The frequent thunder showers should allow for an easy source of fresh water that could be collected in boat and if large leaf collectors are also used then even more fresh water might be captured and stored in boat. I think the fire signals and other benefits of the knife and ferro rod would make them my choice for this senario.
Mark E - 7 years ago
I just can't trust the desalinator to last, and even if I could I think I would still choose the knife/ferro. Cutting up that inflatable would make a pretty good sized solar still, that would last for a very long time. You should have enough material to fashion a catch basin, liner and top. The number of things you would need to do in order to survive that would make you beg for a good knife, dwarfs the luxury of having a desalinator, in my opinion.
Pete C - 7 years ago
I think that it's a good conversation , but probably very few people have any knowledge about how the pros and cons of the Katadyn desalinator. Here are a few points about the desalinator:
The Katadyn desalinator runs about $650. Since some countries require a desalinator aboard commercial life boats, shipping companies routinely put the old desalinators for sale and they end up on Ebay cheap. Considering they have likely been sitting in a hot and humid and fungus filled lifeboat for 10 or more years, the seals and gaskets would need to be replaced as well as a fungicide flush
To force salt water through the special membrane in the device requires extreme pressure. The desalinator requires hours of hard pumping to get just a few ounces of fresh water. Granted a few ounces of water can help sustain a person for possibly days, the heavy pressure and repeated pumping commonly causes the pump to fail. There are documented news articles about the Katadyn desalinator failing after a few hours of pumping after producing just a few ounces of water.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a desalinator in my survival kit in an overwater survival situation (if I wasn't restricted to just one item) . I just think people should know making fresh water from a desalinator pump is just not as easy as some may think
The frequent thunder showers should allow for an easy source of fresh water that could be collected in boat and if large leaf collectors are also used then even more fresh water might be captured and stored in boat. I think the fire signals and other benefits of the knife and ferro rod would make them my choice for this senario.
I just can't trust the desalinator to last, and even if I could I think I would still choose the knife/ferro. Cutting up that inflatable would make a pretty good sized solar still, that would last for a very long time. You should have enough material to fashion a catch basin, liner and top. The number of things you would need to do in order to survive that would make you beg for a good knife, dwarfs the luxury of having a desalinator, in my opinion.
I think that it's a good conversation , but probably very few people have any knowledge about how the pros and cons of the Katadyn desalinator. Here are a few points about the desalinator:
The Katadyn desalinator runs about $650. Since some countries require a desalinator aboard commercial life boats, shipping companies routinely put the old desalinators for sale and they end up on Ebay cheap. Considering they have likely been sitting in a hot and humid and fungus filled lifeboat for 10 or more years, the seals and gaskets would need to be replaced as well as a fungicide flush
To force salt water through the special membrane in the device requires extreme pressure. The desalinator requires hours of hard pumping to get just a few ounces of fresh water. Granted a few ounces of water can help sustain a person for possibly days, the heavy pressure and repeated pumping commonly causes the pump to fail. There are documented news articles about the Katadyn desalinator failing after a few hours of pumping after producing just a few ounces of water.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a desalinator in my survival kit in an overwater survival situation (if I wasn't restricted to just one item) . I just think people should know making fresh water from a desalinator pump is just not as easy as some may think