Flinsail: a cool new way to do solar

[Na Mara]

Sails aren’t orientated horizontally. If the were they wouldn’t be very useful as sails.

[Jim Cate]

Umm... if the panels are to be oriented normal to the sun, then with the exception of noontime, they would not be "edge on" to horizontal wind, would they?

And how about inertial loading as the boat moves about, rolling and pitching at anchor? Seems like a lot of repetitive stress on the hardware. And increasing windage aloft for that matter.

"Glowing reports"? What other kind would you think they would post in their ads? Likely not the ones asking for a refund... and there is always the chance that they were not genuine. I've heard that sometimes such things happen!

And to me, this array is far more visually obtrusive than a well designed arch. This is highly subjective, of course, but I see nothing "cool" about all that junk flopping about one's mast.

And once more: what are the terms of warranty? Nothing about that in the material that you have posted, and one wonders why.

Jim

[Madehn]

Your boat Your choice. But if you are open to side wagers I am willing to put up 100 US dollars that they do not last 3 years of use. I would ask for customers that have them on their boats that you could contact. In my opinion they are way to expensive and way too fragile for the expense but again your boat your money your choice. Let us know how it goes.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by Madehn

Your boat Your choice. But if you are open to side wagers I am willing to put up 100 US dollars that they do not last 3 years of use. I would ask for customers that have them on their boats that you could contact. In my opinion they are way to expensive and way too fragile for the expense but again your boat your money your choice. Let us know how it goes.

The OP already mentioned that he’s not likely to get it (see post #21), this thread is more of a discussion about this system, in a light/joking kind of way, never let go of a chance to have fun. 😊

[billgewater]

Thought I had seen it all! But letting the imagination run amok . . . . why not a vertical rotating wind generator made of solar panel material. Might be able to do away with the sails altogether!

[kryg]

Useless sailing and in heavy winds the boat will be sailing on the mooring or in the dock. It is hair brained Idea created by non sailors.

Originally Posted by Na Mara

The Flinsail came up in my thread on wind and solar. The company just got back to me with a quote (5000€) for their 600W system. So as this is a real product you can buy and as it’s such a clever idea I figured it deserved its own thread.



https://flin-solar.com/flinsail

I for one am struggling to come up with a reason not to go this route for my power needs on the hook.

[kryg]

Useless sailing and in heavy winds the boat will be sailing on the mooring or in the dock. It is hair brained Idea created by non sailors.

Originally Posted by Na Mara

The Flinsail came up in my thread on wind and solar. The company just got back to me with a quote (5000€) for their 600W system. So as this is a real product you can buy and as it’s such a clever idea I figured it deserved its own thread.



https://flin-solar.com/flinsail

I for one am struggling to come up with a reason not to go this route for my power needs on the hook.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Na Mara

The Flinsail came up in my thread on wind and solar. The company just got back to me with a quote (5000€) for their 600W system. So as this is a real product you can buy and as it’s such a clever idea I figured it deserved its own thread.



https://flin-solar.com/flinsail

I for one am struggling to come up with a reason not to go this route for my power needs on the hook.

Stupid question, what happens when the wind quickly pipes up.
Can you sail it like this?
SV Cloud Duster

[Na Mara]

I guess you do a sail change

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Na Mara

Sails aren’t orientated horizontally. If the were they wouldn’t be very useful as sails.

So much for tracking the sun if the are kept perfectly horizontal (unlike what the picture shows).

Of course, good luck with that when the wind starts pulling at them. Doesn't look like there is sufficient structure to hold them steady and even if you did, a slight gradient in the wind and they will act as vertical sails.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I would not classify that as "cool". Maybe my age is showing here but it looks a bit "Rube Goldberg" to me,

I’m with you on this one. Looks like a bad school project

[Na Mara]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

I’m with you on this one. Looks like a bad school project

Firstly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think this looks clever, modern and a bit cool.

Secondly, even If it looked hideous I’d still prefer it to a bunch of scaffolding with huge flat panels on top all the way aft for the simple reason that when sailing (alternator and hydro) in a marina ( shore power ) or on the hook with sufficient charge in the batteries I don’t have to have it up. A solar arch, on the otherhand, is an eyesore 24/7/365.

[250224]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

And to me, this array is far more visually obtrusive than a well designed arch. This is highly subjective, of course, but I see nothing "cool" about all that junk flopping about one's mast.

Well, that "junk" is a possible solution to a problem you don't have. On your boat an arch looks reasonably well-balanced and, I suppose, covers your electric needs. On some boats a well designed arch looks even fantastic, a bit like a Porsche rear spoiler.

But I don't see how e.g. AKA-None could produce on the small C&C 27 Mk III an amount of 600 W of electricity? On the Sirius35/Flinsail video (youtube.com / watch?v=MTP6js-dtDU at about 3:19) one sees a (nice) arch but they need more electricity. How else could they produce this?

"Cool" imo is that you go 3D if you run out of the 2D space.

Regarding:

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

And how about inertial loading as the boat moves about, rolling and pitching at anchor? Seems like a lot of repetitive stress on the hardware. And increasing windage aloft for that matter. ... "Glowing reports"? What other kind would you think they would post in their ads? Likely not the ones asking for a refund... and there is always the chance that they were not genuine. ... And once more: what are the terms of warranty? Nothing about that in the material that you have posted, and one wonders why

From reading some (german) information I completely trust the company [1, 2, 3]. Founders sail since childhood, they are electric engineers, got a grant. OF COURSE the startup company could fail, panels not holding up, not selling enough of them etc. And maybe some of the questions you ask, they don't know yet either? If one wants complete certainty I suppose the only answer is to wait about 3 - 10 years to see how it worked out.

[1]: https://www.innovations-report.de/fa...auf-hoher-see/ -- [2]: https://www.letsplayindex.com/video/...en-Eh8Lwur7T7w -- [3]: https://segelreporter.com/panorama/v...tion-aus-kiel/

[Na Mara]

You know what Blu, I found your last post kind of inspiring.

We sailors are a conservative bunch. We tend to stick to the tried and true way past when better alternatives have become available. We forget that today's tried and true started out life as yesteryear's wacky fringe. A couple of examples being things like bermudan rigs, plastic hulls, inner hull liners, etc, etc. True some wacky fads never made it into the mainstream despite their obvious charms (aerorigs and stayless cat rigs being a notable examples). But we forget that many of the things we take for granted today started out as adventurous startups in a shed somewhere. The lucky few then found some adventurous soles willing to take a chance on their product. Those customers put up with the teething problems and with their feedback and patience a new star was born.

[Na Mara]

There is type of sailboat in the baltic that is called a skärgårdskryssare. Here is just and example of the type.

22 m2 Sk?rg?rdskryssare Paloma

There are thousands of them, possibly tens of thousands. The only way any these boats could do any significant solar would be with a FlinSail.

As Blu says, there is great need for a product like this. Many people can't, or won't, put an arch on their boat and many of those sail in areas with light winds. They need some way of generating of power when on the hook and its hard to see what other product can deliver this kind of power.