Forgen mounted straight to pushpit...thoughts?

[Iain C]

I've been meaning to fit the Forgen 500 I took off my old boat to my new one...I was offering up the stainless pole it was originally mounted on at the weekend, but thinking it looked a bit vulnerable, and not exactly aesthetically pleasing to be honest. On the exisiting pole it would also be at roughly face height for the driver, and if it was on a longer pole would look even worse and be more vulnerable.

So after a bit of googling, it would appear that you can mount direct to the pushpit. Has anyone ever done this, and what are your experiences? I actually see it as quite a neat solution...I could use a simple Lalizas plastic outboard mount and be done with it. Neater, simpler and lighter. My only worry is a around vibration directly through the pushpit to be honest.

Just to be clear, this is the type of generator I am talking about. It's a trickle charger, and you can pretty much stop it with your hand in any windspeed, it's not like a big horizontal axis finger chopping job.

 

[peter bush]

I had the Forgen on the pulpit at first,but found that at low tide,when the boat sat on the mud below the quay wall, it was out of the wind.So I raised it with a length of aluminium tube, ex TV aeriel. Much better generation,and being up in the air,out of the way of accidental damage. But,as you point out,not pretty.

 

[Iain C]

I'm guessing you mean pushpit (at the blunt end of the boat!)

I'm on a swinging mooring so fairly exposed, and I think the mount would be far enough away from the sprayhood that it's won't be in the lee of it too much, especially if it's on the corner or the pushpit rather than the stern. But thanks for the tips!

 

[doug748]

I had an Aero4gen (small horizontal axis job) at low level on my pushpit for many years. You can just make it out on the Classic GRP boat thread in Scuttlebutt, # 97. It made no noise at all through the boat - at least when the bearings were good. I did sandwich a thick rubber gasket on the fixing plate. Your Forgen would be fine.

The sprayhood did affect it; the nature of a horizontal axis is that it hunts the wind and the turbulence had it all over the place, as I always left the boat on her mooring with the sprayhood down this was ok. The low level put it below the boom as well. You should not have this problem either.

As I am no longer on a swinging mooring I fitted a 10amp panel, which has performed very well, I have fixed it in such a way that it is only a 20min job to change back in case I move back into the river.

 

[Greenheart]

I think the Forgen looks good on the Swift 18 in this vid, though you may be right about the potential hazard to the helmsman.

I still think it looks pleasingly robust and compact. I've heard their output isn't great, but ideal for trickle-charging I suppose.

What is that music? Some kind of Bruce Hornsby instrumental revival. Ah, the 'eighties... :hopeless:

 

[Seajet]

i bought a Forgen years ago and found it very heavy and seemed it would need a hurricane to turn it; I took it back and swapped for a replacement 30watt solar panel.

Are Forgens always like that ? It didn't seem seized or anything ( brand new ) just terrific inertia.

 

[Iain C]

Thanks guys. Dan...that looks fine on the Swift 18 so it should look even less conspicuous on a 32 footer.

Andy...no...it's quite light, and doesn't need much wind at all to get it spinning. I have a solar panel on my coachroof, so I was just going to use this to trickle charge the battery when it's windy not sunny.

I had a NASA BM-1 on the old boat and I was always impressed by the state of charge on that after a windy week! Admittedly my battery bank is much bigger on the Bav but it will still all help!

 

[Seajet]

Ta Iain,

seems I was right to suspect a duff one then, quite seriously we were sure it would take a gale to move the thing; it is a much more attractive idea than vertical plane windmills waiting to scalp one though, a boat at my club has been left ashore with one of these windmill jobs, originally it was secured but now grinds away on extremely shot bearings, it can be heard from the far end of the club - the noise inside must be like being in a concrete mixer.

 

[seumask]

Fit a small solar panel. Having had a Forgen 500 on a pole their output is generally pretty poor IMHO. a 20W solar panel will generate significantly more AH with no moving parts and can be left flat in the cockpit.

 

[Greenheart]

Isn't it fair to say that in the windy winter months, the Forgen will usefully complement a solar panel...

...especially while usable daylight only accounts for around eight or nine hours out of 24?