Rutland 1200 wind gen

[GTom]

@Franziska: The Rutland 1200 seems to be a respected windgen across several forums. However, a few things to consider:
- Are you going to cruise in a high-wind area?
- Do you spend most of the time in open sea (vs sheltered, low-wind anchorages/moorings)?
- Do you need power generation at night/is your cruising area mostly cloudy?
- Have you "maxed out" your solar?

Besides wind, you might want to look into hydro generators, I see you have a cat, which supposed to be significantly faster than the same length mono. Probably the most powerful power generation (after a genset of course) option when sailing fast, completely useless at anchor...

Personally I'd start solar, then wind, then anything else.

[Franziska]

Hey Tom,

thanks for your thoughts.

Wind keeps changing, we are not going to extremely high wind areas, but hardly ever enter harbors and marinas.
Anchorage whenever possible.

Windgen is needed to augment power at night and on cloudy days. Hope to get fewer of the latter ones when getting more south.

We have plenty of solar already, but sometimes it's just not enough, especially when sailing at night under autopilot.

Lady Rover is more akin to a Land Rover than a sports car.
Sturdy with creature comfort but not extremely fast.

So, to conclude the need is there, especially as I will throw out the crappy 2 KW genset.
Possibly I'll replace it with a Honda Eu10i later.

We have no inbuilt engines and the 2x 9.9 HP Yamahas (great when falling a dry!) do not drive big alternators.

All the best,

Fran

PS. :
Anyone with a Rutland 1200 feel free to chime in :-)

[GTom]

Maybe you want to PM some owners who reported earlier in this thread, quite possible that they don't receive new reply warnings anymore...

Autopilot, lights, radar, fridge add up quite a bit of consumption, I am not sure if a singe 1200 could cope with the task at realistic wind speeds. 20kts should be OK, especially going upwind, but 15kts downwind (relative wind speed maybe 10kts) will probably leave you in the dark:

[Franziska]

Hi,

there ain't no running fridge on our boat, the fridge is a left over from a previous owner who went into marinas.

I just used it as cupboard and never felt the need to turn it on.

No radar either.

If I need any of the two one day we could add more sun and wind power down the line.

Even though they make very good LPG fridges these days. That might be an alternative.
.
For now it will be 1 of the 3 Windgen in the shortlist.

Good idea with the PM's.

Fran

[vagrant]

I have one (read earlier post) but I don't think they've been out long enough to observe the test of time. Mine is surviving the English winter ok.

[Franziska]

Hi Vagrant, after owning the Rutland for a while, would you buy it again?

[vagrant]

I have only owned it for a short while, but so far I would say yes. It has a better performance than my Aerogen 6 and the regulator is 21st century recent as opposed to the Aerogen's ancient system. I live on my boat and cruise extensively. The wind turbine is a must have addition to my solar panels. I run a low consumption fridge, use LED lights, good quality laptop plus all the chargers for various gizmos. So far I haven't needed to run the engine for battery charging only. I am on a swinging mooring in the UK, and always anchoring when cruising. Hence the new turbine.

[Franziska]

Hey Vagrant, thanks for your comment. Sounds like our cruising style is on a particular when I am on longer trips.

Guess I will order in a few days.

Happy cruising,

Franziska

[Franziska]

Bought the Rutland. Will report back when using it for a while :-)

[vagrant]

Looking forward to it. Let me know about the vibration issue. I am having a friend who installs aircon settling me up with anti vibration blocks. Also l am coating the inside of the pole as suggested by someone on this forum. It's not as if it's too bad, but my bunk is directly underneath it, so I switch the thing off at night, or sleep in the forepeak.

[GTom]

Found a German test, here are the results: red line: manufacturer spec, blue dots: real-life measurements:



Might ha just been the local conditions or influence of the installation, but I don't like the high wind performance much. Most of the time above 20kts (=10m/s) it produces only ~50-100W. I just wonder how a lot cheaper 914 would fare?

[lamadriver]

After a year and 12k miles in all conditions I'd agree with the test

[GTom]

Originally Posted by lamadriver

After a year and 12k miles in all conditions I'd agree with the test

Thank you for the feedback! It seems then it will likely produce around the same as a 200Wp solar panel in average conditions. Did a quick feedback check on the 913 and 914, they reportedly produce ~24Ah/day in the windy UK. Also reading about decreased efficiency at sea where the momentum of the boat kicks the 914 out of its ideal angle. The 1200 might be better because it weighs less.

[GTom]

Run out of editing time: I am seeking for some solutions for long overcast periods but these numbers seem to be very skinny, one can just fire up a cheap gas generator - the 1000+$/€ price difference would cover many-many years of fuel...

2nd hand these may be more price competitive, I could get a 913 for about 300EUR - but that won't cover too much and still needs a heavy pole ($$$).

[vagrant]

An interesting artical, but lacking in detail about the conditions under which the test was conducted. The Marlec test, at least what they told me, was conducted on the roof of their building in uninterrupted air. Not the real world in which I use a wind turbine. As I have stated before, I have found the turbine better than the Aerogen 6 and way better than the smaller Rutland. I still don't like, and can't seem to eradicate, the transmitted noise. I'm still working on it.