Thought on Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Power Generation?

[mitiempo]

I think the Efoy is a good addition to a boat with solar. It can cover the sunless weeks with a lot of rain. Can be good on passage as well - most boats use more power on passage than anchored and solar often doesn't produce as much when sailing.

Would last many years used this way.

When I first saw the Efoy I was not a fan. But after installing several and learning how owners use them decided they can make a lot of sense for some situations.

[more]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Wow, Sweden looks expensive, but it needn't be. A custom arch in the UK is about £1000 for a basic set up.
Pete

Wow, UK looks expensive, but it needn't be. A custom arch in the Croatia i pay about £40 for a basic set up. 200W
But now I change little for 435 solar panels. must spend another 100€+- Because i am not good welder, must hire a boy for welding

[Na Mara]

You would simply take all your fuel for the year with you.

10l of methanol is about 10kWh of energy out of a EFOY. I use about 1.5kWh a da sailing and about 0.75kWh a day at anchor. Let us assume that I am sailing 20% of the time on shore power or engine alternator 20% of the time and anchored the remaining 60% of the time. Then I am going to need a total of 300l of methanol, factoring declining efficiency of the unit over the length of the trip. That is 30 10l bottles. I can easily find space for that aboard my 43 ft pilothouse boat. But as I can restock on the fuel in Portugal on the way out and in the US, Azores or Bermuda on the way back I am really only going to need 20l to get me around the Sargasso sea. With each empty flask I lighten the boat and increase storage.

[Orin]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I figured I’d answer a couple of questions here. I am based out of the PNW and we would be living aboard and locally cruising, spending many weeks at a time away from the dock for the next 5 years. After that time we will begin cruising a wider area. There may be some longer moves involved - like to Virginia where we’d be cruising almost directly there during those 5 years. Neither my wife or I are particularly fond of civilization, and would like to spend extended periods in remote areas. As long as fuel and water permit.

We have entire months here where the sun doesn’t shine much. I was planning on around 400 watts of solar. I still have to mock everything up. This is will use all the available space above the dinghy davits and two 180 degree hinged panels mounted on the pushpit.

My loads include 3 hydronic heater fans, pumps and the heater itself which on paper together should draw 9-12 amps and run at least half the time on no sun days. We also have Radar, refrigeration, freezer, lighting, water maker, etc. I would also love to replace the range with electric if it’s feasible, but if it’s the only difference between generator or no genset... I’ll toss in a kerosene stove. (It has propane, which I rate poorly as a marine fuel personally, especially in more northern latitudes)

By removing the propane tanks and locked I’d open up enough room to install a 5kw genset.

The house bank is currently only 200ah lead acid, so they’ll probably be upgraded. The issue is that I am really not sure how well solar will keep up to the loads during the winter.

I love solar for refrigeration loads especially where the demand will likely be proportional to the supply. However, when we are running the electrics for heating the opposite is true, and same with the Radar unit it currently has. It consumes a lot of power, and it’s normally cold, overcast and dark when we’d need it. G

The engine currently has a 105A alternator on it with integrated controller. This on a Perkins 4-108. I’d only like to run the engine if we are becalmed. The engine is at least half way through its service life. I suppose though, as others have pointed out. The methanol fuel cell is expensive enough I could probably budget a $8,000 engine replacement (doing all the work myself) and be ahead $s.

Latitude we cruise currently is predominately 47-50'N but have planned trips to Alaska making it as high as the low 60s in latitude. Granted we won’t be making the 60th fall or winter.

I still need to measure the loads while they are running, although I won’t have too much of an idea of winter time solar production around here until winter.

I am a bit concerned about windage as well, as in the course of normal winter weather around here can be a bit harsh in terms of wind and gusts as well. I can’t glass panels into the decks, they’re teak. The house has dorades, butterfly hatches, the main sheet traveler and a few other things obstructing the house decking and prohibiting solar there. Though I have put some thought into a semi-rigid dodger and perhaps could mount flexible panels there.

A wind generator could be in the cards I suppose but local cruisers have complained to me they don’t work most of the time and when they do really work they’re outrageously noisy. Perhaps that technology has improved?

[mitiempo]

Chart at this link should tell you what to expect in solar output in any month of the year anywhere.

Solar Irradiance - calculate the solar energy available on your site