I should briefly introduce myself as a seakayaker from Australia who spends as much time as possible at sea [ grin ] and as little time as possible in front of a computer. Doug and I have had correspondence over some months concerning the Sydney Hobart race tragedy, which was our recent equivalent of the Perfect Storm. [ Doug will understand the irony!]<br>My motivation for this post is to request information on 'watermaking at sea', which by definition for kayakers would be by the 'reverse osmosis' method. I have studied Doug's comments re the small PUR device which he adapted for his helicopter pilot client. <br>My kayak is the type used by a number of armed forces, including your special forces, which means it is a large volume boat [ by kayak standards ] and I have room for the larger PUR Powersurvivor 35 model, with the corresponding higher water making capability, and I hope, ease of use. I wonder if anyone has these in their kit, and could comment on their usefulness, as I have yet to find a supplier here in Australia.<br>Seakayaking can be an intense exercise, and one litre/hour consumption of water is quite normal here where we can get high temperatures on the water. On a multi-day expedition, it is not possible to carry the quantity of water needed to stay safely hydrated, unless a water supply is guaranteed at landing spots. Not always possible.<br>Has anyone tried one of these things? Compared it to the smaller model ? The 35 has a 12v motor, which should take much of the labor out of the pump, and a longer arm than the small model which should make manual operation safer/easier. BTW, I run to a 12v system on the kayak to power a 'bilge' pump, and sometimes a VHF radio. I have a UniSolar 11watt per hour solar panel to recharge a 7amp/hour sealed lead acid battery. The only info. I have found on the larger PUR pump is at http://www.goals.com/sailscin/osmosis1.html<br><br>Your advice/thoughts are welcome! Peter Rattenbury, Wollongong, Australia. <br><br><br>

Peter, the owner of a beach restaurant here(Southern California) owns one of your Aussie competition surf lifeboats and is refitting. He has one on order . I will pick his brain for you .Pur is a good company to deal with. I have a smaller land unit and am happy with the unit and service.<br><br>

Peter,<br><br>Welcome. It appears that the PowerSurvivor 36 has been superceded by the 40E. This draws 4 amps according to the PUR site http://www.purwater.com It doesn't say that the new one can be pumped manually as backup, however. My impression from viewing the small photo is that there is a provision for inserting a handle on the pump itself. I've put a call into PUR to get an answer, but it's Friday and a holiday weekend and I don't expect I'll get an answer until next week.<br><br>The 35 is pretty easy to pump. You wouldn't raise much of a sweat pumping it for 15-20 minutes straight. There is some resistance, but not much.<br><br>Doug Ritter<br>Editor<br>Equipped To Survive

Peter,<br><br>see bottom of page: http://home.triad.rr.com/lcruise/reviewb.htm<br><br>http://webcenter.gorp.aol.com/gorp/activity/paddling/expert/exp020701.htm<br><br>http://home.earthlink.net/~waid/home/cruising/page2/page2.htm#Water<br><br>Doug Ritter<br>Editor<br>Equipped To Survive

Here is some Info about water purification of just about every type you could imagine. This guy talks about the Powersurvivor 35, but you might want to do a word search for Recovery Engineering to read the particulars, so you don't have to wade through everything to get to it. Lot's of great info if you are interested though. http://www.bagelhole.org/bagelhole.old/drafts/water_purification.html<br><br>I also found an alternative desalignator, though whether it would work with kayaks is a question. (the drag, etc, which they address on their FAQ section) but this too was kinda interesting.<br>http://www.yachtwatermaker.com/watermakers ffp.htm <br>* They do a comparison with PUR products but didn't include the 35 for some reason. ;)<br><br>This place, http://www.oceanplanet.com.au , has a product section on desalignators with an active date of 5/01/2001, but isn't available yet. You might want to check back to see if they'll be carrying PUR products, though from what I saw, Spectra has a hold on the Aussie market, so I doubt it.<br><br>This may be sold already, but on the off chance you are interested and it isn't, here is a link for a rebuilt 35:<br>http://www.lmmc.com/classifieds/gr4sal.html (ad is a little lower than midway down)<br><br>Hope some of that helps - Catherine<br><br><br><br>

Peter, I was able to operate the model 35 today.Quality is what I expected,owning a small land unit. We operated it on battery and manually.Physical effort was not dissimilar to a bicycle pump and the water is quite palatable.It has indeed been superceded by a model 40,which I understand has almost half the parts.The periodic factory maintainance seems to consist of careful O-ring replacement. Im told many users elect to do this themselves. I will find out if this affects any warranty.Ill try to locate a Model40.Im in Southern California and near the ocean,so there are plenty of marine dealers.Ill see what the stocks of 35s are,and if there is any price break.<br><br>