Watermakers · 11 min read · Updated 2026-08-22
Blue Water vs Pacific Light desalination for Australian boats
Two families sat on the old AM Wholesale list. The useful differences are automation, frame style and the service bench that will still pick up in Queensland.
Photo: Reverse osmosis desalination plant by James Grellier. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Source on Wikimedia Commons. Also listed on the AM Wholesale image credits page.
The Wayback copy of amwholesale.com.au is unambiguous: Australian Marine Wholesale was the exclusive Australian distributor of Blue Water desalination and also carried Pacific Light watermakers. Outputs on the old Blue Water page ran from small-boat units through to explorer-class frames measured in hundreds of gallons per day. That range is why both names still belong in an Australian specification conversation.
This is not a current price list. It is a way to read two families against the same job.
Blue Water, as the old desk sold it
Blue Water’s Legend, Express and Explorer-class language was about automation versus hands-on valves, compact versus modular, and outputs from modest cruising units to large motor-yacht production. Touch-screen Legend-style controllers and semi-automatic Express-style units existed because owners are not all the same.
What you were buying, in Australian practice, was a US-built reverse-osmosis frame with a local importer who held parts. High-rejection membranes, fresh-water flush, dual-frequency motors and a bronze strainer in the kit were the brochure constants. The real constant was someone in Queensland who had installed a few.
Pacific Light, as the old desk sold it
Pacific Light sat on the same wall as a lighter, often more compact alternative — the unit you specified when the locker was smaller or the boat was not pretending to be a small ship. Treat it as the other half of a two-family conversation, not as a lesser Blue Water.
How to choose between them now
- Litres in the hours you will run. Do the sum in choosing a watermaker.
- Who holds spares in Australia. Exclusive import only matters while it is true.
- Automation you will use. A 7-inch touch screen is wasted if you will not learn the alarms.
- Service access. Modular wins on a crowded 40-footer. Compact wins on a tidy one.
- Power. Match the motor to the bank and, if needed, the generator. See onboard power.
Tropical ownership is the same job regardless of badge. Read watermaker maintenance in Queensland before you fall in love with a daily-litre number.
If you are specifying the rest of the boat at the same time, the 30- to 50-foot electronics package is the other half of a Coomera-style refit.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Blue Water still the exclusive Australian import it used to be?
- Distribution appointments move. This journal treats both names as product families the original wholesale desk actually specified, not as a live stock list. Ask a current Australian agent about warranty before you pay a deposit.
- Which family is quieter?
- Noise is mostly pump, mount and locker. Automatic units that settle their own pressure still make the same mechanical sound. Mounting and a quality pump change more than the logo.
- Can I service either without a technician?
- You can change pre-filters, check oil if the pump wants it, and run a pickle. High-pressure faults and membrane changes are why a local agent exists.