In article 03603ea9-a06b-463f-b46c-5903d7522006
@o40g2000prn.googlegroups.com, says...
I'm on a canal with no tunnels and best of all, no locks. And, it's a
ship canal so it's very wide and has plenty of room to pass other
boats so I don't think that is a problem. And you're right, it would
be unwise to try to cruise with the thing up. I'm not going to do
that. I'll only erect it when moored up.

Don't think I need an A frame. I can lift 21 kg on a pole myself. It
would be on a pole and you just lift if into the upright position and
hook on support ropes when it gets to upright. That's how I handle my
present, not very powerful Rutland 913 which weighs 10 kgs. I do
cruise with that up, unless the wind is high.

So, I return to my original question - if this is such a good idea,
why doesn't everybody do it? And, why are all commercial wind
turbines for boats the same size - around 1.2 metres diameter?

Thank you for your comments.

Peter



The article that Larry pointed you toward was about the construction of
wind generators with propeller diameters ranging from 10 feet upward. To
put a device that size on a normal size sail boat (after all motor boats
have a power source to drive generators) would take a fairly substantial
structure and considerable space which just isn't available on the
majority of the boats in common use and therefore the majority of the
market.

The other thing that most people who have installed conventual wind
generators point out is that outside the trade wind zones the generators
really don't contribute to the overall charging operation in any
significant manner.

Finally, modern solar panels are pretty efficient and for a reasonable
investment will provide the majority of the power one needs - in a area
where the sun shines, of course.

Given that you are in the U.K. (where the sun doesn't shine except on
the first Sunday of July :-) why not think about building one of the ten
foot, 12 volt, generators on the site Larry mentioned. The guys that run
the site have been building the things for some years now and have the
kinks pretty well worked out of the design. You could built a tripod
mast to mount the thing on and situate the mast somewhere forward where
you aren't going to walk into it and see how it works.

If you are handy with tools and can find an automotive scrap yard for
parts it shouldn't cost that much to built one. Or they have kits to
build from.

--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok