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Old 10-11-2014, 11:45   #1
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Duogen

Does anyone have any experiece they can share about useing the Duogen!
Thats the wind and water generator combined.
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Old 10-11-2014, 13:16   #2
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Re: Duogen

We have a Mark 1 which we bought and installed in 2004, we originally bought it for the water mode to use on an Atlantic crossing because we had found that wind generators perform poorly down wind but have found both modes are good.

It does what is it says on the tin in both modes and it does not have to be mounted in the middle of the stern, so you can have a wind vane and a Duogen fitted.

Recovering the pole in water mode when you are going fast can be quite challenging as the “dive” plane really works in holding the propeller in the water.

We deal with the UK manufacturers direct as this is who we bought the unit from and we have found the owners, Pete and his sister Alison to be excellent, they reply to every email with good, solid technical feedback and have shipped me bits from the UK to all over the Caribbean. (There are a lot of US companies who could learn a lot from this approach to after market sales support)

I believe that the current models are up to Mark 111 from what I saw at Southampton boat show last year so the design is still evolving. They have incorporated their customer feedback over the year on how the device works and have used this feedback to carry on upgrading the device and I have also noticed they now do a water only version.

I have no connection with the company other than being a happy customer
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Old 10-11-2014, 14:43   #3
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Re: Duogen

Quote:
We deal with the UK manufacturers direct as this is who we bought the unit from and we have found the owners, Pete and his sister Alison to be excellent, they reply to every email with good, solid technical feedback and have shipped me bits from the UK to all over the Caribbean. (There are a lot of US companies who could learn a lot from this approach to after market sales support)
Just curious: what bits did you need to replace, and why?

Jim
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Old 10-11-2014, 21:56   #4
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Re: Duogen

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Originally Posted by Triumphant View Post
....I have no connection with the company other than being a happy customer
I agree totally with all these comments.

We have had parts replaced FOC where they had a faulty batch. The company is continually refining the design. We are on the Mark 2 version and have replaced the wind and towing 90 degree gears which will wear out after ten years. These are some kind of plastic! which keeps the genny quiet even with such a high output. Twice we have blown the 35 amp fuse in high winds!!!

It's very quick and easy to change from wind blades to towing blades - about 30 seconds.
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Old 11-11-2014, 01:32   #5
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Re: Duogen

Thanks for all the info. It sounds like the way to go. I have a Beneteau 50 and the transom is very wide with not much meat in the centre so its good to hear that they work at the corner. I was in some doubt about reaching the water correctly when heeled. Thanks again.


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Old 11-11-2014, 02:09   #6
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Re: Duogen

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Originally Posted by Porsche49 View Post
?..I have a Beneteau 50 and the transom is very wide with not much meat in the centre so its good to hear that they work at the corner. I was in some doubt about reaching the water correctly when heeled.
You may need the extra long pole version to cope with a wide mounting position. Download the manual. They do recommend a maximum offset but we have gone past that. Email DuoGen and they will help if you are not certain.
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Old 11-11-2014, 06:33   #7
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Re: Duogen

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Originally Posted by Jim Cate View Post
Just curious: what bits did you need to replace, and why?

Jim
Bear in mind my unit was one of the very early ones.

We managed to end up sailing backwards off the Portuguese coast in rough weather (don’t ask!) With the unit deployed and it did not like it, resulting in a bent yoke, other bits twisted, and a locking screw failing out resulting in water getting into the casing which resulted in me having to have to fit new bearings a few years later. The casings are now quite a bit different

We have also broken a drive shaft whilst in wind mode. the Mark I drive shafts were not that strong and quite thin, this incident resulted in the blades breaking as well. We now have a Mark II shaft fitted which is much thicker, the latest ones are, if I remember correctly, made out of carbon fibre.

We have lost a few of the drop nose locking pins and finally we have worn out the wind mode air drive gear
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Old 11-11-2014, 08:01   #8
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Re: Duogen

I've spoken to a couple of folks who had the duogen on the west coast of Mexico. They said the water mode was decent but were not too happy about the wind mode. Of course wind gens do not work as well on the west coast, as the avg wind is a lower than tradewind places.
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Old 11-11-2014, 08:52   #9
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Re: Duogen

What happens in large following seas with these in water mode?
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Old 11-11-2014, 10:51   #10
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Re: Duogen

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What happens in large following seas with these in water mode?
We got caught in some horrendous weather off the Cape Verde Islands (45 knots at the bottom of the waves and much higher at the top).

We decided that it was too rough to risk recovering the unit so we left it out, (we had other things to worry about) and it was still there afterwards even though we had 3 waves in our centre cockpit which was a first for us. The hydrovane steered us the whole time, only needing 2 assists

Re the wind mode, it does not seem to face exactly into the wind, some cruisers have added a very light vane extensions behind the proplleor
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