Chris,
Few more details in your bio, what sort of boat etc.

Then a few more details about your battery setup and how you want to charge the batteries. Why do the solar panels need an inverter? Why do you need to generate all this power? Why were you at Dick Smith's?

get a new solar regulator (as opposed to inverter). i have always used plasmatronic. they are not the cheapest, but i have never seen one fail. this is wired up completely separate to your wind gen. for 2x 190W panels, you would want a 40A regulator. (assuming max output of around 16A per panel.) and yeah... get the hell out of dick smith... good luck!

claverton said..

Hi Chris
What brand of generator did you go for?

I'd be interested in how you mounted your generator. Any photos? I ask because I'm planning to install one.

Mount the generator well clear of any body parts and at least 10 miles from me. I know there are quiet ones about but the noise will drive everyone else crazy, especially residents close to the waterways.

The catamaran on the mooring next to mine has one mounted high on the rear of one hull [he is even trying to get away from it] Fortunately its locked 99% but when its going its very noisy. The other yachts a few hundred yards away that have them seem to leave them locked most of the time. Down below I can not hear them but when I'm on deck they are annoying. Mate had a brain storm and fitted one on his roof. Used it for a weekend and its been locked since.

If your in a marina check their policy on wind generators.

Ramona said..

The catamaran on the mooring next to mine has one mounted high on the rear of one hull [he is even trying to get away from it] Fortunately its locked 99% but when its going its very noisy. The other yachts a few hundred yards away that have them seem to leave them locked most of the time. Down below I can not hear them but when I'm on deck they are annoying. Mate had a brain storm and fitted one on his roof. Used it for a weekend and its been locked since.

If your in a marina check their policy on wind generators.

Don't get me started about halyard slap!!

dont' worry about halyard slap, or wind generators.

If you want to really p*ss off your mooring neighbour, get some of the rotating arm bird scarers with the flap on each end.

Great simple design, but if it's under about 4 knots, the slowly turning arm screeches like a mongrel.
Over 4 knots, and it's click,flap,click,flap,click,flap as they rotate.

There's a great you toob of a seagull stepping over it as it rotates...

frant said..

Ramona said..

frant said..

Ramona said..

The catamaran on the mooring next to mine has one mounted high on the rear of one hull [he is even trying to get away from it] Fortunately its locked 99% but when its going its very noisy. The other yachts a few hundred yards away that have them seem to leave them locked most of the time. Down below I can not hear them but when I'm on deck they are annoying. Mate had a brain storm and fitted one on his roof. Used it for a weekend and its been locked since.

If your in a marina check their policy on wind generators.

Don't get me started about halyard slap!!

Halyard slap is rhythmic and relaxing compared to generator wind tip whine!

Beg to differ with you Ramona, I am living in a marina at present. Got wind generators 4 boats along (downwind), across the fairway and 2 boats down and then 7 boats down. Cannot hear these above the halyard slap of every poorly looked after boat in the marina. I hate to think of the chafe and wear and tear going. I have been known to get up in the night and tidy somebodies boat up. If the wind generator got to me I reckon a long stick poked into the turbine would solve the problem!!

Boat moored next to mine has an Ampair 100 generator & you simply can't hear it. Even in a gale it doesn't make any noise. The wind through its rigging makes more noise than the wind generator. No one likes a noisy wind generator. Fact is there are noisy generators (which are usually the cheap ones) and non noisy ones. It's illogical to label all wind generators as bad because of the noisy ones.

Hi All

Sorry, Ive been off the internet a few days.

Sorry Romna I meant to say Regulator.

Thanks very much for the information

Romona , Its called an Albion 36ft. Steel hull centre board Cutter, Hard Chine. Not very flash at all. Its like a cross between a garden shed and a large tinny. He didnt have a fridge, no shower, no hot water. He was a bit hard core I think. I need to be clean. Ive just moved onto her and need to be able to go to work every day so need some convinences.

This is the guy who had it before.

www.independent.ie/sport/dubliner-collects-top-award-for-aussie-voyage-26277605.html

Ive got 2 x 190watt solar panels and a Rutland wind generator which barley makes a noise. When the batteries are charged it must have a built in break because it shuts down and barely turns.

Ill get some photos up soon. Its mounted on a targa top over the stern away from everything. The solar panels also provided some much needed protection over the cock pit.

Ive just put on 6 x 90ah gel house batteries. Installed a fridge, hot water tank to make it a bit liveable.

Have been learning the whole sail thing slowly and just moved onto it and sailed it to New Castle from Sydney.

I paid a guy to do some work on it in Sydney to help with the electrics and he cut out all my fuses to make it look tidy.

I took my boat to him in Drummoyn for the work and to got beat up pretty bad against the jetty, took him months and he balled everything up bad. It put a bad taste in my mouth. Last I heard was the police had him hand cuffed over the bonnet of a car in Drummoyn.
You can read a little about him here

www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/About_us/News_and_events/Media_releases/2013_media_releases/20130228_public_warning_do_not_deal_with_john_wolf.html

or here

newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac;jsessionid=0F3CD70549AED4FB4E92A3FF82188F15?sy=afr&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=1month&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=10&rm=200&sp=brs&cls=255&clsPage=1&docID=NCH130301375EU4AH2QM

or here

www.ors.act.gov.au/publication/view/2051/title/public-warning-do-not


Thanks Very much for the information Charriot, T One and Romana. Ill jump one Ebay strait away.

Cheers Chris

G'day everyone.

I'm after some opinions on mounting a Rutland 914i onto my double back stays. I'd fabricate the mount with 25mm SS tubing and clamp it to the stays in 4 places. The turbine weighs approx 12kg. The mount would be approx 2.5 m up the stays where they are approx a metre apart. blade diam is 910mm Overall stay length is approx 13m so hopefully in high wind conditions, bowing of the stays caused by the assoc windage would be minimal with the mount reasonably close the deck.

Bad idea or something worth trying?

Cheers.

Ps excuse the simple drawings done by hand on the iPad :)

Personally I would not do that because it is not a rigid structure so there will always be movement which is being transferred to the back stay wires and will I suspect over a period of time cause localised work hardening resulting in the inevitable sound of KAAAA TWANGGGG in the middle of the night. And that's only going to be the beginning of your woes.

AquanMarine said..

Yeh I thought there would be movement but hoping it wouldn't be damaging. Thanks for your input. I'm just trying to avoid a pole...

Even with a pole, noise and vibration will be a problem unless the pole is fairly thick and well stayed. Some method of damping will be required to stop the vibrations intruding.

Best bet is to use Google images and see what others are doing. The back stay idea would mean the generator would be a long way up, you have to have plenty of clearance from body parts! Really you would need 9 feet above the deck to the lowest part of the blades for safety. The new style blades are much quieter but they can still be heard and they are the loudest when its windy and people are already tense.

AquanMarine said..



Here's the yacht it's going on.. VDS 34

I hope I am not bursting your bubble here AM but I am absolutely certain Aquan is not a VDS 34. Certainly not the same VDS 34 design as mine. Nice yacht but not a VDS 34.

I think it is a Pugh design.Looks to be the same design as this one. Possibly a Sololiquy.

http://www.boatpoint.com.au/boats-for-sale/boatdetails.aspx?R=13597326&Silo=Stock&Vertical=Boat&Ridx=5&eapi=2

The transom is narrower and the transition lines from side deck and cabin top to the foredeck are different from a VDS 34.