Yesterday we made a flying trip into Halifax, mostly to do some Christmas shopping but also to do a few more tasks on Nelleke to get her ready for winter. These long distance relationships are really hard on me. She always looks so lonely and dejected sitting there in her cradle on the hard, and when we go below it strikes me that an unlived in boat is always so much emptier that one when it is our home. I can’t wait ‘till the spring and we can bring her up to Shelburne. One lesson learned with her sitting there has been that the various alternative energy sources that I have installed are more than enough to keep abreast of whatever small current draws that there might be when she is on the hard and the fridge and freezer are not running. It has given me increased confidence in leaving her on a mooring rather than on a dock when we get her here. The batteries will have loads of power to maintain the bilge pump, we will simply have to restock the fridge and freezer each time we are going away for a trip. Of course when we are back aboard and cruising we will be back as we were but at least we will be there every day to keep an eye on the battery levels.
I have also discovered or been informed of a new product – the Watt and Sea Hydrogenerators that can produce 240AHrs/day at 6 knots of speed. Check out the manufacturer’s website at
watt&sea. They originate in France and
eMarine is their North American distributor. They are fixed mounted and don’t trail behind the boat and are not connected to the shaft, which were the two issues that I have heard of with respect to other models. I am doing more research but has anyone had any experience with them? If they don’t cost megabucks I am seriously thing of getting one. With all the electrical stuff we have aboard unless it is continually really sunny with steady 15 knot winds, the solar panels and wind generator almost, but doesn’t quite make it, especially if we are underway and are running the autohelm, radar, etc. It would be really nice to be able to shut off the engine while we are underway and this might be the answer. Of course it is going to just be there while we are at anchor, not contributing to the power supply , but that’s OK as we don’t often use the autohelm at anchor.
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