Watt & Sea Experience Report

[KlaNa]

If you are interested in our experience with a Watt & Sea Hydrogenerator, please read my blog: www.klausundkatein.com in English and German.

[Pete7]

Unfortunately your link doesn't work.

Peter

[Training Wheels]

How about the short version here?

[Mark424]

Originally Posted by KlaNa

If you are interested in our experience with a Watt & Sea Hydrogenerator, please read my blog: www.klausundkatein.com in English and German.

Typos - google is our friend

https://klausundkatrin.com/

As much as I love the idea of these things with all the trouble you had and the expense, it's seem hard to justify. How would it compare to a wind gen which would work at anchor?

You were getting ~120W. Even at 24/7, that's 2.9kWH/day. For US$1K you could get a honda portable generator, and run it for 1.6 hours, approx 0.5 gal/day. I hate engine noise as much as anyone, but the hassle you've had, the cost, etc. even on a long passage, a mix of solar and the honda gen gives lots of flexibility.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

How about the short version here?

The Short Version

On their Halberg Rassey 43 they had a Watt and Sea model 300 installed. A Watt and Sea Hydro Generator is basically a propeller hung off the transom. It is mounted on a pivot to allow being lowered and raised in and out of the water. This is achieved by two lines that often come loose.

The cost was about €3,000 + VAT. They had it professionally installed, but the installation turned out to be very poor and they’ve had all sorts of troubles. This finally came right and today the unit makes enough power for most of their needs on passages.

Some points to keep in mind, when the unit is down in the water:
Do not reverse.
Do not run the engine (conflict with the alternator).
Can only be lowered whilst boat is stopped.
Catches seaweed and because of the height of their transom is very difficult to clear.

“Would we install another W&S again?
A very conditional ‚yes‘: Only if the mounting bracket is stronger and adapted to our ship. Also, handling would have to be much better. Obstructions such as Sargassum should free themselves, the W&S should be able to stay in the water with the engine running, and it should not swing when out of the water. We have the impression that the focus of the W&S developers was primarily on electrical performance and too little attention was paid to practical operation. There is still room for improvement!”

[hellosailor]

I think that's what Vagabonde has on their Outremer. Couldn't get enough power, adjusted the blades, broke off the blades, was saying they're having a hard time finding a sweet spot and they're out of blades, that perhaps on a slower monohull it would work better. And that when it worked, they were happy with it. It just couldn't be kept working, at least not now by them.

[MarkusK]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

I think that's what Vagabonde has on their Outremer. Couldn't get enough power, adjusted the blades, broke off the blades, was saying they're having a hard time finding a sweet spot and they're out of blades, that perhaps on a slower monohull it would work better. And that when it worked, they were happy with it. It just couldn't be kept working, at least not now by them.

They do and Riley admitted he was a dumba$$ for setting the blades for max power generation (~12 knots?) when they were hitting speeds of 17-18 knots.

This speed related problem would not be an issue on most cruising mono hulls.

[BearBoater]

Honestly every time you hear about one of these someone is having major trouble with it...mounting, hardware, blades, etc. It's so abundantly clear that it's no where close to being a legitimate generation option if you require consistent power while under way. Hydro is a legit option however W&S just doesn't seem to work and that's before factoring in the base cost plus all the additional costs. Hard pass.

[Sandgroper]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

I think that's what Vagabonde has on their Outremer. Couldn't get enough power, adjusted the blades, broke off the blades, was saying they're having a hard time finding a sweet spot and they're out of blades, that perhaps on a slower monohull it would work better. And that when it worked, they were happy with it. It just couldn't be kept working, at least not now by them.

Check out "Sailing Luckyfish", their experience with a hydrogenerator seems good, and on a Wharram cat (as fast or faster than an Outremer). If memory serves, they had it installed in the Caribbean.

Cheers

[Emouchet]

Andy Schell on 59North love his W&S. On his swan 48 -1972,he installed one for his off shore passages. On summer 2017, between Bermuda and Azores, they run the engine the first day because of no wind, then for the next 14 days, the W&S did the job. No engine until they had to crank it for reach the port of call in Azores.
So, when properly installed and setup this could be a good tool.
He talks about it quite often in his podcast.

[BearBoater]

Originally Posted by Emouchet

Andy Schell on 59North love his W&S. On his swan 48 -1972,he installed one for his off shore passages. On summer 2017, between Bermuda and Azores, they run the engine the first day because of no wind, then for the next 14 days, the W&S did the job. No engine until they had to crank it for reach the port of call in Azores.
So, when properly installed and setup this could be a good tool.
He talks about it quite often in his podcast.

Yea clearly some are working out but the point is a LOT are not...

[dial_amonkey]

Our Watt&Sea has leaked oil a few times, it now needs it's second set of oil seals - this last leak seems to have killed the alternator. It's great when it works ESPECIALLY when passage making, but also the engineering is very poor, like a child could have designed a better drop-down system, outboard transmission seals are reliable but not the Watt&sea's? It really needs a lot of improvement before it could be called dependable - but the price doesn't reflect those problems - it's expensive, and that sort of money can get a significantly better, more reliable engineering. It's kinda something you both love and hate at the same time.