bergie
Well-Known Member
In the last year we've cruised from the Baltic to the Caribbean. In general we're quite able to power our boat with renewables - we have 560W of fixed panels, plus 300W in a FLINsail that we can deploy at anchor. In addition we have a SailingGen hydrogenerator (think of cheaper Watt&Sea). However, last summer in the not-so-sunny Hebrides we occasionally had to run the engine to make power. I wrote a little bit more of our energy situation in the retrospective on our Atlantic crossing.
This, and now sitting in the suprisingly grey and rainy anchorage in Martinique has again brought up the idea of wanting a wind generator. Having a small-ish (31ft) double-ender, we don't really have the space for a permanently mounted one in the stern. At least if we want to keep the solar panels we have there. A couple of years ago we wanted to buy a Superwind, and they actually declined to sell us a unit based on their (likely correct) view that we don't have a good place to mount one.
Then yesterday rowing through the anchorage we saw a potential solution:
This deployable Ampair 100 would be something we can fit on the boat.
Looking at the production curve, it wouldn't make a lot of power, but likely enough to tip the balance on a grey day.
And being convertible, it appears to disassemble into smaller pieces pretty easily, which would aid in stowage.
Now, the manufacturer has gone bust ten years ago and so we'd need to find a 2nd hand one. But before I start the search for one here in the Caribbean (or maybe somewhere that is easy to ship to some of our friends in Germany), I wanted to ask for any real-world experiences. How loud is it? How's the power production compared to the official specs? Anybody charge a LiFePO4 battery with one? How annoying is it to deploy and stow?
This, and now sitting in the suprisingly grey and rainy anchorage in Martinique has again brought up the idea of wanting a wind generator. Having a small-ish (31ft) double-ender, we don't really have the space for a permanently mounted one in the stern. At least if we want to keep the solar panels we have there. A couple of years ago we wanted to buy a Superwind, and they actually declined to sell us a unit based on their (likely correct) view that we don't have a good place to mount one.
Then yesterday rowing through the anchorage we saw a potential solution:
This deployable Ampair 100 would be something we can fit on the boat.
Looking at the production curve, it wouldn't make a lot of power, but likely enough to tip the balance on a grey day.
And being convertible, it appears to disassemble into smaller pieces pretty easily, which would aid in stowage.
Now, the manufacturer has gone bust ten years ago and so we'd need to find a 2nd hand one. But before I start the search for one here in the Caribbean (or maybe somewhere that is easy to ship to some of our friends in Germany), I wanted to ask for any real-world experiences. How loud is it? How's the power production compared to the official specs? Anybody charge a LiFePO4 battery with one? How annoying is it to deploy and stow?
