Your Questions About Wind Generators For Boats

admin answers:

We’ve used the wind as an energy source for a long time. The Babylonians and Chinese were using wind power to pump water for irrigating crops 4,000 years ago, and sailing boats were around long before that.

Wind power was used in the Middle Ages, in Europe, to grind corn, which is where the term “windmill” comes from.
Windmills

How it works

The Sun heats our atmosphere unevenly, so some patches become warmer than others.

These warm patches of air rise, other air blows in to replace them – and we feel a wind blowing.

We can use the energy in the wind by building a tall tower, with a large propellor on the top.
A wind generator

The wind blows the propellor round, which turns a generator to produce electricity.

We tend to build many of these towers together, to make a “wind farm” and produce more electricity.

The more towers, the more wind, and the larger the propellors, the more electricity we can make.

It’s only worth building wind farms in places that have strong, steady winds, although boats and caravans increasingly have small wind generators to help keep their batteries charged.

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home.clara.net/darvill/altenerg/wind.htm

jj

admin answers:

It is a very relaxing life, and you can live quite comfortably on a sailboat, depending on what your expectations and needs are. You should be able to buy a 40 footer for much less than a condo would cost in most places, by the way.

Here is an answer I gave yesterday to someone who asked a similar question. I hope it helps.

Living on a boat is not for everyone. It is a lifestyle that can be great fun and very relaxed, but you have to work a little harder to be comfortable. Can you try it for a little while without having to make a committment?

You have to make arrangements for water and to have your holding tank pumped out. Most people go ashore for water – sometimes to a marina dock. In a very few places there is water delivery to boats, but in my experience that is not the norm. I have never seen that happen. When we anchored for longer periods my husband and I often dinghied 5 gallon jugs of water back to our boat on a regular basis – every time we went ashore.

What about power? Do you want to have electricity? If so, you need to think about wind generators or solar panels, depending on where you live. How about refrigeration? That is the biggest consumer of energy on a boat. There are options that use less power, but they tend to be more expensive. Do you want to be able to have a hot water shower on the boat? Is it hot enough where you live to use a solar bag/sun shower to heat your shower water each day or will you need a water heater?

How about cooking? If you have a propane stove, especially a Force 10, two burner with oven, that will be great, and many people also have a BBQ in the cockpit. With propane you should have a propane detector in your cabin and bilge as propane sinks if it is leaking, and could collect in the bottom of your boat and cause an explosion.

If you anchor, you have to dinghy ashore everyday. You may need to lock your dinghy when you go ashore, depending on where you are anchored. Will you have a vehicle on shore? If so, that will make life easier, as you will not have to backpack laundry, groceries, etc. If you are depending on getting ashore by dinghy to get to a job, what about the days when it might be too rough to get the dinghy ashore?

Do you want to have TV and Internet on your boat? We used a cell phone to have Internet access when we were anchored. Sometimes we were fortunate enough to be able to receive an unsecured wireless signal. For TV, you might be able to receive the free channels from you boat if you put an antenna high enough. The reception will of course vary with the movement of the boat.

Depending on your location, you may need to protect all you clothing from humidity and mildew. We rolled all of ours and packaged everything in airtight ziploc bags to keep the moisture out.

Some people who live on boats choose to rent a slip at a marina and then they can have most of the conveniences of a land based home while living on a boat. Not all marinas allow live aboards.

I would live on a boat again in a flash if the opportunity presented itself with the right person. My husband and I enjoyed it immensely and had wonderful adventures. We were happy vagabonds. We were both retired though, so we did not have to worry about getting ashore for work, etc.

So I hope I have given you some food for thought. Most people I know who live on boats and work ashore actually live in a slip at a marina, but I also know a few who anchor and dinghy ashore everyday to a job. Best of luck with you plans. I would do it. Feel free to ask about anything else you think I could help with.

Best of luck.