effectiveness of solar & wind

[hellosailor]

You guys will have to be patient for a fortnight more. Although Brian mentioned he's expecting new brochures from the printer next week, so maybe he'll have more to show on the site as well. (He's been on the road all week.)

One other interesting tweak: The stik isn't just a pole. The upper section has beensquashed somewhat into an airfoil shape, not a plain cylinder. I don't know that really will make a boat any faster...but it was something unexpected, signs of more $$ production costs.

[sailingdog]

Umm.. that will weaken the pole in resisting loads across the minor axis of the ellipse...

[Sailormann]

If it's attached horizontally it might function as a wing and provide lift to get the arse end of the boat up out of the water... 30 knots here we come !

[thedudeistoocool]

I spend 2 days reading 900+ posts only to find out that someone ripped out the last page ? Now I know why some people peek at the end of a book before reading it. When somebody finds out how it ends let me know.

I guess I'll go suspend myself inverted over my head so I can give myself a few swirleys and flush this crap out of my head.

Then I guess I might as well kill the rest of the week and go read the infamous FightClub thread.

Yeah yeah I know, I obviously have too much time on my hands- it's because I don't own a bloody boat yet.

[xort]

Ahhh, the insane glory of destoying another life!!!
The power is mine, all MINE!!!!


Yea, I'm boatless too. For now

[Rogercopy]

I'm locked in the same charging conundrum as everyone else and will probably end up with at least four different charging options. I have settled on AGM however and would support anyones decision to go with them over wet cells or gells. I installed two banks of 3 group 31 AGMs wired parallel they provide around 315 amp hours per bank, that size happened to fit perfectly into the access space I had available, also they are manageable weight wise at around 75 lbs, I would have prefered to install a couple of 8D's but there was no room low in the boat and I'm dead against setting weight up too high.
On the subject of power usage refrigeration is generally public enemy number one, has anyone had any experience with Sterling motor systems as opposed to Rankine cycle, they use Helium and CO2 and have a linear motor as opposed to reciprocal. Supposedly they are quite a bit more efficient.

[hellosailor]

AFAIK Sterling and Rankine cycle engines were supposed to save the world (just like Wankel) many years ago and many times over. For some reason that just hasn't ever quite happened yet, so I'd either buy a conventional reefer system or learn to drink warm beer.

[sailingdog]

Roger-

Just curious, but what was your idea behind splitting the AGM cells into two banks rather than keeping it as one larger house bank of 630 Amp-Hours? It would be more advantageous IMHO to keep it as one large bank, rather than two smaller banks, since generally it is better for the batteries to do so.

Originally Posted by Rogercopy

I'm locked in the same charging conundrum as everyone else and will probably end up with at least four different charging options. I have settled on AGM however and would support anyones decision to go with them over wet cells or gells. I installed two banks of 3 group 31 AGMs wired parallel they provide around 315 amp hours per bank, that size happened to fit perfectly into the access space I had available, also they are manageable weight wise at around 75 lbs, I would have prefered to install a couple of 8D's but there was no room low in the boat and I'm dead against setting weight up too high.
On the subject of power usage refrigeration is generally public enemy number one, has anyone had any experience with Sterling motor systems as opposed to Rankine cycle, they use Helium and CO2 and have a linear motor as opposed to reciprocal. Supposedly they are quite a bit more efficient.

[CosmosMariner]

rogercopy,

Seems like just a couple centuries ago on this thread (somewhere around page 30 or was it 50) I mentioned that both our son and we have Engle MT35 portable Freezers on our boats, his 27' Watkins and our 25' Watkins. We use them to make ice in polycarbonate juice bottles filled 3/4 with water. Every day we swap 2 frozen 'block ice' with the partially thawed block ice from the boat's ice box. We also make Ice cubes and use 'Ice Cubies' from Newfoam corp. We keep a few meats and some ice cream in there as well. Power draw is claimed to be 2.5 amps on freezer setting but is actually lower. We have both run our machines 24X7 for 2 years with no problems. Defrosting once every 6 months. Bob Bitchin keeps a MT35 in the cockpit of The Lost Soul (read the refit articles) and Capt. Woody took the smaller MT17 on his circumnavigation. They sell them in Lats and Atts mag. These units run on AC or DC and I have run mine on solar recharged DC for the past year exclusively. _

[conchyjoe]

Originally Posted by CosmosMariner

rogercopy,

Seems like just a couple centuries ago on this thread (somewhere around page 30 or was it 50) I mentioned that both our son and we have Engle MT35 portable Freezers on our boats, his 27' Watkins and our 25' Watkins. We use them to make ice in polycarbonate juice bottles filled 3/4 with water. Every day we swap 2 frozen 'block ice' with the partially thawed block ice from the boat's ice box. We also make Ice cubes and use 'Ice Cubies' from Newfoam corp. We keep a few meats and some ice cream in there as well. Power draw is claimed to be 2.5 amps on freezer setting but is actually lower. We have both run our machines 24X7 for 2 years with no problems. Defrosting once every 6 months. Bob Bitchin keeps a MT35 in the cockpit of The Lost Soul (read the refit articles) and Capt. Woody took the smaller MT17 on his circumnavigation. They sell them in Lats and Atts mag. These units run on AC or DC and I have run mine on solar recharged DC for the past year exclusively. _

Rogercopy,

CM does have a very valid point here. Bob even uses the "blanket" on his Engle, and it is more efficient there as well.

If you take a look at what Richard Kollman is saying over on his site at Kollmann Marine Boat Refrigeration Specialist you will find that, with a little work (or maybe a lot!), you can build a pretty efficient refrigeration system.

It certainly lends itself to your idea of two banks, one for the refer alone, and charged with solar (mathmatics depending of course, and it is accepted that I am no mathmatician) that will meet your needs, depending on where you are located.

Best of luck.