Wind generators

[CptBlood]

Ahoy folks,

I am sure many of you have already installed a wind generator on your vessels.
Having 2 solar panels and a diesel generator, I've never thought about a windgen before. But....

I was taken by this bug, and finally I want to explore different possibilities.

Anybody could suggest which windgen is suitable for a liveaboard?

Main issues are:

power production
noise
vibration
budget

Many thanks for your help.
Fairy winds!
Captain Blood

 

[BoyBlue49]

Unfortunately more power tends to mean more noise. I had a Rutland 913, I should have purchased another solar panel.
The 71w solar panel produced 4amps, 913 in 20kn barely kept pace, most of the time only 2amps. Had to turn it off at night, kept crew awake and you know what that means, no brecky.

 

[CptBlood]

Unfortunately more power tends to mean more noise. I had a Rutland 913, I should have purchased another solar panel.
The 71w solar panel produced 4amps, 913 in 20kn barely kept pace, most of the time only 2amps. Had to turn it off at night, kept crew awake and you know what that means, no brecky.

Thank you so much for your comment.
I would like to hear from more people who have windgen on board.

I am still very doubtful.
As a matter of fact, my vessel is ketch rigged. My cabin is at stern, so I would have this fancy noise over my head...

 

[Tradewinds]

Thank you so much for your comment.
I would like to hear from more people who have windgen on board.

I am still very doubtful.
As a matter of fact, my vessel is ketch rigged. My cabin is at stern, so I would have this fancy noise over my head...

Back in the mid '90s when in the Caribbean on my way west I bought a Windbaron wind generator from the States.

In the West Indies at that time the most popular units were Windbugger & Fourwinds - these generated real amps for everyday use unlike the European makes which were more geared to 'topping up'. The Windbaron was considered by some US cruisers at that time to be the best of the big ones - powerful with slower (relatively) moving blades & quiet.

I mounted it on a stainless pole at the top of my mizzen. At above 30knots the head & blades would progressively tilt to an almost horizontal plane & feather whilst still maintaining output. It also had an electronic brake. It was rated to 80knots whereafter I presume it self-destructed into a million little pieces (I'd go up the mizzen & tie it off if big winds were forecast).

The output was phenomenal & perfect for steady trades. Outside the blades were acceptably quiet & we had no complaints in any anchorages. But, people were fairly incredulous at this monster mounted on my mizzen.

Inside the boat in the aft cabin was a different matter. The rumble which came down the mast when the blades were turning was intrusive (but at least you knew when it was getting windy). But like everything you eventually (almost) got used to the noise inside.

Perfect for the Trade Wind belt it enabled us to run fridge, fans, watermaker etc as and when required - day in, day out if necessary. It even put amps in as we slalomed down the Columbian coast with 40kts behind.

Here it is in its modern incarnation - the Lakota.

It fulfilled a valuable function. Would I have another wind generator? Not in temperate climes but I'd be tempted to have a German Superwind if my sailing was going to involve the Trades but I wouldn't worry if I didn't have one - solar & decent engine smart-charging system & a big battery bank is the way to go IMO.

Here it is keeping the beers cold. BTW you need a decent sized battery bank to make the best of the power it generates otherwise it all just goes to waste via the heat sink.

 

[CptBlood]

Thanks for advices.
ATM I have a 4 battery bank: 2 (100 Amps each) for engine + 2 (100 Amps each) for domestic.
In 9 years sailing time with current vessel, had non problems at all.
But going on in fitting nice toys onboard, well....the electricity economy runs differently. I still might be ok, will check asap. But in case I need to cross the "pond" , with autpilot, fridge, instruments, lights (and so on) , I am sure my solar panels will not be enough. Of course, I have a diesel generator....but my question is: would solar + wind suite an average of a 10 Ah request?

 

[baggypipes]

Unfortunately more power tends to mean more noise. I had a Rutland 913, I should have purchased another solar panel.
The 71w solar panel produced 4amps, 913 in 20kn barely kept pace, most of the time only 2amps. Had to turn it off at night, kept crew awake and you know what that means, no brecky.

dito: we also have a ketch rig & aft cabin, 913 mounted on side deck , as we have a radar on the mizzen mast. Very noisy cant sleep in aft cabin with it running. Mounted on wood block,thick rubber,all fixings are rubber based, still get very heavy rumble. initially received advice from rutland but now given up. reluctant to put it up the mast incase i get the same noise problem & cant then stop it turning.

 

[multihullsailor6]

CptBlood,

I am of the opinion that as a liveaboard you cannot have enough energy and "free" energy producing devices onboard - solar, wind, water generated and all those of course coupled with LED bulbs nearly everywhere and a largishly sized battery bank (your's are too small in my opinion). Solar panels and wind or water generators will do nothing for you if it rains and there is no wind!

A wind generator seems to me to be the next logical step for you (provided your solar panels are of a decent size and not just battery top ups) but your choice of product will depend on where you typically stay / sail - northern or sunnier climates and their typical wind pattern - a KISS generator is great on the Chesapeak Bay with typical low wind speeds where an Air Breeze would be quite useless as it has a much higher start up speed and the reverse is true for a high wind speed area like Cape Town. Check the manufacturers data on this and their quoted output.

The newer generation of wind generators all seem to have "silent" blades, they make a big difference! On the (older) Air X and Air Breeze you can retrofit the Silentwindblades produced by Spreco in Portugal - they now also produce their own wind generator.

All wind generators need to be mounted on rubber bases to prevent / inhibit vibrations and vibration noises going through to the hull. You also need to think of where you mount the wind generator so that you mainsail does not blank it off on certain courses - midship aft on a pole or on top of the mast would be my preferred site.

 

[chinita]

It is interesting reading comments so far.

