{"id":156,"date":"2012-01-15T17:09:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-15T17:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=156"},"modified":"2012-01-16T11:44:23","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T11:44:23","slug":"so-how-much-would-you-pay-for-a-gallon-of-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=156","title":{"rendered":"So, how much would you pay for a gallon of water?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we prepare Pandora for our trip south I am reminded once again of the adage, “when Momma be happy, EVERYBODY be happy!” As I have said many times, it’s all about keeping Brenda happy and aboard with me. \u00a0These words are particularly true today as it’s her birthday. \u00a0Yes, January 15th is a day that you too should have in your calendar. \u00a0However, that’s another story and this post is about the cost of water.<\/p>\n

More importantly, just how much would you pay for a gallon of water? \u00a0 \u00a0That question certainly has many answers all of which depend on your state of mind. \u00a0 Questions such as… how thirsty are you, do you need a bath, or would it be a good idea if the person you are with down below took a bath? \u00a0Need to wash dishes? \u00a0Clothes? Each of these\u00a0weighty\u00a0concerns relate heavily to keeping Brenda, and to a lesser extent me happy aboard Pandora.<\/p>\n

As we prepare Pandora for our upcoming strip to the Bahamas a big issue for us is one of having adequate water aboard. \u00a0Perhaps better put, the value of a gallon of water depends on how much you carry aboard and in our case, it’s about 125 gallons. \u00a0This seems like a lot but if you have to work hard, or travel great distances, to get more it’s a big deal.<\/p>\n

Aboard Pandora we have two water tanks and we have documented that we tend to use about 15 gallons of water per day. \u00a0That means with reasonable usage we can fill up about once every 8-10 days, perhaps every two weeks if we were to really conserve.<\/p>\n

A great solution to the water supply problem is to install an RO unit, and that’s what we’ve decided to do. \u00a0As I noted in a past post<\/a>, we chose a Spectra unit and I will begin installing it in the next few weeks. \u00a0 Setting aside cost, this is one complex unit. \u00a0Besides the obvious technology that makes the system work, \u00a0there are a LOT OF PARTS. \u00a0This sucker is complicated. \u00a0 The instructions that came with it urged me to do a complete inventory upon delivery. \u00a0Here you go, a complete inventory…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, it does look like it would be expensive. \u00a0But, more importantly, \u00a0back to the question about cost. \u00a0When you purchase a 12oz bottle of “designer” water for $2.00, that translates to roughly $20.00 per gallon. \u00a0 Put it that way and it makes a $4.00 per gallon gasoline seem like a bargain and perhaps it is.<\/p>\n

So, how much is a gallon of water worth? \u00a0In the Bahamas you can purchase water for about $.25\/gal but that assumes that you can bring the boat to the dock or are willing to schlep the water by the bucket full from shore in your dink, something that I did last summer in Maine multiple times per week. \u00a0 Given the cost of the unit I purchased it will take nearly 25,000 gallons of water to break even on making verses purchasing water. \u00a0At 15 gal per day it will take 1,600 days to use that much water. \u00a0 Since we will be aboard Pandora for about 180 days in 2012, that means that we will break even on the purchase in about 10 years. \u00a0But wait, there’s more…<\/p>\n

These calculations don’t even count the cost of\u00a0maintenance\u00a0of the unit or the cost of the energy to run it, not an insignificant amount.<\/p>\n

So, how much would you pay for a gallon of water? \u00a0If you compare the RO unit and the cost of those bottled waters that you get, I will actually break even on the unit in 3,000 gallons. \u00a0However, I find it hard to imagine pouring countless 12oz bottles of water over my head to rinse off after a hot day. \u00a0Decadent\u00a0you say?<\/p>\n

Perhaps better put is to repeat J.P. Morgan’s quip when asked how much it cost to maintain his yacht when he said, \u00a0“If you have to ask the\u00a0price<\/em>, you can’t afford it”\u00a0 Can I afford to use RO water aboard Pandora? \u00a0 Who knows, but it’s safe to say “when Momma be happy…”<\/p>\n

The value of a happy wife with that “just showered feeling”? \u00a0Bring it on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we prepare Pandora for our trip south I am reminded once again of the adage, “when Momma be happy, EVERYBODY be happy!” As I have said many times, it’s all about keeping Brenda happy and aboard with me. \u00a0These words are particularly true today as it’s her birthday. \u00a0Yes, January 15th is a day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,3,4,8,5,7,6],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bahamas","tag-pandora","tag-saga-43","tag-sailing","tag-spectra","tag-water-maker","tag-watermaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}