Thanks to Chis, John, and Lorenzo for helping finish up the dual lane trunnions. Adding brakes is still up in the air. Our trucker viewers on Facebook are split on the issue, but they only advise adding brakes for an added measure of caution. The house movers don’t use brakes, and the regulations don’t call for them as long as you keep the speed down so you can stop in 40 feet. As we are only going 16 miles, there is no reason to do it any faster that 10 mph. We politely discuss these and other items on our FaceBook group SV Seeker: https://www.facebook.com/groups/svseeker Join us! And like me, you can ask questions and share photos of your project.

–Doug

So do you put the membranes in parallel or series. Hint: Seawater has a salinity of about 35,000 ppm. Or 35,000 / 1,000,000 = .035 or 3.5% of seawater is not water. So even after you take out a lot of water from seawater, it still has a lot of water in it.

DIY Reverse Osmosis Watermaker – Part 4 – Parallel vs Series and Connecting all the Parts

I’d light the boat with oil lamps and power the anchor winch by hand if that was the only option. But Chis Pilling donated a pile of tray cable and most importantly his experience wiring industrial facilities. So Seeker is far more capable than her predecessors such as the HMS Beagle launched in 1820. Perhaps the next Charles Darwin will sail on her.

I just don’t get it. I see people gluing plywood together, layering and sanding fiber glass, and worst of all, paying a welder to make a bracket or mount for something. The only people that will tell you that welding is difficult and expensive are the people who need you to pay them for welding. Go get a cheep Chinese stick weld, a grinder with some cut off disc and some stainless steel from the scrap yard. For a few hundred dollars and a weekend of practice you can be making your own brackets and more. When one of those old fart welders starts telling you how inferior you welds are, just do a bend break test on his head.

Peter, James, Perry and Eric dropped in to help, along with several visitors this week, so we’ll make it official that we are open for tours again. We appreciate visitors that can come on Saturday between 10 am and 1 pm so as to reduce the interruption to work. If you stay too long you get to buy tacos from the Mexican Corner. : )

Sure, you can buy a $3000 carport and bolt it together. Or you can but the welder and materials, Do-It-Yourself and end up with a better carport and some killer skills and a welder.

Do it Yourself. Aluminum welding is fun and easy. After just a couple of projects, you’ll have paid for the welding machine and be on your way.

Ok, it’s not magic, but it sure seems like it. John E. Cadotte invented reverse osmosis and nanofiltration chemistry, founded Filmtec in 1977 and died in 2005 at age 80. And now sailors can drink from the oceans and not die. So the next time you raise a glass of RO water. Drink a toast to John.

It’s a lot of steel for just 16 miles, but it’s a more fun to build than I expected.