alternative to solar

Cruising boats have been using wind turbines for over 30 years. Work OK in areas of constant wind--down side is noise and vibration. I wonder about a "portable" unit..both of these issues, plus mount. Plenty of wind on Powell this last month--enough to put our dinghy on top of the boat! --what would have happened to a wind turbine in a gust of 50 plus knots?
 
thataway":3tbekwuf said:
--down side is noise and vibration. --what would have happened to a wind turbine in a gust of 50 plus knots?
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Noise produced by a wind turbine is mostly determined by the speed of the propellers tip. This is one reason for the use of reduction gearing. We have a Harvard Society near where I live. When they fly past with their engines at full rpm, the tips of their prop breaks the sound barrier.

Wind turbines today are very complex compared to the one that pumped water on my families farm 50 odd years ago. Although some are designed to withstand winds of over 150mph they all require some method to limit the speed of the prop. This is done either by applying a brake or stalling the prop. This can be done several different ways, some have blades that self stall above a certain wind speed because of their shape. Some change the pitch of the prop mechanically. Some cant the tail to take the face of the prop off wind.

These control systems can still fail and when a large turbine runs out of control in high winds it will self destruct and the debris field can be more than a square mile.

Regards, Rob
 
I had an Ampair wind gen on a previous boat. This was one of the "quiet" ones. It generates less power than some of the others, but makes much less noise. There is never any need to tie it off like the more powerful ones.

It was great because it would generate power 24/7, no sun needed. Of course not all places are windy, but in tradewind areas there can be months of cloudy weather with super steady wind.

All that said, if I were to outfit that boat again, I would try to balance my needs with a solar panel array only (plus engine alternator). Reason is that the wind generator, even though a "quiet" one, still made noise. And when the wind is up, and maybe you are feeling a bit stressed anyway (you're sailing in bad/windy weather), it just makes it sound MORE windy. Even though you know it's partially the wind gen, it's hard for it not to affect your stress level. And it's also making wind noise all the while you are at anchor. I just prefer quiet (or "natural" wind noise). I never had any trouble with vibration, but perhaps that's because the Ampair is less powerful than many others. Or maybe just lucky.

We also had a towed or mountable in the rigging generator, but never used it just due to the hassle of where we had to stow it and the trouble to get it out, set it up in the rigging, etc. (wingspan was much larger than Ampair). Also when underway we were already towing a Walker log off one side of the taffrail and a fishing line (at times) off the other, so really didn't want another towed item. Hence that one got sold.

Not to sound totally down on them as the Ampair did a fine job, and at that point in time we only had one ~50 watt solar panel; but just saying I wouldn't choose one again necessarily.
 
I think that wind generators are fine on larger sail boats. But on a relatively small trailerable boat it strikes me that they might be a real PITA. I guess it would be great while you were towing, just leave the refrigerator freezer run while you are wailing down the interstate?? Ok that would not work. So more stuff to store and assemble before launching etc.. I think the nicer part about solar panels are it does not having moving parts that could cause injury. They can work while running down the freeway. They work when the wind is not blowing. They work while you are underway. They don't work at night but that's why you have batteries. In the off season have panel made in your winter cover and you have a built in battery maintainer. JMHO
D.D.
 
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