Three salts, namely 2-amino-4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate trihydrate (I), 2-amino-4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate dihydrate (II) and 2,4-diamino-5-(3',4',5'-trimethoxybenzyl)pyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate (III), were synthesized and characterized by IR and X-ray diffraction techniques. The primary interaction between the acid and base happens via N-H...O hydrogen bonds in (II) and (III), and via water-mediated N-H...OW and OW-HW...S in (I). The water molecules present in compound (I) form a (H2O)12 water cluster via water-water interactions. In all three compounds (I)-(III), thiobarbiturate anions form self-complementary pairs with a robust R2(2)(8) motif via a pair of N-H...O/N-H...S hydrogen bonds. They mimic the nucleobase base pairs by utilizing the same groups (thymine/uracil uses N3-H and C4=O8 groups during the formation of Watson-Crick and Hoogsteen base pairs with adenine). Compound (I) forms a water-mediated base pair through N-H...OW hydrogen bonds and forms an R4(2)(12) motif. The formation of N-H...S hydrogen bonds, water-mediated base pairs and water-water interactions in these crystal systems offers scope for these systems to be considered as a model in the study of hydration of nucleobases and water-mediated nucleobase base pairs in macromolecules.