Robih
regular
Reged: 29/11/2002
Posts: 1241
Loc: Hampshire
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I expect this has been done to death on here but the search facility bears no fruit.
The Rutland 913 seems popular, the Air X is reportedly noisy (see liveaboard forum), the Duogen has great performance but it's such large stucture that I'm not keen. I've come across the d400 unit, see: http://www.d400.co.uk/ which I've no knowledge of - anybody any opinions on here?
tia
Rob
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TigaWave
regular
Reged: 17/12/2004
Posts: 1717
Loc: Buckland Monachorum
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My opinion is that the Aquair is the best bit of kit I've ever bought or used.
Too much power when sailing and a very quiet wind gen when parked, we had ours over the boom and our cabin was under the cockpit, didn't here it in 25knots of breeze.
I've just put a post on the living aboard forum with link to the site...
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www.H4Marine.com
www.sailonline.org www.sailport.se
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LadyInBed
regular
Reged: 02/09/2001
Posts: 3761
Loc: Zumerzet
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Search on Generators
Here is but a few:
here
here
here
here
here
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Beating is sailing for twice the distance at half the speed and three times the discomfort.
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00Si00
regular
Reged: 05/09/2006
Posts: 20
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Hi
We bought a second hand rutland 913 a few months ago. Cost us £400 and came with the rws regulator. I should imagine you will need to factor in the cost of installation as well as a 2.7 metre stainless pole,2x 22mm supporting struts, cable and fittings(as well as possibly strenghening your transom, depending on how its fitted cost us another £260. However, the unit itself is awsome, we are liveaboards and run our engine about once every week and a half to top up the battery, the rutland does the rest.
As for the noise The rutland generates a characteristic hum, which is not unpleasant and is hardly noticable unless your listening out for it. The people at Marlec are also very friendly and helpful, even though I bought the unit 2nd hand.
My only complaint about it is that is does create a bit of interference with the HF reception when receiving weatherfax. Perhaps by cleaning up the brushes and slip rings with a bit of emery paper I may cure this, otherwise I will have to live with it.
If I had to buy another, i'd definately go for the Rutland.
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Scillypete
regular
Reged: 11/06/2003
Posts: 428
Loc: Isles of Scilly
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The D400 is from the same makers as the Duogen.
You may think the duogen is a large structure but in reality it not much different to having any other wind gen mounted at the transom and in towing mode is a far superior charger. In wind mode at anchor it is a good and quiet charger but does need a good breeze to really get going. Changing from wind to towing is very simple.
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Dinner without wine is like summer without sunshine.
Edited by Scillypete (05/07/2008 16:39)
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LadyInBed
regular
Reged: 02/09/2001
Posts: 3761
Loc: Zumerzet
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I think the electrical interference is more due to the regulator dumping energy when the battery is charged.
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Beating is sailing for twice the distance at half the speed and three times the discomfort.
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Cornishman
regular
Reged: 29/07/2002
Posts: 4426
Loc: Cornwall
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What about one of these?
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Cornishmen do it drekly
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BelleSerene
regular
Reged: 19/09/2005
Posts: 27
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I to am looking to buy one. Pottering up the Hamble river I'm satisfied that the Rutland 913s are indeed very quiet. I simply wouldn't want a more powerful generator if the noise spoilt my enjoyment of being in the cockpit. But a neighbouring boat has an Aero6gen (most powerful of the Aerogens - Google it with the 6 in) which is more powerful but frankly creates very little wind noise too. Anyone have experience of the Aerogen?
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Robih
regular
Reged: 29/11/2002
Posts: 1241
Loc: Hampshire
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what is that? Art?
rob
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Robin
regular
Reged: 30/05/2001
Posts: 5267
Loc: Poole UK
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We have an Aerogen6 and it does what it says on the box. It isn't noisy although if a gust hits you tend to look up at it because it does make the wind noise a bit more than if it wasn't working, if that makes sense. I couldn't bear to have an Air-X because the noise would drive me nuts and in fact visitors to our marina are asked to switch/tie them off for that reason.
I would endorse too what another poster said that you need to factor in the installation costs for any wind generator because at sea it will place quite a dynamic load on it's mountings.
I've already said in a different thread that we have both solar and wind and certainly in our usual cruising year UK based but going to Southern Brittany for 4/5 weeks in August it is solar that does 95% of the work from choice. If we were on a mooring and had no shorepower or we lived aboard in winter then the wind generator would no doubt get a lot more use. Our solar panels are big (75W fixed one and 110W moveable plug-in one) but not regulated except by manual monitoring and switching off or unplugging as required.
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Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!
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