Towed Generators

[daveg45]

I am considering a tower generator such as the Aquagen for Atlantic crossing and wondered if anyone had first hand experience or recommendations. Maybe even selling one.

 

[JerryHawkins]

Maybe worth a look at Sail-Gen – Dedicated Water Generator . I've had a DuoGen for years and when in water mode is basically the same as the SailGen. Been vey good and is much more convenient than towing a gen on a line.

 

[srm]

I used one of the early Aquagens a lot in the 80's. As a charger it produced around 2 to 5 amps and backed up the engine alternator as I did as much as possible under sail. The only problem was recovering the line and impeller. Even with the boat stopped in the water pulling the line in developed twists as the impeller turned. The easiest way was to recover it like the old towed logs, disconnect the inboard end and let it pay out around a stanchion as the impeller was recovered then recover the line. It still had twists but not so many.
I still have it, but have only used it a few short times after a factory rebuild around ten years ago. Now get enough power from wind turbine plus solar panels.

 

[Sandyman]

My experience & general thoughts are that they are more trouble than they are worth. As srm says.........wind & solar

 

[capnsensible]

As already said, recovery is hard yakka. I used one on a delivery from the Canaries to uk, so offshore. As the wind got up it became very hard to get it back onboard just when you need to.

I reckon they are a bit old hat now anyway when you can get watt@sea type water generation. Fab. Pricey but for long term cruising, in my opinion, as good as it gets. Used one from Antigua to Tahiti...well apart from that canally bit in the middle. ?

 

[AndrewB]

I used an AquAir 100 towed generator for many years while ocean cruising. First rate piece of kit, once the boat was moving at 4 knots it gave us all the power we ever needed (10 Amps +). If I was still out there, it would be an absolute must-have. It's generally best off the wind. If sailing hard on the wind,(something to be avoided as much as possible when ocean cruising) then I tended to prefer wind mode. Don't forget you don't get much power from a wind generator when sailing downwind.

The difficulty of recovery is rather exaggerated. I never needed more than a stout pair of gloves to stop it and haul it in, but the rope tends to get kinky and does need sorting afterwards. The most important thing to remember is to retrieve it before entering harbour.

An unexpected bonus is that as it acts like a drogue, it helps to hold the stern to the wind when sailing downwind. This aids the self-steering to hold course in big seas.

Cons: 1. It knocked 5 -10% off our boat speed. 2. Occasionally sharks bite through the rope and you lose the spinner - and they are ridiculously expensive. I ended up making my own replacements.

 

[srm]

Recovery, in as much as that means getting the rope and impeller on deck was not difficult. Getting the resulting heap of tangled and twisted rope untwisted and in a suitable state to be redeployed was fiddly and took time. Hence my recovery technique of disconnecting and paying the inboard end out. Any torque left in the rope when deploying is likely to result in a tight twisted clump part way along the line that does not release itself.

 

[geem]

The amount of sargasso weed on the West to East Atlantic crossing now is so extreme that it virtually renders a towed generator useless due to fouling of the impeller. If you are planning to be reliant on a towed generator for the crossing then consider some alternative means of generating power. We used a Duogen that is super easy to lift to clear weed but if you need to lift it every 5 mins it becomes super tedious.

 

[capnsensible]

Good point. The weed fields also stretch from the Cape Verdes to the Panamma Canal. Horrible stuff.

 

[Neeves]

We have a aero4aqua gen and use the aqua gen on passages that will bee over 12 hours. Normally we have the Aerogen assembled and running. Our units have given excellent service for almost 20 years, which is more than can be said of solar panels.

The Aquagen is brilliant but we can sail off wind consistently at 7-10 knots and it produces about 7-10 amps. Weed can be an issue, you just need to watch - you soon know if you have caught weed. Retrieval is not the nightmare suggested. We use welding gloves and it is an excellent workout, what else are you doing on a long passage? Once retrieved we simply reverse the 'rode' to untwist the hockles.

