Fresh water — our most essential resource. Why a watermaker on board changes everything

How much water do you actually need to survive?

Sounds simple – until you start doing the math.

The human body is made up of roughly two-thirds water. Under normal conditions, about two liters per day are enough. But what happens when you’re out there with twelve people on a research catamaran — far from harbors, rivers, any kind of infrastructure?

That’s when a simple equation turns into reality.

• 12 people × 2 liters of drinking water = 24 liters per day
• Add brushing teeth, a quick wash, basic hygiene: another 12 liters
• Cooking? Another 4 liters

That brings you to roughly 40 liters per day. Over a month: 1,200 liters.

So where does 1.2 cubic meters of water come from?
In the middle of the Pacific. On a remote atoll. With no supply.
For a long time, our answer was clear: a watermaker? Too expensive. Too sensitive. Too much upfront cost.
So we calculated. Planned with jerry cans. Organized storage space. You can picture yourself deep in the hull, moving canisters, unscrewing lids, pouring water — always with the same question in the back of your mind:

Will it be enough?

And then you meet someone who doesn’t just understand this problem in theory — but has lived it.

Julian Schlichtenmayer.
Sailor. Mechanical engineer. Founder of Ocean Spring Watermakers.

Someone who has experienced it again and again on transoceanic passages: systems that fail, setups that frustrate, technology that lets you down at exactly the wrong moment.
“I don’t install that kind of stuff anymore — I build it properly,” he says.
And that’s exactly where his watermakers come from.

What makes these systems different isn’t something you notice right away. You feel it later.

When you drop anchor in a shallow bay, surrounded by quiet, untouched coastline, no harbor in sight — and you stop calculating.
The technology behind it is straightforward:

Seawater is drawn in and passes through multiple pre-filters

A high-pressure pump builds up around 60 bar

The water is pushed through membranes

Salt and water are separated — and clean drinking water ends up in your tank

It sounds technical. And it is.

But out there, it feels different.

Like safety.
Like freedom.
Like the certainty that you can stay.

Seawater is aggressive. It corrodes materials, attacks every weak point. That’s why every detail matters.

Ocean Spring Watermakers rely on high-quality, seawater-resistant components — from the high-pressure pump to the membranes. Robust, well thought out, low-maintenance.
That’s what made the difference for us.

Energy on board is limited. So we chose a compact system: Watermaker DC60.
60 liters per hour — efficient, reliable, perfectly suited to our setup.

The high-pressure pump comes from Cat pumps® Germany, a component built to perform under pressure.

But what truly convinced us goes beyond technology.

It’s the mindset behind it.
“My mission is to provide sailors with reliable, high-quality watermakers at fair prices — so independence at sea doesn’t become a luxury. And in the long term, I want to use this knowledge to help bring access to clean drinking water to people in water-scarce regions.”

That resonates deeply with what we stand for.

We carry this knowledge forward into our own freshwater projects — working in coastal and riverside regions where access to clean water is limited, developing autonomous solutions for water generation.

Today, this is what it means for us:

We arrive, drop anchor — and we can stay. No constant calculations. No background pressure. Just independence.

And that’s why Julian is not only part of our expedition today, but also a partner and advisor in our FYD water projects — where clean water is far more than comfort.

Julian — thank you. For your trust, your technology, and for moving in the same direction.
👉 More about Ocean Spring Watermakers:

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