eguillermo
Nomad
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Registered: 10-10-2008
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Aquamate and other solar distillers
Hola Nomads!
I'd like a light, portable solar still or other desalinator to take as a backup/emergency water source on kayak trips out to islands in the Cortez. A
few years back a Norte pinned me in on Isla San Marcos, and supplies ran low.
Does anyone use the "Aquamate" model I see on Amazon? I'm curious why it is more expensive than other portable models (assuming it is better, but)
and wonder if anyone has experience with these kinds of stills.
Searched the forums and found some cool ideas for home-made ones, but I am famously un-handy and should get a pre-made, hopefully easy to use one 
For reference, the Aquamate: http://www.amazon.com/Aquamate-Solar-Emergency-Purification-...
And the cheapie: http://www.amazon.com/The-Solar-Still-Water-Purification/dp/...
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bkbend
Senior Nomad
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Location: central OR or central baja
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http://www.katadyn.com/en/katadyn-products/products/katadyns...
Quite a bit spendier but I know kayakers on the Sea of Cortez who swear by this. Eliminates a lot of weight and storage space used for water on long
trips.
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bkbend
Senior Nomad
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Location: central OR or central baja
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Katadyn-Pur-Watermaker-Survivor-35...
A little more looking found the same item at a steeply discounted price, but issues needing dealt with.
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
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Ditto on Katadyn. Formerly PUR Engineering, a US company bought by Swiss concern. Had their 35 model and a smaller 6 model. Never paid those
ridiculous retail prices.
35 bought for $600 on Ebay unused and refurbished - with new membrane. Membrane costs ~300 and you can replace it yourself. Sometimes those old unused
units still have functional membrane - put some salt in bathtub, as much as would dissolve, and test it. It proved to be useful on one long and dry
trip where I couldn't carry enough water. It was not an emergency, but a planned use. One hour makes 1 gallon. Not difficult but boring, have
something to sit on and turn on your favorite radio talk show. Sold after had realized that won't need it too much. There isn't much wilderness left
in Baja. If you decide on 35 model, try and get it with a carrying bag - not just Styrofoam packaging. For a 6 model you can find some pouch in second
hand stores or take one of cosmetics purses of your wife.
Still have a 6 model. Slow, only quart an hour, and handle is less comfortable, and some units don't come with a handle extension and then it is less
convenient yet. Strictly an emergency item. In prolonged use it won't be as durable as 35 model, but you are not going to have a prolonged use like
several trips with pumping every day - it is way to slow. One person needs a gallon a day for normal living and 1/2-1/4 gallon to survive, so pumping
it 4 hours every day for a week or two - you'll hate it.
Both 35 and 6 model need to be filled with biocide if left in storage for a year, and biocide is recommended to be replaced every yer, but I don't
bother more than once every 2 years when I don't use it. Katadyn would have a list of dealers that sell biocide. Flushing it with a fresh water once
every 6 months would work, if you don't have biocide.
I don't usually carry 6 model on a 2-3 day wilderness trip unless there is some very long island crossing with chances to get stuck there due to wind.
MSR Dromedary bag 10 liters size is enough for 3 days, weighs nothing empty, 44 lbs full, and takes little space.
Those plastic domes that you posted, weigh about same much as 6 model cost almost as much as a used 6 model, and don't look durable.
[Edited on 10-31-2013 by Alm]
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eguillermo
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Alm, you mean a 20L dromedary probably (1L=1kg, 20L = 44lb) -- and I've got em
Took 30L worth of MSR bags to San Marcos once, felt quite heavy in the crossing, and still got spooked by low supplies after the wind kept me pinned
for five days. I drink coffee and whisky, and maybe that makes 3L a day a little sparse for me.
Really nobody has tried the solar stills? I'd like to avoid spending 700 dollars for an emergency backup measure which, with luck, I'll never use.
Even my new floating PLB cost way less than half that I think.
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
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I meant 10 liter drom bag. 22 lbs, sorry - not 44 lbs. MSR don't make dromedary bags bigger than 10 liters, so those 20 must be by other brand and I
am not sure about quality. MSR is the best.
Gallon a day is pretty normal, ask other kayakers. On colder days it could be less than a gallon. It looks like your style is more picnicking than
kayaking, this is different. Coffee is a diuretic and should not be used too much on trips like that. Whisky is worse yet. Going to San Marcos island
I would not worry about desalinator, there is plenty of water on the camps ashore, mere 4 miles away, and there is usually a few hours of quieter
weather every morning even when El Norte blows. Besides, the island is inhabited, there is a village and there are almost always fishermen in the cove
at the North end.
[Edited on 10-31-2013 by Alm]
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eguillermo
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Well, I'm thinking about other islands as well Carmen, Cerralvo, ??
During the Norte I weathered out there, I didn't see a single boat, fishing or other, for two whole days running. I tried to do the crossing at dawn
on the second day and turned back after .75 miles -- BIG spillers, and it just seemed too strenuous to make the crossing to shore.
Maybe it's four miles at the south end to San Bruno, but to cross back to Caleta San Lucas was more than that.
Dude, alm, I see why people get irritated with you. "Picnicking?" OK -- Yours truly has picnicked his way around PWS, Naknek Lake, Lake Nicaragua,
Baja, and other places, and he ain't goin nowhere in no kind of craft without good scotch and coffee aboard
And what I really want to know regards these solar stills -- still.
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 5-10-2011
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IMO, if you are into multiday trips and can't carry enough water for when get pinned down by storm, you should get PUR 6. It may cost over $300 with a
good membrane and it will work. Emergency gear needs to be reliable, doesn't matter whether you will ever get to use it. Plastic solar stills will not
work when it's cold and overcast, and punctures will compromise its work.
Nobody knows anything about those solar stills, and they've been around for some years. Ask maybe at Watertribe. Here nomads are living in casas,
casitas and trailers, and "kayaking" usually means a daytrip around the bay on a calm day. And yet, they suggested PUR units - because their kayaking
friends use it.
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Bajamatic
Senior Nomad
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"he ain't goin' nowhere in no kind of craft without good scotch and coffee aboard"
Amen to that. 
yuletide
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eguillermo
Nomad
Posts: 113
Registered: 10-10-2008
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Amen indeed.
And thank you Alm, for not getting irritated at me being irritated. It is definitely starting to look like the still is a non-starter, unless I test
it myself.
The multi-day thing is definitely what I want to do, and I confess I got a little spooked by that one marooning at San Marcos. Fishing is a big part
of my good time out there, and being stuck on land is tough. Hope you can see this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115107095284921798558/BajaSprin...
No fishing boats in view!!!
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