chrisb
New member
these seem to be ideal for downwind sailing. how do they perform upwind -especially interested in duogen
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water powered generators
- Thread starter chrisb
- Start date
Talbot
Active member
why would it be any different? It has nothing to do with apparent wind, purely boat speed. The system on the duogen is designed so that even half boats going along on their side (darned uncomfortable IMHO) would still have the impellor in the water, and no problem with the aqua 4 gen as boat attitude has zero effect on the system.
The only difference really is that close hauled, a towed generator does not have such a big difference over a wind system, cause the apparent wind is much higher, on the other hand it doesnt matter which tack you are on with the water system, whereas some wind generators can be sheltered from the wind on one tack.
Duogen is my choice.
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The only difference really is that close hauled, a towed generator does not have such a big difference over a wind system, cause the apparent wind is much higher, on the other hand it doesnt matter which tack you are on with the water system, whereas some wind generators can be sheltered from the wind on one tack.
Duogen is my choice.
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ChrisE
Active member
As Talbot says the point of sail is irrelavent it is boatspeed that drive the turbine round. We used one of these(an aquagen, not duogen) for a year on our travels and were very impressed with its performance. A few points to note.
1. You don't something for nothing - unless you are at hull speed you'll lose about 1/2 to a knot of boatspeed.
2. Very good in a big, following sea for stabilising the stern, holds the stern back against unintentional gybing and severe yawing
3. Make sure that you have at least 100m of line between turbine and stern. We used 50m initially and had the turbine jump out of the water and attack our stern, nearly made it into the cockpit
4. Make sure that you can regulate the amount of charge going to the batteries, we couldn't and ended up having to turn all of the autopilot, lights, fridge, etc on to avoid the batteries cooking on a couple of occasions.
5. Work out how you are going to retrieve the turbine. When underway it is impossible to just grab the spinning line and pull it in, you have to heave to and carefully bring the line in under low loads. And wear gloves, in warmer climes the rope can have a few micro jelly fish embedded which can give you a nasty sting.
All in all a very useful piece of kit.
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1. You don't something for nothing - unless you are at hull speed you'll lose about 1/2 to a knot of boatspeed.
2. Very good in a big, following sea for stabilising the stern, holds the stern back against unintentional gybing and severe yawing
3. Make sure that you have at least 100m of line between turbine and stern. We used 50m initially and had the turbine jump out of the water and attack our stern, nearly made it into the cockpit
4. Make sure that you can regulate the amount of charge going to the batteries, we couldn't and ended up having to turn all of the autopilot, lights, fridge, etc on to avoid the batteries cooking on a couple of occasions.
5. Work out how you are going to retrieve the turbine. When underway it is impossible to just grab the spinning line and pull it in, you have to heave to and carefully bring the line in under low loads. And wear gloves, in warmer climes the rope can have a few micro jelly fish embedded which can give you a nasty sting.
All in all a very useful piece of kit.
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aluijten
New member
I'm not using any of these kits, but it seems to me that most of the problems you've (Chris) noticed do not apply to the Duogen kit. The site of the manufacturer also claims less drag then you've suggested.
Any opinions out there?
Arno
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Any opinions out there?
Arno
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Stingo
Well-known member
Very happy with my DuoGen and the service from the manufacturers.
<hr width=100% size=1><font color=blue><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stingo.co.uk>http://www.stingo.co.uk</A> - now showing on a computer near you</font color=blue>
<hr width=100% size=1><font color=blue><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stingo.co.uk>http://www.stingo.co.uk</A> - now showing on a computer near you</font color=blue>