Quote:
Originally Posted by therapy23
Thank you so very much for that chart.
Four winds for me I guess.
What are it's down sides??
Wait...........that chart is on the Fourwinds website...........Hmmmmmm..........
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Don't be so hasty. Practical Sailor had a good pair of articles on the plus and minuses of the various styles of wind gens, and it comes down to location of the boat, noise produced and ranking of the wind gen in the importance of one's energy supply needs. In my own situation, that order is solar, followed by alternators, followed by wind, followed by small gas genset as a belt-and-suspenders approach (the Honda EU2000, which can also feed "stock" 115 AC power tools on deck or ashore instead of running a big draw through the inverter).
This means I can opt for a smaller-bladed, quieter wind gen if I wish, because wind is a lesser component of my proposed charging supply chain. I can see that if I am in 30 knots of wind on a cloudy or even stormy day (or night), I could really juice the batteries just via sailing, which would allow me to opt for autopilot over windvane if higher wave crests were stalling the vane.
Lots to consider. I am amazed that this ridiculous and frequently derailed thread is finally producing useful information.