I have wondered if a toque rope (stayed headsail luff) would ensure there were no hockles

It is a bit of a faff converting from wind to water mode and vice versa.

Knowing what we know now - hindsight is so, so marvellous - I wish we had bought the bigger unit (the '6') and had a separate water and wind versions. Sadly no longer in production - blame ITT.

I'd buy the WattnSea unit in a flash - except (for what they are) - so expensive.

Now why cannot Torquedo make a reversible unit?

Jonathan

 

[SVPenguin]

I have an AmpAir 100 towed generator with very low miles. (virtually unused). Towed prop is in good nick.

Located: Isle of Wight

DM for details

 

[Slowboat35]

When -oh!-WHEN will someone design a sensiby priced transom or rail mounted genny on the style of an outboard motor?
Mechanical bits wet, electic bits dry, demountable. Not $5,000

 

[nortada]

When -oh!-WHEN will someone design a sensiby priced transom or rail mounted genny on the style of an outboard motor?
Mechanical bits wet, electic bits dry, demountable. Not $5,000

Never, demand is too small to justify development costs.

 

[JerryHawkins]

When -oh!-WHEN will someone design a sensiby priced transom or rail mounted genny on the style of an outboard motor?
Mechanical bits wet, electic bits dry, demountable. Not $5,000

They already have, well almost - see my post #2

 

[Neeves]

When -oh!-WHEN will someone design a sensiby priced transom or rail mounted genny on the style of an outboard motor?
Mechanical bits wet, electic bits dry, demountable. Not $5,000

I have always thought that the similarities between an electric outboard and a WattnSea are not so big that one could not consider a device that did both. Much of the development work has already been done, the demands of the DuoGen and WattnSea are known as are the demands for an electric outboard.

Jonathan

 

[emnick]

We used one when going East to West across the Atlantic. It worked well, once above 4 knots it will give you 4-5 Amps all day and all night. We had no regulator on ours and had to leave power on things to keep batteries from overcharge . I wouldn't be without it. But we shall see on way back (if we ever are allowed back ou) and the sargasso weed problem which must have got worse.
To recover it I hove too when coming into soundings and let it dangle and unwind, the ran it up the mast (half and half) for final twists. also let the rope dry out like that before stowing. Great for off shore but a faff for short coastal passages.

Iv never used it as a wind gen

 

[Ric]

As emnick writes, they are great for long offshore downwind trade wind passages as they offer (mostly) trouble free silent trickle charging (4 - 7 Amps) 24 hours per day, day and night. There is some additional drag but it can sometimes be useful in typical tradewinds as it acts as a sort of small drogue, keeping centre of pressure of boat to the rear.

But in all other conditions the towed generators are a bit of a pain really.

By contrast the newer types like WattnSea are more useful in a wider range of conditions. And a tri-purpose generator/dinghy outboard/emergency auxiliary would seem to be the inevitable way forward for small yachts.

 

[rotrax]

When -oh!-WHEN will someone design a sensiby priced transom or rail mounted genny on the style of an outboard motor?
Mechanical bits wet, electic bits dry, demountable. Not $5,000

If I ever get round to it I have an old Vauxhall alternator in good working order plus a knackered 3HP Johnson OB .

Should be simple enough to fit a pair of pulleys and a belt to get the correct rotational speed and mount the alternator so it can be moved for belt tensioning.

Biggest concern would be making the cover and increasing prop size/ shape.

Watch this space - not going to NZ this winter obviously.............................................

 

[Perrycas]

If you've ever used a Walker Log you'll be familiar with the attraction of things towed for large marine species. I know someone who used a water gen for that crossing. Said there was a lot of weed. other than that it worked fairly well. But then I heard that most of the fish species have gone from the Atlantic. Eaten up .

 

[emnick]

I was on an Amel Sharki a while ago, they have an alternator fitted above the prop shaft, the prop has a large pulley fitted to the prop and a small pulley on the alternator, when sailing i was seeing plus 10-15 Amps, great set up