Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and in part the poem goes:
‘Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink’.
And so it was on the 15th October that this became our reality. Seven days after departing Panama City and sailing the Pacific Ocean, on our way to the Marquesas, the water maker stopped working without any prior warning. The water it produced was used for cooking, washing and supplemented the bottled drinking water we had onboard. A serious concern given the distance to our destination.
In some respects, we were extremely lucky that over the years Peter has gained a range of technical knowledge and skills, he’s the consummate ‘all rounder’ and can turn his hand to most things. In this instance he went straight into problem solving mode, first stop was the manual. There was lots of information here regarding installation but in terms of troubleshooting the manual was useless. So working through possible solutions, a manual flush of the unit was the first possible fix but he had no joy there. Next stop the filters. Peter had cleaned the three intake filters while we were in Panama City but just on the off chance that the filters were the issue, he replaced these with new filters we had purchased as spares. Still no good, the unit was dead as a door nail. He then emailed The Multihull Group warranty division (Windcraft) via IridiumGo, and also emailed the manufacturer via the contact details in the manual.
At this point we had 280 litres of bottled drinking water onboard and the water tank was ¾ full. Given these circumstances Peter made the call to alter course and divert to the Galapagos Islands to obtain additional water supplies. Water rationing was also instigated, 10 litres of bottled drinking water per day (2.5 litres per person) plus 5 litres of tank water per person every 4 days for personal use. We washed dishes with salt water once a day, and used 1-2 litres of tank water to rinse them off. The water pump was disconnected to ensure rationing was adhered to by all crew, and to the best of our ability all onboard water was conserved.
We had no response from the manufacturer to our email requesting assistance. Windcraft finally responded stating that they had received a reply from the manufacturer asking us to provide details of the water maker settings, make, serial number and photos of the unit. Following submission of these details the manufacturer requested us to ‘hit’ the robo boost with a wooden or plastic mallet! The idea being that this may free up a stuck valve (that in normal operations remains open). Peter did this with some trepidation as we were concerned that in doing so he could create additional problems. But at the end of the day hitting it did not work.
The next correspondence we received from Windcraft advised that they would arrange for someone to look at the unit when we arrived in Tahiti. Unfortunately, the agent for the water maker was a no show in Tahiti which meant we had to continue our journey without a functioning water maker and water rationing continued. On the 19th November over a month since the water maker ceased working we received an email from Windcraft advising that replacement parts had been shipped to Sydney, and the unit would be repaired on return to Australia. Obviously this wasn’t going to solve our immediate problem and whilst we used every opportunity to capture rainwater, we were stuck with limited water for the remainder of our journey which didn’t go down well with our crew who had to forgo showering etc.
Given the length of time this issue had been going on, we anticipated that the water maker would be fixed quite soon after our return to Brisbane. Actually that would be a ‘No’, as it transpired that the Lagoon installation of the water maker was incorrect and Lagoon had been working with the SeaRecovery manufacturer to rectify the installation issue. So even though the replacement parts were in Australia we had to wait until Lagoon provided the correct installation details and diagrams to resolve the installation problem, just replacing the parts was not going to work as the pump would fail again. As if that wasn’t annoying enough, the ‘installation fix’ required Sea Goddess to be slipped so a new through hull fitting could be installed much further below the water line. To add salt to the wound so to speak, the cost of slipping our catamaran would NOT be covered under warranty!!
It’s now the end of February, nearly four months since the water maker failed and the new through hull fitting has been installed. (We bit the bullet and paid for slipping). Additionally, an approved technician has installed new piping and a new pump to the original unit. However, the installation instructions were unclear and contradictory as the instructions specified 20mm at one point and then 19mm piping at another point (20mm piping was provided). The technician went ahead and installed the 20mm piping, but the existing fittings on the water maker and filter were too small so he had to use an adaptor to accommodate the 20mm piping. Just to add to this circus of issues, the technician found a label on the water maker unit stating that it was a 24volt unit, when in fact the unit was confirmed to be a 12volt unit. The technician tested the water maker and discovered that the high pressure pump was faulty and required replacement. Honestly, it just goes on and on.
