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I hoping I might get some advice from those of you with far more experience than I. My first major voyage is going to be in a 26ft. Macgregor -S. (yet to be purchased) I am going to do “The Loop.” I would like to have enough electricity to be able to run a light or two in the evening, watch a movie on a small T.V. via a DVD player, and have enough power to charge up a laptop. I would also like to have enough power to run a box fan at night on those miserable 85 degree, 100% humidity, no breeze nights where you can’t sleep without one. A dorm size fridge would be nice but don’t want to over-do it. Does anyone know of a web-site(s) where I can find the answer to such questions as: Will a wind generator work or solar panels, or would I need both? And what would be the best batteries.
I know volts x amps = watts…etc. but I guess I’m just not sure how to apply it to gain the knowledge I need to figure out how I can do it.
Thanks in advance for any replies/suggestions.
JD
batteries and space for them, and an inverter will be the bigger issue on a Mac.....space is at a premium to start with. PV panels will likely be your only choice, but mounting them may cost more than the panels.
Your best bet would be to do a decent "energy budget" (should be able to find a post or two on that here) including those things you describe. That will give you some idea how much energy you will need, and provide the basis for selection of panels, batteries, controller, inverter and such. Not an insignificant amount of money and work to be done for a proper, reliable installation.
You can all but rule out the dorm size fridge, but a cooler or an engle 12v box( more $$) will be more efficient and may be usable given your size and potential set up.
Unless you have a steady 15-18 mph wind, wind generator will be more of a pain than useful, and mounting one on a trailer sailor even more $$$.
I'm a big fan of solar but here's the thing. If you're doing the "loop", you'll be motoring more than you'll be sailing from what I've read. Your boat will be powered by an outboard so you can write off a large alternator. Your money may be better spent looking into a larger battery bank with an onboard AC charger that can be supplimented by one of the small honda generators.
Your energy needs sound very modest to me. Get LED cabin and anchor lights and that drastically reduces the amount of power you need. Wouldn't worry to much about the fans. Just get a small one to blow on your head and you're all set.
Also since you will be motoring a lot of the time, just rely on your battery charge from the motor. You can buy off the shelf solar chargers for pretty cheap if those are the only things you need power for.
If you have a elec start motor I would make sure you have a house and a starter battery.
Forget box fans- get a decent small hella or carfamo fan. mucho effective, for a fraction of the amperage of dirt-based fans.
We live on an unserviced dock with a 45 watt panel and occasional engine recharging. Us a low-wattage portable dvd player and a netbook and you'll be fine.
Heard those wind power generators are nearly useless without 15-20+ constant wind. And they're loud as heck.
+1 on the solar panels, I'd suggest mounting them out of the way (top of bimini or dingy davits, or out beyond the stern rails)
+1 find a better solution than a dorm fridge
+1 smaller cabin fans, oscillation and close-range comfort while using less power than box fans.
Agree with misfits, a small portable generator will probably be your best bet...
You'll likely motor 80-90% of that trip, do whatever you can to maximize the output of your alternator... A wind generator will be essentially useless for your purposes, with so much of the time spent in protected locales... A couple of solar panels will certainly help, but on a boat that small, your ability to produce much juice from solar will still be pretty minimal...
You really need to focus on energy conservation, rather than energy production... Make sure your TV, DVD etc can be powered by 12V, rather than using an inverter... Your laptop is likely to be one of your biggest power hogs, find an adapter to power and charge it with a cigarette lighter outlet, instead...
FWIW, I'd highly recommend doing the Trent-Severn route as opposed to Lake-Erie/Huron, that's a beautiful waterway...
Another reason to opt for doing the Loop in a small trawler, or a boat with a tabernacle. You have to pull the stick to transit the Erie canal, and then depending on the size of your boat, drop the mast again to do the Trent-Severn where, depending again on the size of your boat, you may promptly run aground in the middle of the channel as the depth is allegedly 5', but may vary depending on silt and season.
Someone mentioned outboards have very limited charging. If you can't get around 50 amps of charging then I'd reconsider an OB powered boat.
You will likely motor 70% of the loop, maybe more. We've done 3/4 of it, speaking from experience. And the only part we haven't done would be almost all motoring too.
Wind gens only work with over 10k of wind and really over 15 is needed. Great in the islands, nearly worthless on the loop. Solar delivers twice the power for half the price.
But, if you are going to be on the move doing the loop and you have sufficient power from the engine that you WILL be running most of the time...then I question buying solar or wind.
Interestingly, Nigel Calder did an article where he showed that the absolute lowest cost of electricity per kwh on a boat not connected to shore power was actually using a small inverter type generator like the Honda to charge your batteries. The most expensive was running your diesel to charge batteries. With the generator on board you wouldn't even really need a larger inverter, you could fire it up to run a small microwave, hot plate, electric coffee pot, hair dryer, etc.
