Turning on the watermaker

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I mentioned that Kiwi fisherman gave us fish for helping him, but this is not the first time we've been given fresh fish by Kiwis. We eat fish, but we're no good at catching them. Luckily for us New Zealanders are very good at catching fish, and also happen to be generous with them, or perhaps we just have a hungry look.

Over on Great Barrier Island we saw a familiar boat, but when we went over, the owner was not who we expected. The boat had been sold, and the new owner was onboard. We got to talking about boats, and the next thing I knew I'd offered to take a look at his watermaker for him.

They had an Open Ocean 30L DC model. We have the 60L model, and they are basically the same. Watermakers are a sensitive bit of kit. Despite the sophistication, they feel like a cottage industry, not at all like a dishwasher home appliance. You need an understanding of electrical circuits, reverse osmosis membranes, filters, plumbing, high pressure, power, etc, before you even go near the on switch.

I gave a rundown of the installation, the likely problems, and running operation. We fired it up, and everything checked out. It was the first time for the new owner to use the system. He was so overjoyed, he gave us some of his catch, four large Kowai fillets. It turned out he had been planning to head back to Auckland to commission the system, and we saved him a trip.
His wife came over to ask what the problem was.
"Nothing, we just needed to switch it on."
What a happy result. It isn't always this straight forward.

A watermaker is perhaps the number one system that makes our liveaboard lifestyle comfortable, and possible. It helps heaps to have a reliable system like the Open Ocean.

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