rebuilding a spectra watermaker.

Okay guys, I woke up before the sun today and just had to talk about the wonderful things happening on S/V Eleanor.

I haven’t done much work to Eleanor since we got her. Carla and I have been putting our energy and Love into Splendid”s refit and restoration. I’ve had an idea in my heart of what Splendid should be since the day I got her, and that

day has finally come, she’s finished! Here are a few pictures, but today I’m here to talk about Eleanor.

A few months ago I finally pulled the money together to buy two Panasonic 350 watt HIT solar panels, and I must say they are AWSOME! I haven’t run the generator (Honda 2000) since the day I plugged them in three months ago. They are so powerful my batteries are usually in float mode by noon. So what to do with all the extra power, WATER!

As you guys know I built a water maker a few years back, And I just want to say I’m not going to build another engine driven watermaker. Trading a gallon of diesel for 16 gallons of water is not very conscientious in my book, nor the way I wish to spend my time on this earth. There is a better way!

Efficient DC watermakers are expensive, over $7,000, and something I am just not able to afford. I did however find a heavily used Spectra

Clark pump and pressure vessel for $1,200, and I bought them. The question is, will I regret it, the system looks pretty shot?

Rebuilding the clark pump is not cheap either but something I can toy with as I can afford parts, and the upside is about 8 gallons of water an hour for 10 amps. I can afford that with my solar system all day long, well almost, about half the day :)

My main goal with Eleanor is to make her an efficient home that Carla and I can grow old on as while we travel, and having a clean source of water is paramount in out home. I’m almost 53 and my shoulders are pretty shot. I guess that’s the result of sailing the majority of my life, but well worth it. However hauling 5 gallon jugs of water is getting old! I have high hopes for building a Spectra Cape Horn extreme out of this old clark pump.