So buy a small inverter generator and if you decide you really don't like sailing you can always use it for camping, power failures etc. I got my Champion 2000w for $350 on sale at Costco! It ran 18 hours a day burning 2 gallon per day for 5 days during Sandy. Considering how much food was in the frig and the large freezer at the time, I broke even on one use. I can still toss it on board my boat, before I spend money on solar.
I got a costco solar kit for 250.00 and two of the biggest deep cells they had for a total just over 600.00
I installed the panels on my dodger, my outboard does have charging. I have plotter, vhf running 24/7
And laptop at night for movie and if close to wifi will surf for a few hours.
Ipods, kindle as well and can sit on anchor for days at a time with no power issues.
For the cost of small fridge get two good 7day coolers one for meat and frozen second for fresh and cool items, will be farther ahead. The small genny sounds great if you have a place to store it.
If you have not purchased the Macgregor why not consider a power boat? I used to have an old Bayliner cabin cruiser with a Volvo Penta on the Mississippi River. Felt like the perfect boat for the river. It sipped gasoline and the Penta charged the batteries all day long. Might be a more efficient setup for the loop than a Macgregor.
The largest power drain on most sailboats is the refrigerator, averaging 6.5 to 9.5 amps. This translates to a relatively large solar panel, something on the order of 350-watts. Keep in mind, that 350-watt panel is only going to be charging the house batteries for a relatively short period of time, especially during the winter months. Therefore, you need to be punching the maximum power into the batteries for about 8-hours a day, while during the remaining 16 hours you will be drawing from the batteries.
The alternative is, of course, to add a wind generator, in hopes of sufficient wind to supplement the solar panel's dead time. Not all wind generators are noisy, and some will operate fairly well with winds of less of 10 MPH. This time of year, in the Florida Keys, the winds are fairly constant, thereby allowing the wind generator to provide a viable source of power. In Chesapeake Bay, however, summer winds are usually southwest, less than 10 MPH and more often than not, less than 5 MPH, making that wind generator pretty much useless.
A small, diesel generator is another viable option and could provide you with lots of 110-volt power for running a variety of electrical equipment, including a battery charger. The downside is the noise and exhaust fumes.
That is, if you are running the motor just to charge the batts. If you are running the motor to get from A to B, then it wouldn't burn too much more fuel with the drag on the alternator charging the batts. That Nigel Calder article was good. I don't remember where I saw it.
The Mac 26s has a draft of less than a foot, if you run aground, you just get out and push, The mast on the Mac is very easy to lower for going under bridges too so no problem there. I would go over size on the outboard, say 10-15 hp at least with alternator. All the replies about solar are good as well as having a small portable generator for days when you need lots of power to get back up to charge. Having 2 deep cycle batteries is also needed. Good coolers should hold you between ports all the way around, a refridge is a big energy hog. I think your choice of the Mac is a good one if you don't mind the "Camp out" type cruising this boat does well.
I would love to do the Loop too, I think I could get my wife onboard for that trip a lot easier than crossing an ocean. This is a trip I've wanted to do since high school when I got my first boat. We could do it in my Hunter but we'll probably move up a bit in size for that trip. Haven't decided on sail or trawler yet though.
I hoping I might get some advice from those of you with far more experience than I. My first major voyage is going to be in a 26ft. Macgregor -S. (yet to be purchased) I am going to do "The Loop."
A couple with a Macgregor is doing the loop & mentioned they were stepping & unsteping thier own mast & it took about 15 minutes from start to finish. They also had something like a 70 hp motor on the back of their boat.
The larger motors that some posters have referred to are mounted on a Mac 26M or X. (they are the newer MacGregor "power sailers" (cross between a power boat and a sailboat) The Mac26s usually have an 8hp.
Modern 8hp's generally have a alternator that puts out 4amps (even my 1984 Suzuki 8hp 2 stroke does).
Bigger engines do even more.
Ten hours of motoring = 40 amps a day or more (if motoring at an appropriate RPM).
A small Norcold or Engels style 12v cooler will consume most of that - and last until morning staying cold/frozen. Turn it on when the motor is running, off when it's not and it will work.
A small regulated 60-80 watt solar panel will provide for the rest, feed it to a couple of 100 amp batteries as a house bank and starter for the motor.
I'm upgrading my C25 with a new engine this spring. My research shows that almost every new 9.9hp 4str OB puts out 6A of power (Tohatsu, Nissan, Yamaha...) the Honda puts out 12A.
If you're still putting the whole package together, it might be worth the extra bucks for a Honda.
Wind Generator technology has just about maxed out, solar on the other hand is just starting to take off. So I am going to go with a wind generator now and when solar technology improves (technology also includes better manufacturing techniques ) resulting in smaller, more powerful and cheaper solar panels... I will go with solar. I don't think it is an either or question, both have advantages.
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