The waterline is a term I use differently from most.. While it normally means where the boat above water meets the ocean, for me it’s very different.. it’s actually on of the three key milestones on Expeditions like this.. On the craft, I pack Emergency water for the trip, which also act as ballasts from the craft for the first tough 1/3 of the journey when conditions are the roughest. They make the Impifish sit slightly deeper and more stable in the water, & if my water maker fails I have backup water for a good period without stress.. safety backups for me are everything.
So I pack 50litres of emergency water, which is a lot, always! And once I get to a point where I know I’ve made it through the first two weeks (the hardest part where most shit can go wrong), then I know if my water maker fails, I have just enough water — just over 1 Litre per day for the rest of the trip, to not have to pull the plug on the expedition if my water maker fails.. I can just fall back on the emergency water till the end of the trip, which now should be less than 50days, so I’m covered. And even then, I also have a very small, very energy intensive handheld unit, as a backup to this! Water is the key to survival, & without it your expedition is screwed, so this is the #1 key item to get right to a successful project, always.