Reading Peter's post today about dealing with his water maker got me thinking- Why do we use complicated automated systems on our boats?
Peter's watermaker is a perfect example. It has automatic backflush and high TDS diversion capabilities. As he notes in his posting, the TDS diversion isn't really necessary as everyone knows to divert the first slug of water as it is always high in TDS. The auto backflush is just a time saver, but at the expense of complexity. In the RV world more than boats is the automatic generator start feature. Shouldn't a sophisticated cruiser/RVer watch his battery charge level and start the generator to recharge when it is necessary.
Shouldn't we rig our boats to be as simple as possible and if they take a few minutes of time each day to monitor and deal with the systems, so what? Are we so pressed for time while cruising that we have to automate anything we can?
And sometimes automation takes more time to fix than it ever would save if it worked. I suspect Peter's automatic backflush is an example of this.
In the 30 or so years I have been cruising (off and on of course) I have seen this forum make a subtle shift from installing and managing simple cruising boat systems, to more expensive and automated systems.
Do these automated systems really enhance the cruising experience? In my opinion, no. Simpler is better and always cheaper.
David
Peter's watermaker is a perfect example. It has automatic backflush and high TDS diversion capabilities. As he notes in his posting, the TDS diversion isn't really necessary as everyone knows to divert the first slug of water as it is always high in TDS. The auto backflush is just a time saver, but at the expense of complexity. In the RV world more than boats is the automatic generator start feature. Shouldn't a sophisticated cruiser/RVer watch his battery charge level and start the generator to recharge when it is necessary.
Shouldn't we rig our boats to be as simple as possible and if they take a few minutes of time each day to monitor and deal with the systems, so what? Are we so pressed for time while cruising that we have to automate anything we can?
And sometimes automation takes more time to fix than it ever would save if it worked. I suspect Peter's automatic backflush is an example of this.
In the 30 or so years I have been cruising (off and on of course) I have seen this forum make a subtle shift from installing and managing simple cruising boat systems, to more expensive and automated systems.
Do these automated systems really enhance the cruising experience? In my opinion, no. Simpler is better and always cheaper.
David