On a previous boat I had an Aerogen Air X. Supposedly silent running. The thing vibrated so much through the mizzen mast that the whole boat shook (a 46ft, 25ton steel ketch!). It eventually blew itself to self destruction when anchored in San Antonio. Three blades sheared off and landed somewhere in Formentera I reckon.

By contrast, my present boat has a Rutland 913. Absolutely silent and keeps the fridge chilling the ice cubes.

No explanations, just observations.

 

[AndrewB]

I have never had a wind-generator that is very effective while at anchor (except in the most exposed of anchorages), which means about 80% of the time one is cruising. Now that solar panels have become so much cheaper they must be the priority, even if their output is reduced on cloudy days and of course at night.

But out at sea, a wind generator is really effective specially when sailing on the wind or beam reaching. For some reason, perhaps because of the motion, I've not found solar panels so good at sea - have others had this experience?

There is still a problem going downwind, specially in light or moderate winds. For that reason I now use an Aquair generator, which can be run off a towed propellor as well as with air blades. In this mode it chucks out more power than I ever need - about 10A at 6kts.

 

[Moodyjim]

Air Breeze

 

[Csail]

I use aero4gen , no vibration, noise doesn't matter as if its that windy other bits make more noise.. keeps our 300Ah batt bank charged.You can always tie it off at night. Also there is more wind than sun in the uk

 

[Caladh]

Have an Aerogen6. Starts to charge at around 10knots better at 15knots of course. No problem with noise (pretty quiet considering its size) and mounted professionally with no rubber bits involved. Even though we're now in the Med. I wouldn't be without it for those breezy afternoons/evenings etc

 

[TerryMac]

We are just in the process of fitting an Air Breeze wind generator up our mizzen mast. I'll let you know how it goes very soon! Meanwhile here is a good review done by YM on wind generators and the different types, although it doesn't take into consideration noise levels.
http://www.windenergy.com/sites/www.windenergy.com/files/Yachting-Monthly.pdf

We chose the Air Breeze as it has a good high output in our current conditions, price, weight (important if having aloft), self regulating and can be turned off at the flick of a switch if it is too noisy. I have seen (and listened) to the blades that Spreco produce and they are very quiet. A future consideration maybe....

Here in the Caribbean wind power is king. Almost all anchorages, even though well sheltered have a constant flow of breeze. If you are thinking of the Med then solar is probably the way forward.

Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. We have 3 solar panels (162 Watts), Air Breeze windgen (coming soon!), 75AH engine driven alternator with smart charger and an Ampair towing gen for long passages charging our 440 Amps of domestic batteries.

A lot depends on your situation, where you want to cruise, how much power you consume, time at anchor/marina's, size of battery bank etc. I don't think there is a simple solution to everyones predicament. Good luck in finding yours!

 

[rickym]

Some interesting replies, my 2p worth. We had a Rutland 913 on a pole on the last boat a sloop and we slept in the forward cabin. No noise problems so I thought and it generated 2-3 amps consistantly, however SWMBO ALWAYS complained of the noise in the saloon! Downwind the bloody thing just gyro'd and generated nothing. Reaching or close hauled it was brilliant untill we were settled somewhere and there was a constant woosh and grumble! Never bothered me as I knew we were charging the batteries (240Ah domestic bank). Produced virtually nothing with the wind below 12kts.

Move to the new boat, a centre cockpit ketch where we sleep in the aft cabin "no way are we having one of those on our mast!" Interesting replies from the 2 mast brigade.

We have covered the coachroof in semi flex solar panels (110w) and get sufficient to keep the batteries charged 330Ah (fridge 24/7). Not gone south yet so fridge will use more than in the UK but hopefully more from the solar panels. We are considering a towed generator but have heard mixed reviews. As a total backup we are planning a petrol 'suitcase' generator (I know!!)

 

[KellysEye]

We have an Ampair. It not a powerful machine like the modern ones, about 4 amps at 17 knots. It's mounted on the mizzen mast and doesn't vibrate. Also by the time it makes a noise the rigging is singing (20 knots) so you can't hear it above the wind noise.

 

[Sundowner 39]

wind generaters

Hi what about towed generaterts ?

 

[RobbieW]

Air X with Spreco blades

This certainly makes the installation much quieter and more efficient than it was with the original blades. We now get some output from the Air X with 9-10kts apparent and up. Blades fitted this year so current experience. The Air X is fitted on a pole integral to the push-pit whose foot is in the lazarette, we sleep in the aft cabin - its not the noise per se that keeps SW awake, its the variation in noise - if only the wind would stay constant

Its currently keeping the laptop (c. 3.5a + a bit spare) going with +- 15kts of wind

 

[TerryMac]

Hi what about towed generaterts ?

They're great if your moving! Ours gives about 1AH per knot of boatspeed. If boatspeed is below 2-3 knots we take it in to reduce drag.

But let's face it - most liveaboard cruisers are at anchor the majority of the time, therefore you gotta look elsewhere!

We have just fitted the Air Breeze and I am surprised how quiet it is (at the moment in 10-14 knots). No vibration on the mizzen compression post so very happy teddies

 

[LadyInBed]

I have a 24v 913 mounted on the mizzen.
When I mounted it (ten years ago) I put rubber pads (car inner tube) between the L bracket and the mast.
I sleep in the aft cabin below it and just hear the satisfying woosh of the blades turning when I'm going to sleep
I don't (yet) have solar and the WG seems to cope with my needs on most days.

 

[JayBee]

Another vote for the Airbreeze. Half the weight of the Aero6gen it replaced and a LOT quieter. One problem with the Aerogen is replacement blades. A tiny difference in weight or weight distribution in the blades makes for much vibration at slow speed. I replaced all the bearings on mine and replaced blades as opposing pairs, but the vibration still threatened to shake my aft gantry to bits.