Jere Lull wrote:

In rough numbers, to effectively consume that much power, the boat would
have at least 500 AH capacity. My 55 amp charger rarely runs as high as
20 amps for a few minutes on our 250 AH system. Even the smart charger
doesn't stay that high for much longer.

That's not my experience. I have 4 Trojan 6 Volts, for about 450 Amp
Hours. My charge rate starts at over 100 Amps and spends a lot of
time (close to an hour) over 80. When I get over 80% full the rate
drops fairly fast and I shut it down below before it goes below 50
Amps. I'd rather run 5 minutes tomorrow than 10 today.

If you're only charging at 20 Amps then either you're not very
discharged, or the alternator or regulator is not pushing very hard.


And it can only be used on the deck unless it's set up to be sparkless
and the exhaust can be piped away from the interior, which eliminates
much of the cruising crowd.

Certainly if its automatic, a number of precautions must be taken. I
would use a small genset on deck rather than run the engine, if it
could actually charge at 80 Amps.

Jere Lull wrote:
In article ,
Chuck Cox wrote:


Having read postings here about cruisers running with reduced radar and
lighting at night in order to conserve battery power, it occured to me
that we could repackage the charger for marine use. It would be roughly
shoe-box sized and effectively silent unless you were sitting next to it
on a calm day. It seems like this would be useful for boats with no
genset and modest electrical loads (i.e. lights & electronics). When
connected to the battery it would automatically start up and and shut
down as necessary to maintain the charge. It could also be designed to
cooperate with external charge controllers.


About the only candidates I've seen have inefficient AC/DC refrigerators
in small boats. Those with onboard A/C might find it undersized. At
that, you could have sufficient market, though 500w would be huge
overkill.

In rough numbers, to effectively consume that much power, the boat would
have at least 500 AH capacity. My 55 amp charger rarely runs as high as
20 amps for a few minutes on our 250 AH system. Even the smart charger
doesn't stay that high for much longer.

And it can only be used on the deck unless it's set up to be sparkless
and the exhaust can be piped away from the interior, which eliminates
much of the cruising crowd.


To protect bilge pump power, I'd put one in the forepeak, hooked to
a cell phone modem voicemessage to automatically call me and let me
know the boat in Bermuda, wherever, needs attention from the marina guy.

It also sounds good for camping, and recharging a battery for the
trolling motor on a CL 16 in the bush, oe even a canoe, IF it had a
manual - auto start off switch. I'd float the thing in a cooler on
a long string if neccessary on a rainy weekend spent under a boom tent.

Sailing is a way to get away, you see, and take it all with you.

Sounds like a great backup for any power, short of the ship's
elevator. Could even recover from a flat starting battery for a
diesel too big to hand crank.

Any gentleman would love to find one in his stocking.

Price? I saw something like that, as big as a bladeless chainsaw,
at CTC for not much.

Terry K

Bil wrote:

I must be missing something: why would you want to install a diesel
genset on the weather deck of a cruising sail boat?

Being on deck means that:
1) the genset is exposed to salt spray, hence corrosion etc; and
2) its mass is high, detracting from the stability of the boat.

....

To be used in a seaway (as opposed to in a harbor), a genset has to be
sheltered, low and as close to the centerline as possible. Note also
that small diesel sets do not lubricate well at the angles of heel
that monohulls commonly adopt - so that puts the on-demand idea at
question.


As currently envisioned, our charger should be thought of as more of an
alternative to a small standalone generator, than a built-in generator
like yours. You would only want to deploy it in situations where you
might use a small standalone generator. There is no engineering reason
why it couldn't be built-in, but I'm assuming there would be a much
bigger market for a standalone unit despite the limitations.

--
Chuck Cox - SynchroSystems
, , synchro.com
my email is politician-proof, just remove the PORK.

Larry,
Are you talking about that trimaran with the rotating vertical cylinders ?
I saw that (at least was told it was Cousteau's) at a marina up the
Chickahominy R off the James R in VA maybe 8 years ago. Don't think it's
there now.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Roger Long" wrote in news:LwVjf.51498$DL6.51412
@twister.nyroc.rr.com:
snip


Of course, getting our "old sailing ship" sailors to overcome their
nostalgia to install such technology may prove daunting. Replacing the
inefficient sails with high powered wind turbines, like on the Jacque
Cousteau vertical turbine ship, has a long way to go. A boat like that
would have power to waste anchored in any wind. No sails would be
necessary and it would power 360 degrees, even dead into the wind.

Whatever happened to that odd-looking ship, anyway? I'll have to do some
net searching, now that I think of it...(c;

"Garland Gray II" wrote in
news:zD5kf.26955$ih5.3190@dukeread11:

Larry,
Are you talking about that trimaran with the rotating vertical
cylinders ? I saw that (at least was told it was Cousteau's) at a
marina up the Chickahominy R off the James R in VA maybe 8 years ago.
Don't think it's there now.



Yeah, that's the one. Has like 4 rotating cylinder sails that catch wind
from any direction to power the boat. The vanes in it look like and S if
you look down from the top of it.

There was a great documentary made of it, but I can't find it.

I was thinking the drums were perfect cylinders. Maybe not, but I thought
the principle was that wind past the rotating surface created a pressure
differntial. Makes sense, but I can't think there would be much resulting
force.
I might drive up there some dreary day to find what happened to her.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Garland Gray II" wrote in
news:zD5kf.26955$ih5.3190@dukeread11:

Larry,
Are you talking about that trimaran with the rotating vertical
cylinders ? I saw that (at least was told it was Cousteau's) at a
marina up the Chickahominy R off the James R in VA maybe 8 years ago.
Don't think it's there now.



Yeah, that's the one. Has like 4 rotating cylinder sails that catch wind
from any direction to power the boat. The vanes in it look like and S if
you look down from the top of it.

There was a great documentary made of it, but I can't find it.

"Garland Gray II" wrote in
news:PC7kf.26965$ih5.11538@dukeread11:

I was thinking the drums were perfect cylinders. Maybe not, but I
thought the principle was that wind past the rotating surface created
a pressure differntial. Makes sense, but I can't think there would be
much resulting force.
I might drive up there some dreary day to find what happened to her.



No, the "vanes" are, looking at them from the end, cup shaped between the
outer and center, I think. It would make sense if the shape of each of
them were a vertical wing on Bernoulli's Principal with lift as it goes
by the proper wind angle for lift (rotation power).

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 10:40:43 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

right now as well as the Titanic

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Titanic.htm

post expedition investigation.

======================================

Roger, you are quoted on CNN tonight regarding the Titanic:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science....ap/index.html

You mean "miss-quoted".

I've been getting calls from reporters as far away as Norway and
Brazil. It's nice to be able to chase them away quickly by telling
them I'm under a non-disclosure agreement. Otherwise, I'd be doing
nothing but talking on the phone.

It's a much better story than the press items indicate. It's going to
be a super show. Don't miss it.

February 26.

--

Roger Long



"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 10:40:43 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

right now as well as the Titanic

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Titanic.htm

post expedition investigation.

======================================

Roger, you are quoted on CNN tonight regarding the Titanic:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science....ap/index.html

The vanes in it look like and S if
you look down from the top of it.

There was a great documentary made of it, but I can't find it.


I rememebr the article in Popular Mechanics, or Popular Science several
years ago.

it was interesting indeed!