion of the system. The Quick brand water heaters are notorious for leaking from their overflow valves. We try to keep our bilge dry so that we can notice a leak in the water system or some other system. Other spots that might leak into the bilge are: Volvo raw water pump, shower sump, through hull (less likely), air conditioning, fridge/freezer condensation run-off, and shaft seal.

Conclusion

Jerry cans can be found on the decks of many cruising boats.  Red for gas, Yellow for diesel and Blue for water. Some cruisers store a dozen empty water bottles that get filled when there is a clean water source.  We are lucky and unlucky to not have to rely on dockside water.  The water maker increases the comfort aboard immensely, but makes you dependent on a fragile machine.  The right choice is personal, but, if you commit to technology, the Antares installation is very comfortable and well thought out.