Portable desalinators.

[0psi]

So we've got a couple of island hopping adventures planned and the major limiting factor at the moment is fresh water. Any ideas what kayakers do for fresh water? I've heard of some fairly epic kayak trips and I'm guessing they didn't carry all the water they needed in their boats and must have used some sort of desalinator. Only one I've come across is the Katadyn Survivor which goes for a whopping $2200. Any ideas?

I'm also guessing these crazy kayakers wouldn't be setting up solar stills or anything like that given the short amount of time they spend in one place.

 

[Dales Cannon]

So we've got a couple of island hopping adventures planned and the major limiting factor at the moment is fresh water. Any ideas what kayakers do for fresh water? I've heard of some fairly epic kayak trips and I'm guessing they didn't carry all the water they needed in their boats and must have used some sort of desalinator. Only one I've come across is the Katadyn Survivor which goes for a whopping $2200. Any ideas?

I'm also guessing these crazy kayakers wouldn't be setting up solar stills or anything like that given the short amount of time they spend in one place.

These can be got:

http://www.seakayak.ws/kayak/kayak.nsf/0/E0A914360C2DFD9285256C0A005DF933

We just carry enough in our water in bladders that fit in and around the kayak.

Though at zero psi you can distill your own!

 

[eastie]

have a look at katadyn reverse osmosis emergency units. Never used them myself so do your research, but they are similar in design and function to what we used in the sas. I've also used emergency bladders marked as "seapack", a good option as backup for a short trip. Most units take a heap of energy to pump a small amount, so think about that (calculate!) especially in warm waters. Keep in mind you may also want to use a secondary uv or other filter to clear it of bugs, mainly near populated places, not so much in open water. While not always a benefit, it's cheap insurance against the obvious alternative, which isn't good. Plan to be self sufficient, but hit up any yatchies you come across from water, most are good for it plus a beer!

 

[0psi]

http://www.seakayak.ws/kayak/kayak.nsf/0/E0A914360C2DFD9285256C0A005DF933

have a look at katadyn reverse osmosis emergency units.

These are the only ones I've found. The little one seem a bit useless as it produces less than 1 litre an hour. Seems like a lot of effort for not much return.

The larger one seems good but the cheapest one I've found is a refurbished unit with new filter for $790 plus shipping. New they are about $2200 :faint2:

If I was going to be using it all the time maybe it would be worth the outlay but it's like to see 2-3 weeks of use a year. On top of that they recommend changing the filter every couple of years which is near $400. It all gets a bit expensive.

 

[0psi]

Keep in mind you may also want to use a secondary uv or other filter to clear it of bugs,

Don't you worry, some say I have an unhealthy love of my Steripen :thumb:

I didn't think sea water would be too bad in terms of bugs etc. but I do have the habit of UV treating all my water when I'm out anyway so no biggie there.

 

[eastie]

yeah, we have the luck of mostly good clean oceans and seawater here, not too many areas where raw sewerage will give you grief. I still use the steripen out of habit, it will almost surely be that one time that I don't use it that bites me. The other obvious is just research the hell out of the areas you are going and work out where the coastal fresh water is, usually you aren't more than a short hike from it. btw, if you are looking into shark protection, you might want to research shark shield type devices before going down that road or trusting the very selective videos that show them in operation. I think it was SA worksafe that most recently tested them and reported inconclusive results at best, i.e. they might prevent the first approach on some sharks, not all, and subsequent passes were generally closer, some attacked baits anyway... at best it might buy you one extra minute to get out of the water 'if' it is deterred on it's first approach. Worth a search if you are/were considering it.

 

[brisneyland]

You can't get water any more purified than reverse osmosis!

If it's really shitty water (i.e - visibly dirty) it will prolong the life of the reverse osmosis membrane to pre-filter it, but other than that theres no point.

 

[SummitFever]

You can't get water any more purified than reverse osmosis!

Spot on. The membrane is so fine that salt molecules cannot pass through it. Your average virus or bacteria is considerably larger. But that's not to say in the bigger commercial setups they don't UV treat post filter. This is probably just in case a membrane failure occurs.

 

[eastie]

most shit is filtered out, but not all...99.9% marketing rule as nothings ever certain. the other issue you get with RO water is it's so pure and stripped out of minerals that a lot of people will be shitting through the eye of a needle the first couple of days of using it. on ships within a day or two new guys who'd only ever drank town water who weren't aware of it would inevitably go to fart and shit themselves. A lot of boats threw heaps of minerals into the tanks to lessen the risk.

 

[slowmick]

well you learn something every day Eastie. thank you.:thumb: