Top 3 Reasons to Have a Watermaker for Your Boat or Yacht

Of all the things you will ever need in life you will always need drinkable water the most, right after air to breathe. In the best of conditions and without any physical activity or speaking, you can survive little more than a week without water. But if you move at all, speak very much, leave the shade, or are exposed to extreme temperatures you will only last a few days.

Of course, even if you aren’t in a survival situation you will always need fresh water. This is even more important when you spend a lot of time on the ocean. In fact, there are three major reasons why you should get a watermaker for your yacht or sailboat.

In case you’re wondering, a watermaker is pretty much just what it sounds like. It is a system that makes drinkable water from undrinkable water, usually seawater. Whether it is pumped by hand or run on electricity, a watermaker will desalinate water at the very least 95%. Hand pumped water purifiers will usually desalinate up to nearly 99% but finer, electric purifiers will usually use reverse osmosis to completely purify the water.

The first reason you need a watermaker is obvious. You need to have drinking water and so will any guests you may be entertaining. You will probably need water for cooking as well. If you are going to spend a weekend at sea or if you are taking that year long voyage you’ve always wanted to take, then you may want to consider getting an electric system. However, if you’re going to be at sea for a long time, you may also want to get a hand pump system for your survival raft just in case.

The second reason to have a watermaker aboard is for sanitary reasons. Sending more than a day or two on a boat may leave you pretty stinky and you may want to shower. Of course, you can’t really do that with seawater. You’ll need desalinated water to get clean properly. But you aren’t the only thing that will need to be cleaned. If you do any cooking or make any kind of mess whatsoever you will need clean water to do any kind of decent cleaning.

The third reason to have a watermaker may not seem very important at first glance, but I think it is quite important. You will need fresh water to make ice. Yes, you will want ice to put in drinks or make smoothies or margaritas or even to put in a cooler if you have a big ice maker aboard. That sort of luxury is nice, but there is another reason to have ice that most people don’t think about. Ice can be used to treat a number of injuries. If someone rolls or sprains their ankle, you will want ice. If someone gets whacked in the head or anywhere else, ice will help to reduce swelling and inflammation.

Now, I’m not going to lie to you. Watermakers are expensive. An electric system costs at least a few thousand dollars, but it will give you plenty of water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and whatever else you need it for. A hand pump system can cost close to $1,000 but it could literally save your life in an emergency. When you think about things that way, maybe they aren’t too expensive after all.