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| Water today, Vodka tomorrow!! |
Despite the grey fins flashing around us in the shallows, it's likely to be thirst that kills us first, so that's why we'll be prepared.
Desalinators are expensive, require constant pumping, and are somewhat bulky. We hope that most of the time we'll have access to fresh water streams or plenty of rainwater but when we don't, our trusty home-made water still will do the trick.
I found a second hand pressure cooker in good nick at the recycle centre for $5. The friendly local refrigeration supplier found a couple of old fittings and a rubber hose for me while suspecting that despite my convincing story of a crazy paddling expedition, I was in fact making a moonshine still. Reece Plumbing charged me an extortionate amount for 5 metres of 1/4 inch copper, a few fittings and a plastic hose. The whole contraption fits neatly inside the closed pressure cooker for storage.
The process is simple - boil seawater in the pressure cooker, collect the steam, condense the steam in the copper coil that is dunked in water, and hey presto, fresh water!! Apparently it produces about 1.5 litres an hour, and from its maiden test, I'd say that estimate is about right.
I might go back to the drawing board for the rubber refrigeration hose that comes out of the top of the pot. It is giving the water a very rubbery flavour and it takes some force to squeeze the rubber over the steam valve - I am not sure it would last the full 12 months. Perhaps a trip to the local home brew shop might be an idea, they are bound to know a solution.
The pressure cooker also steps in as a camp oven, so some of my earlier 'which pot' issues are also solved. We'll be taking this pressure cooker, a 2L stainless billy which will double as a condenser cooling unit, and a frypan with a removable handle.
So the water problem is taken care of, now what to do about those sharks…
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