Hi Pat,

How's life on the Sassafras? I'm not sure if this is of help, but my rationale is that at some point(s) in the day we have the genset running anyway for other appliances, and it's a lot more efficient at producing 220VAC than the aux-to alternator-to-24VDC-to-220VAC method. There are efficiency losses at each step (due to heat, etc), and the batteries will have been drained to a lower point (i.e. the alternator output cannot produce the equivalent of the watermaker input, so the difference comes from the batteries), which means you still have to charge them back up by running "something".

The genset burns about 1/4 gallon per hour, which means you're getting 60 liters of water for about $1. By the time you've bought an extra inverter, heavy gauge wire, connectors, etc., and gone to all the trouble of the installation, I'm not sure you'll be any further ahead. Besides, with the regular annual maintenance, operating and upkeep costs for any 53' live-aboard boat, $1 pales by comparison... believe me. :-)

Steve

SM340
Summer Love