Wind genny on davits of a PDQ 32?
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:27 pm
I posted this on our blog today but would love some opinions of other 32 owners.
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.
Since posting the above I found the photo below which is pretty much what I was thinking:
Comments on this are welcome!
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.
Since posting the above I found the photo below which is pretty much what I was thinking:
Comments on this are welcome!