18th May 2020
Would you believe its been over seven months since we had a functional water maker and we are no closer to a resolution. Lagoon, the manufacturer of our yacht has approved the replacement part but we haven’t seen it yet and have no indication as to its arrival or installation. Huge sigh!!
11th June 2020
Woo hoo! Yes! Its been a very long wait, no sight of the replacement part but the water maker has been fixed and we finally we have a fully functional water maker. This is huge for us, as it means we can begin planning our next long distance cruising adventure, confident that we will have the capability to replenish onboard water supplies.
23rd October 2020
Aaargh! Three months in and you guessed it, out for a weekend sail in Hervey Bay and the water maker is once more kaput. Peter checked the unit and couldn’t see any obvious malfunction. Tried restarting the unit to no avail. We had reported an Error message to Vesseltec (previously Windcraft) in late September, and it wasn’t until this incident that we received a reply stating that the Australian agent had been contacted.
NB The water maker issue was now critical for us since we had decided to leave Queensland, to cruise and permanently relocate to our hometown of Adelaide (departure date mid- December).
15th November 2020
We returned to RQYS to complete routine maintenance work prior to our departure. During this time, Vesseltec organised technicians to attend and remove water maker components so as to isolate the cause of issues and implement the necessary fix. We were pleased to see some constructive action in relation to the ongoing issues with the water maker and were hopeful of getting a final resolution.
Well that hope was short lived since we received correspondence from Vesseltec informing us that Lagoon and Parker (manufacturer of the SeaRecovery water maker) would not support our warranty claim since the technicians found the unit membranes to be ‘dirty’, suggesting that the unit had been operated in a marina/s. In our reply we noted that:
- Non performance of the water maker began during our Atlantic crossing, less than 3 months since leaving France.
- The water maker has continued to be unreliable, either by not operating at all or taking up to 1.5 hours to start producing water.
- At every marina we have connected and used shore based water, and with the use of a caravan water filter have filled the water tank from the same shore based water supply prior to departing.
- The only time the water maker has been operated in a marina has been for fault finding purposes by technicians authorised by Windcraft or Vesseltec.
- Authorised technicians removed the membranes and tubes from the unit, however we were not given an opportunity to view these on removal or to take photographs.
- Furthermore, during this period of time whilst the water maker has been inoperable the auto flush function has not occurred, so it’s now likely that the unit is irreparable.
Summary
- We paid €11,016 for a water maker which has operated for a total of approximately 4 months in the 2 1/2 years since we took ownership of Sea Goddess. Convert those Euros to Australian $$$’s and it’s a seriously expensive piece of kit.
- Throughout the 2 1/2 years we have consistently communicated our concerns often waiting protracted periods of time to receive a response of any substance. Most commonly responses related to ‘I/We am/are waiting for a response from …….’.
- During the 2 1/2 years, we have not received any form of compensation from either Lagoon, Parker (the manufacturer) or The Multihull Group (Australian dealer) for out of pocket costs associated with the consequences of the non functional water maker including but not limited to: diverting to Galapagos with associated agent and government fees; purchase of multiple 5/10 litre casks/bottles of drinking water; additional marina stops to refill the water tank with mains water.
- Oh, and we have yet to have the unit membranes and tubes returned to us.
So where to now …….
We have taken some time to consider our options and bottom line, we just want a water maker that is fit for purpose i.e. one that actually works; one which we are confident to undertake long haul cruises with, and one that has a reasonable warranty period and a proactive customer warranty process.
Moving forward our research has begun. Part of the lessons learnt is to avoid proprietary systems where we are reliant on replacement parts from a specific manufacturer. Instead we are on the look out for a unit which uses standard parts and fittings which are available in most countries. We will provide an update when we have made our decision, and we’ll also include details of the purchase, installation process and ongoing useability.