Hey, thanks!

[Blow_Zach]

Really, thank you for the easy-to-understand article about why you can’t survive on seawater (What would happen to you if you drank seawater? - The Straight Dope). After reading several exhausting forums and websites, yours finally gave me a simple yet detailed explanation of the process. Way better than “it dehydrates you to death”. And now I’m $10 richer!

[Johnny_L.A]

I remember hearing something about mixing sea water with fresh water to extend the drinking water supply. It may have been an experiment conducted on the Kon-Tiki voyage, or I may have heard it or read somewhere else. I recall – or think I recall – that the study was conducted or suggested by the RAF.

Does anyone know the experiment/study I partially remember?

[naita]

Although it is clear that a human cannot survive on seawater alone, some people claim that one can drink up to two cups a day, mixed with fresh water in a 2:3 ratio, without ill effect. The French physician Alain Bombard claimed to have survived an ocean crossing in a small raft using only seawater and other provisions harvested from the ocean, but the veracity of his findings was challenged. In Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl reported drinking seawater mixed with fresh in a 40/60% ratio. A few years later another adventurer named William Willis claimed to have drunk two cups of seawater and one cup of fresh per day for 70 days without ill effect when he lost part of his water supply.

Seawater

[C_K_Dexter_Haven]

Hey, Blow Zack, thanks for the kind words! (I’m “Dex”, the author of that particular staff report.)

And welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards. Look around, we hope you’ll find other discussions that interest you. Glad to have you with us.

[Johnny_L.A]

Thanks, naita.

Based on your quote, I probably heard it from reading or watching Kon-Tiki.