We had two Aerogen 6
wind generators on Exit Only. We developed a simple reliable system for feathering the wind generators when we wanted to stop them. In the little hole at the back of the
wind vane, I put an small loop of line spliced in a circle back onto itself. That loop was permanently mounted through the hole in the
wind vane.
With the loop through the hole, I could reach up with a
boat hook and grab the loop in an
emergency to feather the
generator if I needed to stop the blades from turning.
However, my usual method of controlling the
wind generator did not involve the use of a
boat hook. That was simply the
emergency back up.
I attached a line to the loop, and I controlled the direction of the
generator using that line, and I kept the line tied off and out of the way. During our
circumnavigation, we never had the line engage the blades of the wind generator.
The line that went through the loop was set up so that I could remove the line using a boat hook if I wanted to ditch the line. Here is how I did it.
I attached a short length of yacht braid (6mm braid) to a
stainless steel D-shackle. I then put the D-shackle with attached line on a boat hook, and I held on to the bitter end of the line and used the boat hook to pass the D-shackle through the loop on the wind vane. Once the shackle had passed through the loop, I shook the shackle off the boat hook. The shackle and line would then drop down where I would catch it. I then passed the bitter end of the line through the D-shackle and then pulled on the bitter end of the line. This caused the D shackle to slide like a slip
knot up to the loop attached to the wind vane.
Anytime I wanted to remove the control line, I reached up with my boat hook, I grabbed the D-shackle with the boat hook, and pulled it down the bitter end of the line removing it from the loop.
It's harder to describe than it is to do. It worked for us without a problem.
The idea was to be able to remove the control line using a boat hook to engage the D-shackle sliding it down the control line.
Check out these pictures, and you will probably get the idea.
AEROGEN 6 WIND GENERATORS*** Before I set sail