We opted not to get a watermaker. We carry 350 gallons and go at least a month taking showers every day. After a month away from land or on the hook we like to pull into a marina for a couple of days for restocking, equalizing etc.. During the rainy season it's a non issue as we use the entire boat to catch water and she does it very well filling the 350 gallons in about 2 hours of rain. We also find it extremely satisfying to catch rainwater and like to watch the deck water fill under an inch of pure rainwater and listen to the sound of air rushing out of the overflow in the galley sink. (like water from heaven) That water also tastes wonderful. Since we use the entire deck we run it through the .2 micron filter for drinking.

The other part is that early on we kept hearing over the radio of boats waiting in some port for parts to arrive. Finally, we set the boat up to be simple & redundant. An oxymoron but easy to do. All the systems are simple with a backup plan for a failure of anything important. A watermaker doesn't fit into that concept.

The 350 gallons along with catching rain and using an electric salt water galley pump works perfectly for our style cruising. If we only carried 100 gallons it would be different and we'd probably have one and that thought isn't pleasant with all the maintenance, and extra junk that can break aboard.