Water, water everywhere

“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”.  This ironic quote is from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and is used to suggest that despite being surrounded by something, you cannot benefit from it. Historically, an adequate supply of drinking water was a constant challenge for marine vessels and pirate ships on long passages. It was called freshwater in the sense that it wasn’t saltwater, but it still had algae and other unwholesomeness. This was because the water wasn’t stored perfectly. It was stored in wooden casks and not filtered or pasteurized. Such were the challenges of the sailors of old …

Queen’s Dream has been surrounded by endless blue water for 27 days. For all its tranquil beauty, the water is obviously undrinkable. So, is there enough water on board to safely last the 6 weeks (or more) of the Atlantic crossing? The answer is that the crew has abundant access to fresh water; QD holds 700 liters of freshwater in her 2 tanks. Likewise, she is provisioned with an extra 120 liters of bottled drinking water in the unlikely event of an emergency. But, the “abundance” term is qualified by a magical talent she posesses – she can make water for Free!

QD is equipped with a modern desalination water system (watermaker). The system takes in seawater and via Reverse Osmosis uses a high-pressure pump to push sea water through a membrane. This removes the salt and solids to produce fresh water into the 2 tanks. The water is purer than any high-end drinking water purchased by the bottle. Capable of producing 65 liters per hour, electric power is needed to run the pump system. Where does that come from? QD holds a custom-built solar array across her back stern. The 5-panal array generates 2,000 Watts of power using sunlight. The solar array feeds power into the boat’s electric system and batteries that in turn are used for running systems such as the watermaker. All this technical talk just means QD takes sunlight and fills the freshwater tanks for Free! The QD crew runs the watermaker every day to top off her tanks. No worries about drinking water, showers, 3 freshwater toilets, cleaning, and cooking. Water for Free!