KompetentKrew
Well-Known Member
Typo?
Does anybody have any experience of Duogen?
- Thread starter [70521]
- Start date
geem
Well-Known Member
We use a Garmin Inreach for tracking, text messages and weather routing. Very similar to a Yellow Brick I believe
[70521]
Well-Known Member
Thanks geem, gives me something else to look at.
Neeves
Well-Known Member
Yes, or maybe
I think it was marketed as, Aero4aquagen and made by LVM, Low Voltage Motors.
But it really does not matter. They sold out to ITT who then promptly moved production to China and then soon after closed them down.
Sad - it is good bit of kit, ours has lasted forever and the DuoGen and WattnSea show there is a market provided you can introduce a bit of innovation.
Jonathan
gertha
Well-Known Member
Duogen.
Bought a secondhand one on ebay, rebuilt it with new seals and bearings; there is nothing inside that a man of reasonable mechanical skills cannot repair, the system is potentially everlasting as long as the bearings are replaced every 20, 000 miles or so.
That unit is still going strong and is 3/4 of the way round another Atlantic circuit.
Changed boat and put a new one on this boat. This boat is a bit faster but needs a bit more energy.
Both boats I have found about 18 hours of charge a day when off shore keep all things going; I take it out if water speed is below 5 knots as it slows you down and makes little power. I watch the volts on a 3 or 4 hour check when offshore, when we drop to about 25 volts I put it in , when volts are up to 27 I take it out.
Weed is the only thing that spoils the performance, the unit is spinning but at a slow speed, so you think it is working and find it is not; in areas of weed I watch volts at battery on a bluetooth connection to phone which I have at helm, it is possible to see the volt drop and know it is not working. Last autumn we encountered a lot of weed mid atlantic, I gave up on Duo and used Perkins.
The Duogen has no gears and is in a unit that anyone can open and service.
Watt and Sea, the unit is geared, this boosts performance ; but means unit has a finite life; the unit runs with all electrics in the water , any failure in seal and it will die. It is a return to base for repairs.
Watt and Sea relays on a very neat transom mount, that looks good ; but in practice it is hard to keep it down when speed gets up, occasionally a Watt and Sea gets broken as it is locked down and hits something.
The Duogen holds it self down with water speed through a blade, if it hits something it can bounce up, the only shortcoming of a standard unit is it is hard to lift it out when you are sailing fast, a block on the backstay with a longer than standard rope overcomes this problem.
The wind turbine is good in 15 plus knots, below that not much happens, I leave it in wind mode when short hopping between ancorages , and find a fair performance if we are beating or beam wind so apparent wind is up, never used it in wind mode with wind behind, my guess is if trade winds are 25 to 30 knots it may match what we need; but i have always had it set for water mode in these conditions.
Solar , I have never had much luck . The only panels that I can fit are the semiflexable, they last a year or two then die, in the last 12 years I have bought 9 and nearly all have failed in a short space of time. Last spring 3 out of 4 lasted 1 month being cooked in the Algarve when 4 months old. I have replacements from the merchant but they are in the shed as boat is off shore and cannot justify cost of shipping.
If you can fit rigid panels and keep them pointing at the sun the performance can be good, my boat does not lend it self to this type of installation .
A member of crew had a garmin inreach on board on last atlantic crossing , it performed well and has advantages over the yellow brick, the ability to leave a trail of your position and it will link to a phone or something similar which makes reading and creating messages easier.
I prefer an old laptop linked to a sat phone for , weather , messaging and communication; but when something dies it is the Inreach I will buy to replace what I have now.
Simon
Bought a secondhand one on ebay, rebuilt it with new seals and bearings; there is nothing inside that a man of reasonable mechanical skills cannot repair, the system is potentially everlasting as long as the bearings are replaced every 20, 000 miles or so.
That unit is still going strong and is 3/4 of the way round another Atlantic circuit.
Changed boat and put a new one on this boat. This boat is a bit faster but needs a bit more energy.
Both boats I have found about 18 hours of charge a day when off shore keep all things going; I take it out if water speed is below 5 knots as it slows you down and makes little power. I watch the volts on a 3 or 4 hour check when offshore, when we drop to about 25 volts I put it in , when volts are up to 27 I take it out.
Weed is the only thing that spoils the performance, the unit is spinning but at a slow speed, so you think it is working and find it is not; in areas of weed I watch volts at battery on a bluetooth connection to phone which I have at helm, it is possible to see the volt drop and know it is not working. Last autumn we encountered a lot of weed mid atlantic, I gave up on Duo and used Perkins.
The Duogen has no gears and is in a unit that anyone can open and service.
Watt and Sea, the unit is geared, this boosts performance ; but means unit has a finite life; the unit runs with all electrics in the water , any failure in seal and it will die. It is a return to base for repairs.
Watt and Sea relays on a very neat transom mount, that looks good ; but in practice it is hard to keep it down when speed gets up, occasionally a Watt and Sea gets broken as it is locked down and hits something.
The Duogen holds it self down with water speed through a blade, if it hits something it can bounce up, the only shortcoming of a standard unit is it is hard to lift it out when you are sailing fast, a block on the backstay with a longer than standard rope overcomes this problem.
The wind turbine is good in 15 plus knots, below that not much happens, I leave it in wind mode when short hopping between ancorages , and find a fair performance if we are beating or beam wind so apparent wind is up, never used it in wind mode with wind behind, my guess is if trade winds are 25 to 30 knots it may match what we need; but i have always had it set for water mode in these conditions.
Solar , I have never had much luck . The only panels that I can fit are the semiflexable, they last a year or two then die, in the last 12 years I have bought 9 and nearly all have failed in a short space of time. Last spring 3 out of 4 lasted 1 month being cooked in the Algarve when 4 months old. I have replacements from the merchant but they are in the shed as boat is off shore and cannot justify cost of shipping.
If you can fit rigid panels and keep them pointing at the sun the performance can be good, my boat does not lend it self to this type of installation .
A member of crew had a garmin inreach on board on last atlantic crossing , it performed well and has advantages over the yellow brick, the ability to leave a trail of your position and it will link to a phone or something similar which makes reading and creating messages easier.
I prefer an old laptop linked to a sat phone for , weather , messaging and communication; but when something dies it is the Inreach I will buy to replace what I have now.
Simon
[70521]
Well-Known Member
Thanks Simon that is useful.