I am no longer a great fan of wind generators for long distance cruising... cos most anchorages are protected, they are noisy, down wind or windless n/g and a few more reasons...

I am coming round more and more to the conclusion that solar panels and running the engine to charge the batteries via a smart charger are the best solution.. The solar panel (except in UK waters) is going to put some charge in all the daytime hours.. If you should flatten all your batteries whilst on an offshore passage there is every reason to hope that the panel(s) will put enough charge in to get it going again after a while...

In the Med there is always a marina to pop into for a quick charge via shore-power and in the Caribbean the sun really does shine and solar panels are all you need..

There are some which will not work if there is just a bit of shadow on one cell and to fix on a small deck area they would need to be flexible and I think those are quite expensive to be any good.. Lots of cruising boats have made up a gimballed stainless frame so they can 'point' the panel at the sun... Me? I am going again for permanent fixing on a frame on the stern out of the way..

Michael