Is a wind generator a worthwhile purchase?

[GILow]

Justify your own choices or share your experiences?

I think the latter which is what makes forums such GOOD sources of information.

Experience is not necessarily bias.

[sparrowhawk1]

+1 GILow

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by GILow

Justify your own choices or share your experiences?

I think the latter which is what makes forums such GOOD sources of information.

Experience is not necessarily bias.

I agree 100%. I appreciate comments and observations from people who have actual experience with the subject or object I am researching. And when topics come up that I have experience or knowledge in, I try and share this as best I can. This is why I find it so odd, and sometimes annoying, when people state strong (usually negative) opinions about subjects or items they’ve never owned or cruised with.

I understand the need to feel right in our own choices, but it seems that some Cfers can only feel right by making others feel wrong.

[ShaktisBoy]

We have both wind and solar on Mulligan. The wind generator is a SunForce 600 watt unit that is very quiet and produces on average about 80 A/H in any given 24 hour period so it supplements the solar which in my opinion is not enough for our vessel at 240 watts. We do plan to add a kilowatt in the near future. That said the wind generator really becomes an asset while sailing in apparent wind of 15-20 knots. At those wind speeds the unit produces 25 - 30 amps and will keep everything onboard running. We have a catamaran and originally had the wind generator mounted on the starboard side of the arch and on certain points of sail the main sail would cause turbulence near the generator and reduce the units effectiveness. We have since moved the wind generator to the center of the arch and no longer have that issue. The mainsail also blocks off the solar on the hardtop at times as well so placement of the solar panels becomes critical if you want maximum performance.

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I agree 100%. I appreciate comments and observations from people who have actual experience with the subject or object I am researching. And when topics come up that I have experience or knowledge in, I try and share this as best I can. This is why I find it so odd, and sometimes annoying, when people state strong (usually negative) opinions about subjects or items they’ve never owned or cruised with.

I understand the need to feel right in our own choices, but it seems that some Cfers can only feel right by making others feel wrong.

I am definitely on this four to read others real life experiences. I an not looking for bias, I have political forums for that!

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I understand the need to feel right in our own choices, but it seems that some Cfers can only feel right by making others feel wrong.

Of course, it's not just CF. Everywhere you go, you will run into people who feel the need to convince themselves that everyone who disagrees with them is wrong (never mind that most of the time it is over an issue with no real "right" or "wrong"). A corollary is all of the people who try to make themselves feel better by making everyone else feel worse.

[masonc]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

I will add that I was strolling the docks in Anguilla some years back and saw a very nice Westsail 32. .

There's docks in Anguilla?

[Bleemus]

Can some of you who have 1k watts of solar on your monohull post a pic so I can see how you are accomplishing this?

[sparrowhawk1]

Bleemus, the two best places are to cover your Bimini and your davits . on the side rails they're very vulnerable when docking , on deck they're vulnerable to foot traffic.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Can some of you who have 1k watts of solar on your monohull post a pic so I can see how you are accomplishing this?

There is a thread on that, on mine I have one panel on the Bimini between the stays, and three more on top of the davits for a total of 1 KW.
I'm not getting the power I expected however, I hope that is because sitting in a Marina with a forest of poles and masts around I'm getting a lot of shading that is not immediately apparent.
I haven't anchored out yet, since we shove off in a few weeks, my weekends are now spent on finishing the boat well enough to go.
I guess I'll know for sure in two months.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by masonc

There's docks in Anguilla?

You know, now that you ask, it might have been Antigua. It was a fair number of years back.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Can some of you who have 1k watts of solar on your monohull post a pic so I can see how you are accomplishing this?

Here is a thread that is focused on Illustrating Solar Installations on Boats:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ts-179638.html