Pacific Northwest - wind gen or solar or both?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Sometimes the comments about wind gen. noise seem almost excessive. But surely they're less obnoxious than generators. Gas or Diesel. Especially when your neighbor fires up a 2-cycle one in order to use his power tools. Yet having generators onboard anymore, of one sort or another, seems the norm. What gives?

Yup, kinda amusing how some get all cranky about a wind generator noise, but seem fine with gas generators, diesel gensets, or even running the main engine at anchor to charge batteries. Heck, even those forced air heaters can be pretty loud. And don’t get me started about folks who insist on sharing their music with the entire anchorage via their cranked up cockpit speakers. There’s a special place in hell for those folks

By these standards, almost any wind generator is a minor noise inconvenience. But as I said, there’s really no reason to have a noisy wing gen these days. There are lots of models out there that are pretty quiet.

[Pyxis156]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

As I am preparing to mount some flexible panels on my deck, how did you attach your panels to your deck?

They are attached with adhesive polyurethane (Sikaflex). Have been on for over 8 years including 4 in the tropics with no problems.

[Training Wheels]

Thank you for the reply! Just what I was thinking of doing.

[reed1v]

We used all three. The third being an in water bladed generator. Given the tidal flows, you will likely have three knot currents even in protected waters which will be enough to generate a good trickle charge(1-2 amps).

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Sometimes the comments about wind gen. noise seem almost excessive. But surely they're less obnoxious than generators. Gas or Diesel. Especially when your neighbor fires up a 2-cycle one in order to use his power tools. Yet having generators onboard anymore, of one sort or another, seems the norm. What gives?

I think a lot has to do that generators are usually only run during waking hours, when people are aboard. Some inconsiderate wind gen owners let them whistle through the night, and even when the boat is moored for the winter. Many never bothered to install a stop switch, so the only "off" is to tie off the blades - too much effort I guess.

I have had one of the whistling types for more than 20 years, and I am always careful when I run it. And sometimes people make comments if I run it in the daytime in an anchorage - I think that is going a bit far.

Greg

[roland stockham]

I looked up the numbers for Braughton sound when looking at an alternative energy plant for a fishing lodge. Wind speeds for the summer moths averaged 7kn so it is unlikely you would get much power from a boat installation. The clear air here tends to make winter sun quite strong but angles are low so panels that can be angled may help. I am installing solar on my boat but expecting to need the motor or a small portable genset as backup

[AZ-Oldguy]

As was mentioned above, I do motor some, and we do have the motor as a backup, if the light is limited. My hope is that when we are spending a week or so in a place like Tod inlet while visiting Victoria and Buchart Gardens we can just hang off the anchor and wait for a good weather window to sail home to Blaine in the winter. I think, from what I am reading here I can do this most of the time, possibly with occasional motor use.

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[Jim Cate]

FWIW: We have 340 watts of solar, of which 240 are on an arch and have little shading, 100 are on the dodger and suffer from shading some of the time.

In Tasmania, at ~42 deg S latitude, in the summer with quite long days, but not great sun angles we are totally solar supplied. But by early march, before the equinox it rapidly devolves, and soon we require supplementing the panels with other sources. So, in that latitude, the solar is adequate for our fairly modest needs for only around 4-5 months out of the year.

We have an Air-X wind generator, but even down there in the Roaring 40s, when at anchor it seldom supplies much useful power. Under way it becomes more of a contributor.

Jim

[captain58sailin]

The only time I run my gen set is for the blast freezer when I am catching fish, otherwise I don't need to run the main or gen for electrical power, but we are not big on electrical gee gaws. My one indulgence is a 12 volt TV screen and a laptop to watch movies on. As far as I have seen, I will not need the wind gen to supplement my solar array.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by AZ-Oldguy

.......in a place like Tod inlet while visiting Victoria and Buchart Gardens we can just hang off the anchor and wait for a good weather window to sail home to Blaine in the winter. I think, from what I am reading here I can do this most of the time, possibly with occasional motor use.

I'm a "new to this area" skipper, but I've been tracking the weather since I got here on Sept. 18th. No air in Saanich Inlet means wind gen will be useless. One doesn't want to cross over to Blaine in the weather we've had the past few days: 20-25 knots from the SE, but your wind gen would get a workout and contribute BIG TIME!

After reading 4 million answers to this same question?

Solar first, win gen second if it makes sense where you intend to boat and HOW you intend to do so.

Your boat, your choice.

[AZ-Oldguy]

Yep, the more I read the more I think for this area I'm best with solar and if I don't have enough solar I need to add more panels

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[senormechanico]

Whatever you do, DON'T mount a wind generator so it will shade the panels.
I see that all the time. What are these people thinking?

To be fair, I made the same mistake back in the early '90's.
We lost more electricity to the panel shading from that stupid noisemaker than we got from it.
I finally chopped off the wind generator pole and got MORE power.

Hopefully, this will connect with a few people here.

[AZ-Oldguy]

😂

Sent from my SM-J700T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Whatever you do, DON'T mount a wind generator so it will shade the panels.
I see that all the time. What are these people thinking?

To be fair, I made the same mistake back in the early '90's.
We lost more electricity to the panel shading from that stupid noisemaker than we got from it.
I finally chopped off the wind generator pole and got MORE power.

Hopefully, this will connect with a few people here.

On many modest sized monohulls like the OP’s (and mine) it’s hard to mount enough panels completely away from all possible shading. This is why it is usually best to run panels in parallel. It’s also a reason why a windmill can be beneficial since mills take up less space.

Maximize your solar space first. If you still have $$ and amp needs, then look at a windmill. They are useful in the right cruising locations.

[senormechanico]

I ought to post pics. Sometimes it's almost laughable how the solar panels are on the bottom of a stack of one or two wind generators, a radar dome, GPS and amplified TV antennas, even radar reflectors !
And these are the people that say, "Solar doesn't work in the PNW".


I agree wholeheartedly about connecting all the panels in parallel.