Fresh water on coastal islands?

[Andy74]

hello everyone,
I've done a couple of road/gravel road week long thereabouts tours and have filtered or boiled water from streams for drinking.
what would you do to get fresh water on coastal islands?
would and msr water filter get the salt out of the water?
do they make desalination devices that are easily carried?

[Andy74]

found one
Katadyn Survivor 06
2.5lbs
$995
Wheeew!

[RossC]

Am I reading this right?

You need to make 40 strokes a minute for a full hour to get 890mls of fresh water???

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/HikingCamping/WaterTreatment/PRD~5007-825/katadyn-survivor-06-water-desalinator.jsp

[Andy74]

Their web site said you would have to pump for 4 hours for a days supply of water.
I guess it's better than not having any water

[mbeardsl]

This site was interesting, although not sure about the concept and the electrolytes that seem to be involved in the final output in some of the products.
Much lighter than the product above, no "work" goes into filtering although you would have to plan ahead as it takes hours to do it's work, and far far cheaper if you only use it a few times.  Seems you'd have a bit of trash to carry out with you.
http://www.htiwater.com/divisions/personal_hydration/products.html

Oddly available at places like Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=203206117&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=203206117&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D26X-_-203206117&locStoreNum=3631

[Andy74]

thanks mbeardsl,
I just ordered one
definitely deserves a shot
I'll report back after initial trial

[chrisx]

You might want to bring some sugar filed water flavoring of some sort, (Cool Aid), as sea water tastes bad. Drink some before you head out, to make sure you can withstand it.  They used to boil sea water, capture the steam in a cooper coil, and let saltless water drip into a separate bucket.   

[Andy74]

the 4 oz. of stuff you add to it is already grape flavored.
yeah, I'm gonna give it a try around here and see how it goes
before actually heading out