Early-morning graphics
Based upon the number of comments from people who read yesterday’s “CADET” post, we have either a bunch of very bored readers or a bunch of masochistic ones. Thanks for the comments though, I do appreciate it. Here is something that should be more fun to comment on.
It’s fun (or frustrating) to hear the differing opinions of solar vs. wind power. As we already have a working solar array, albeit not a huge one, we are once again looking into the process of installing a wind generator. Part of the issue is finding a way to mount the generator that will be strong, safe, easy to install and cost effective (cheap). The picture below shows my latest idea. No laughing at my early-morning graphics!
If the picture above is not worth a thousand words, and I doubt it is, the basic idea would be to put the generator on the centerline of the boat, sitting on a pole which is mounted on a cross brace extended between the dingy davits. The vertical pole could then be braced by supports to the rear railing.
The installation would be easy enough to do, and could no doubt be made strong enough. The other benefit is that the generator would be very much out of the way making it safer. The only downside I can think of, and this is all theory as I don’t really know how they work, is that if while at anchor the boat tends to orient itself into the wind, the airflow to the genny might be disrupted by the mast, etc.
Comments on this are welcome!
Edit: Subsequent to posting the above I found the following photo which is pretty much illustrates what I was trying to describe.
I don’t think it’s dumb – I think it’s great! The only down side will be if you mount solar pannels there; it will shade them. I like the fact that it does not block access to the dingy and that it is far out of the way. I do mount bikes on a rack on the back rail; I might move the braces a bit to accomodate that. If you think you might mount bikes there, just do a test fit.
I might also test the wind at anchor. That may be a painful deal-breaker, though coking the boat bit with the bridle is easy.
If I mount a generator, I think I may steal this idea!
If we use this method it would be instead of solar. If we later decide that we do want more solar, and have to put them there, we would move the wind generator and sacrifice the mount to make a totally new one, out of the way.
How would you test the wind? With a handheld wind meter?
Hand-held meter? Sure, and you can probably find a sailor to borrow one for the day. Of course, you could probably do nearly as well with the information from the mast head and a stick with a very lightly weighted yarn attached, wondering around at deck level.
As for the strength of the davits, They are much stronger than most on the PDQ 32. Next time I’m at the boat I will take some measurements and do the required calculations; I’ve been curious too. Unless someone knows the material, I’ll take some UT measurements.
VERY cool Drew:)
The concept looks doable and you could offset the genpole from center if it improves windflow. Before getting too far along with this, you should determine the capacity of your davits and start adding up the loads. While the windgen isn’t a lot of weight, by the time you add dinghy, outboard, fueltank, anchor, etc. it adds up. And don’t forget to consider your own weigh, as well. Once you hoist the dinghy up on the davits, you will need to climb into the dinghy to pull the drain plug. Also, don’t forget to consider servicing the generator.
Kirk.
And if $$ is not an issue, you might look into the Solarstick.
http://www.solarstik.com/
Kirk
$$$ is always an issue!
I never even considered climbing in the dinghy to take out the drain plug!
The weight issue could be minimized by having the cross piece between the davits closer to the boat as opposed to at the far end as in the picture. With a much shorter lever arm the force applied should be greatly reduced (so says the guy who is NOT an engineer 🙂 ).
As for servicing, which I had also not considered until you said that, the vertical pole could be mounted on a pivot of some sort so that it could be tilted towards the boat by freeing the cross supports on the railings.
Mike,
I just like playing the “what if” game; that is how I worked through the design of our arch. And while I am not trying to cause undue concern, I have heard incidents of boarding waves filling the suspended dinghy and collapsing the davits on other cats. That is one of the reasons I designed our arch to carry the dinghy higher. That is also a downside to mounting the generator on the davits; if you accidentally lose the davits, you probably loose the generator at the same time. I always wondered if those who mounted solar panels on the end of davits, over the dinghy assumed the panels might better shed a boarding wave and therby reduce the chance of a filled dinghy taking down the davits. Were it me, I would lean away from mounting the genpole on the davits and concentrate on a transom or deck mount.
But that’s just my 2 cents.
Kirk
Thanks Kirk. I appreciate your opinions as always and will consider them in our final decisions.
What does everyone think of this idea as an alternative installation:
http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007-2-21/Windmill-Sailboat.jpg
Seriously though, here is an example of a boat doing what I am suggesting, except that they have two of them mounted side by side:
http://www.zerotocruising.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ondavits.jpg
Mike,
I will be glad to keep throwing out thoughts until you tell me to shut-up.
Just looking at the second photo, the 2 gen set-up looks fragile. I like bullit-proof but I guess it depends on where the boat is going and how it would get there. I tend see things in terms of offshore and I know that you are thinking of the ICW but from reading “Embarassment” you know that even the Mona Passage can be no fun.
More thoughts on transom / deck mount. 1. If you can get the pole mounted partway down the transom steps, you get an additional handhold for climbing in and out of the dingy from water level. That is where our lower arch support is mounted and Donna has commented several times about how great it is to have that handhold stepping into or out of the dinghy. 2. the further off to the side that you can go with obstructions, the less they interfere with views of the sunset from the cockpit 🙂
Hi Kirk
I won’t tell you to shut up. I know how much you like to avoid doing work. 🙂
Plus I like hearing multiple opinions.
I agree that the image I posted doesn’t look very robust. The davits on our boat look way more secure (I think), and if I was to do something like this, it would be braced much more substantially.
As for the transom mount, Mike Ratrie on Tabbycat posted some pics of his new wind genny mounting. Check it out:
http://www.tabbycat.us
I am looking forward to hearing about his review of his new mounting system and his thoughts on the D400 generator.