What Energy Systems Are Best for the Pacific ?

[SimonV]

have a look the Ferris Hamilton or it could be the Hamilton Ferris water tow generator, I draged mine across the Pacific mainly at night when my power use was at its worst. always had full bats. didnt have wind gen but wished I had. but did have 260W solar.

[mbianka]

I am glad I have both solar and an Air X 48 volt wind turbine on board to charge my 48 volt propulsion bank. The solar keeps things topped up during the day so the wind generator is mostly in standby mode until the sun goes down. I also have two 75 watt panels for the 12 volt house bank and a Honda 2000 generator in reserve. I have no diesel engine on board and therefore no alternator. But, the three legged stool approach of Solar, Wind Turbine and Honda 2000 has worked for me for over three years since I converted to electric and I'm sticking with that approach as it allows me not to rely on just one or two charging options.

[daddle]

Originally Posted by BlueWaterSail

...the wind gen is up on top of the mizzen and dedicated to charging the starter battery...

It needs charging? Mine sometimes goes for months without charging. Then it gets quickly and efficiently charged by the engine

[daddle]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

...the PV doesn't quite keep up with the autopilot (4A, or 100A-Hr/day) when we're on pass

The A/P can be a big draw. I have a (pathetic) modern Raymarine that has a RESPONSE and RUDDER GAIN controls with which I adjust as low as possible as conditions change. Drifting across flat seas it's turned all the way down so the A/P only moves once or twice a minute. In rough following weather it is of course turned most of the way up.

Cold beer, crispy veggies, full batteries are more important than a perfect course.

[zeehag]

we had our solar oanels, 3 innumber and rated at 3 amps or more each on the biminy. we had a air-X landlubber wind genny on th etransom/. we had zero shading of the solar panels. the solar worked great in daylight and the wind worked well while sailing at night, even when we were nearly down wind-- the head of the unit faces the wind even whenye are going down wind...kinda like when yer at anchor and have the wind blowing thru the boat-- it faces the wind..LOL... what a concept-- wwe had no problem after we d]added the wind genny in keeping our batts up with the demand placed on htem. and we used high draw laptops.
now.granted we only did this for a year.....but i dont see any problem with having both air and sun power. there is ALWAYS wind whenye are sailing. have fun. just telling what worked for us for a year. wasnt even marine rated (LOL) wind genny.\
ther ear emany who will say what is what-- but when it comes to whAT works-- YOU HAVE TO TRY YOUR OWN WAY. gooodluck. i love sun and wind. i may like water later-- but i dont need that yet, i have over 16 amps per hour i can hook into from sun and i will have a homemade wind genny once i find the right blades and figure out where to place it...my boat hs a seaview tv antenna which is disposable, and i can place the wind genny there--is high up above the radar dome on my mizzenmast....

[Astrid]

Flexibility is the key.

Truer words were never spoken. Ideally one should have solar, wind and water turbine resources to provide power under practically and conditions. Solar for sunny calm days, wind turbine for windy days on the hook, and water turbine, either towed like Aquair 100 or UW100 micro hydro submerged generator for whenever your boat is under sail.

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by daddle

It needs charging? Mine sometimes goes for months without charging. Then it gets quickly and efficiently charged by the engine

I have the alternator charging the house - which accounts for the bulk of energy usage underway. The windgen would not be able to keep up.

BWS

[meyermm]

Make sure your wind gen is a 6 blade job and my advice would as others have said go for both. If the wind was mainly 11/12knts I would still be out there

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by meyermm

Make sure your wind gen is a 6 blade job ...

We've found that the multi-blade fan-type turbines are quieter (certainly nice) but they don't put out nearly the power of the 2- or 3-blade turbines. The fans may start earlier, but they aren't putting out any power at that low speed. It's a shame but there seems to be a real trade-off between power & noise.

One thing not discussed here is that recovering a towing generator prop can be difficult, especially when it's spinnning at 400 rpm. We found a neat trick for ours in the 80s: Get a plastic funnel with a mouth at least as large as the diameter of the prop, & slit it down its length. To recover the prop, open the slit, place the funnel over the spinning rope with the big end aft, & let it slide down the rope. The funnel will blanket the prop, stop it spinning, & bring it to the surface, allowing you to bring everything aboard without having to round up into the wind or stop the boat. It works well!