Hydrogenerator yes or no?

[boom23]

Spend your money on more solar/batteries.

[estarzinger]

Two things . . .

#1 IMHO the key to a successful electrical system (for us) was a super strong focus on reducing demand/consumption. We basically hated all the possible charging sources (each hated for different reasons), and wanted to minimize time fixing stuff and waiting for parts, so the answer was to need as little of them as possible.

#2 What that should tell you, combined with all the various advice above, is not necessarily to follow my or anyone else's advice, because this is really a personal choice and not a technical choice. More what do you personally like best (or hate least) than what is technically best.

[Tommo]

If you are sailing from UK to Caribbean in a fast cruiser like a Beneteau 41, then get a hyrdogenerator. You will be chugging out 6-8 amps per hour, 24/7. You would need a lot of solar to equal that, given that half a transat is in night and the day is usually partly cloudy at minimum.

I would also look first at picking up a second hand trolling generator like the aqua4gen. They are most efficient if you mount them as low as possible on centreline of the boat. If you mount them to the side, on the pushpit rails, they are too high so can often skip out of waves. Worse, the drag is asymmetric meaning the rudder has to add counter yaw which adds yet more drag.I built a small frame to hold my Aqua4gen, which slots into fittings on the centreline of the transom - when I am in port I can just lift out the whole frame and store it in a locker.

The Watt&Sea type hydros are massively expensive and have still unknown longevity, given the electrical gubbins is submerged. The combined wind/hydro generators take a massive amount of transom space and are a pain to convert from one mode to the other.


I would advise against a wind generator for Caribbean, until you have totally maxed out on solar panels. They add relatively little compared to solar, are on occasions a bit noisy, and add weight high up. Only add a windy if you have no more space for solar.

[ullar]

We just had few cloudy but windy days coming up along the East Coast of Australia. And we loved our DuoGen that at about 7 knots of boat speed put in more amps than we could use, so our batteries were nicely full for a night at anchor. To convert our DuoGen to wind mode for the night is not that a big task either, in case we'll want to do that, one just has to get out the wind rotor and remove two bolts with quick clips.

[gjordan]

As far as mounting the towing generator on the centerline goes, my older Ham Ferris unit says to mount on the port side of the transom/rear deck since the rotation of the prop pulls the towing line to starboard. The biggest electrical drains are the auto pilot, freezer and water maker. A windvane selfsteering eliminates a lot of the power drain and if you sleep in the aft cabin you wont have to listen to the auto pilot while trying to sleep. An extra water tank reserved for emergency can cut down on the need for a water maker and a smaller fridge/freezer can lower your electrical needs. All of the luxuries are nice, but if you ever have a major electrical failure none of the goodies will be of any help. If you depend on a water maker for enough water for a passage and it quits working you have a major problem. If you depend on an auto pilot for a passage and it quits you will learn all about fatigue. Any electrical item can fail or if your electrical supply gets damaged you still need to be able to function without exhaustion or lack of water. Most passages are successful, but if a major component quits, you need a backup. ____Grant.

[Time2Go]

A few months ago I did the ARC USA
and 75 % if not more had
Watt & Sea generators
They all swearrd by them as being a great bit of kit
but most mentioned
that the mounting system needed to be beefier
as that was a common point of failure
The boat i was on did not have one
so just relating my conversations
with those that did
Cheers
Neil

[double u]

I wonder if anybody ever converted a 12V outboard motor like a Minn Kota https://www.minnkotamotors.com/Troll...unt/Endura-C2/ to produce electricity while sailing. I suppose it would need a different prop...