Wind Generators - Do All Serious Cruisers Have Them?

[deckofficer]

Honda inverter generators are quiet by themselves, but if placed on the deck without something between it and the deck, the deck becomes a sounding board and much louder.

[Astrid]

So, do ALL serious cruisers have wind generators?? Of course not, but many do and often for good reasons. I"m really quite surprised at the venomous
hatred that they seem to generate amongst the CF contingent. In the parts of the world that we've cruised so far they are accepted by the other cruisers, even those who don't have one.

I am rather surprised as well. Where I am, at certain times of the year solar is virtually useless (I've hardly seen the sun for a fortnight--we've had fog, rain, snow flurries and wind, but scarcely a solid hour of sunlight sun), and unless one is connected to shore power, one has few options to maintain the house bank except for engine genset or wind gen.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by zeehag

here, in zihuatenejo, in this anchorage, i found the hondas to be as obnoxious as clanging internal halyards on the catamarans and monos anchored in the incoming swell...the air X wind gens were much more tolerable.
i am glad you have a different tolerance to noises than i do.
the only souls running hondas were a catamaran and one mono.
they had no solar. they ran the hondas all night. sound echoed off the rock walls nearby so it was much louder than normal for hondas. very obnoxious.

Those dastardly obnoxious catamarans again.

What between clanging hayards, honda generators and mono-eating ways.

They should be banned.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Silence is golden.
Solar just works with no maintenance.
Put all LED lights in. Increase your battery bank for cloudy days or night sailing.

On a windy day the last thing you want to hear is more wind and spinning carbon fiber just above your head.

Just listen to this lady. She thinks its just dandy keeping the neighbors awake.

Play it again, a couple of times if you need to.
She's being perfectly unbiased.
Make your own choice based on the noise and her actual words.
She's making you THINK !

Imho, she's saying,
"Which boat would you rather be near in a marina or anchorage?"

BTW, this is the company from which we purchased our solar panel warning stickers for our home's solar grid tie system to comply with state electrical code.

[PamlicoTraveler]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Manual windlass, led running lights, etc. No chart plotter.

I guess I'm on the lighter end of consumption.

Manual windlass? Now that's retro, especially on a heavy boat.

[highseas]

All this talk about shading,how does a windgen. shade panels when it's cloudy or dark?

[rover88]

Neither a wind generator nor solar panels are absolute necessities, but they sure can improve your quality of life afloat.

Like many cruisers I take the belt and suspender approach, for although my solar provides an average of 60 amps on a sunny day the problems are I don't always enjoy sunny days and use about 100 amp hours per day. The KISS wind gen makes up the difference and works on those cloudy days, which are often accompanied by wind.

The counter argument is that you can always run your engine or fuel fed generator to make up any solar shortfall. So the choice is really yours, but consider that with the current price of fuel it doesn't take long to justify the cost of a wind generator.

Other than owning one I have no commercial interest in KISS. However, I love their simplicity, ease and cost of maintenance as well as their relatively quiet operation.

In a recent four month cruise I ran my engine only once to recharge my batteries during a windless and cloudy stretch.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by rover88

The counter argument is that you can always run your engine or fuel fed generator to make up any solar shortfall. So the choice is really yours, but consider that with the current price of fuel it doesn't take long to justify the cost of a wind generator.

You skip an option: add more solar panels.

I, like many, don't like the sight- and sound-polution of wind generators. There are some decent ones but most consider them too expensive and go for the annoyingly loud ones, showing little mercy for their neighbors.

[Mike OReilly]

As I said before, the answer to this, like most other cruising questions, is: It Depends. It depends on where you cruise, how you cruise. It depends on your boat, on your electricity needs, and on whether there is enough room for solar or a windmill. There is no single right answer for everyone.

We have a windmill, a 1000 watt Yamaha gas generator, and are installing more solar panels. We have limited space for panels, so will always be dependent on other generating sources. We've lived with an old Air-X these last few years (came with the boat), and yes, they are noisy, but certainly no worse than my gas generator or running the big diesel.

I sometimes see people dismissing wind generators b/c anchorages tend to be places of light airs. This is true, but the thing to remember is that wind can generate 24 hrs. Not so with solar. As long as it's blowing 10knts you're generating some power (for most generators) -- not a lot, but over 24 hrs, it can really add up.

BTW, we are replacing the Air-X with a new Silentwind generator this year. I'm expecting a big improvement in the noise, but I know it won't be completely silent.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by rover88

The counter argument is that you can always run your engine or fuel fed generator to make up any solar shortfall. So the choice is really yours, but consider that with the current price of fuel it doesn't take long to justify the cost of a wind generator.

Not really! If I consider that a wind generator with pole etc would cost $1250, that is enough to run my little 800W gas generator for 1500+ hours. So if you are considering a wind generator as just a back-up to your solar to "save" it doesn't really work out.

[Cotemar]

Silentwind generator. ????

The only silent ones I have ever seen or heared are the ones with the bades tied, so they do not spin.

The blade tied ones are my favorite

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Silentwind generator. ????

The only silent ones I have ever seen or heared are the ones with the bades tied, so they do not spin.

The blade tied ones are my favorite

Silentwind. I'll report back once we've had a season with it.

[rover88]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You skip an option: add more solar panels.

I, like many, don't like the sight- and sound-polution of wind generators. There are some decent ones but most consider them too expensive and go for the annoyingly loud ones, showing little mercy for their neighbors.

You fail to consider that you can only put ten pounds of poop in a ten pound bag - and there is only so much room on a boat to place effective panels.

The maximum solar power (190W) I can manage on my boat is exactly what I have without the "ten pound bag" overflowing. Larger boats generally require more energy.... so size to power ratios are relative.

My KISS is actually pretty quite, generating a lot less pollution than my obnoxious diesel or Honda 2000. An no fumes!! As for cost - the KISS just a tad higher than my little Honda 2000.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by rover88

My KISS is actually pretty quite

Pretty quite is relative to your used to living with the noise.

I live just a few miles from an international airport. Now that I have lived there for a few years, it’s Pretty quite.

I go to my boat to get away from the noise.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by highseas

Of course 'serious cruisers' have them.Any alternate charging source that doesn't use fossil fuels is welome aboard my boat.

+1. It's nice to see that someone out there is concerned about the environment.

If a boat sails only in lower latitudes or only during the summer, an all-solar arrangement makes more sense. Those of us who optimize our boats for winter anchorage in higher latitudes tend to regard a combination of wind and solar essential.