One goal for our trip is to be self-sufficient in terms of energy generation, preferably not needing to run the engine to top up the power provided by our solar panels. Since the sun shines for 12 hours a day where we will be doing most of our sailing, there are 12 hours where we need to be able to top-up. The radar and other navigational equipment plus comfort items like our fridge can require power all day long. We debated wind power vs hydro, and to start with have decided on a hydrogenerator because we expect to need the most power while sailing at night, and the hydrogenerators that we compared to wind generators were more effective in Lulu’s expected speeds and travel.
There are a lot of choices out there, we chose the Remoran Wave 3 because our boat Lulu was built in Finland and it seemed a good fit to add a Finnish hydrogenerator. We have faith in Finnish engineering. It also has the benefit of being fairly small to stow, relatively light and easy to mount, and able to adjust both length and angle. It will take us a while to get sailing with it, so stay tuned for actual usage information.
Of course, you can’t just plug in a new generator. There is a lot going on the background, Magnus is upgrading our battery bank, adding new Battery Management Systems (BMS), adding in monitoring equipment etc. Since we are running Lithium batteries, we need to be able to shut off the charging to prevent overcharging. For the Remoran Wave 3, we purchased a “protection relay” which can shut off the generator if the boat has too much speed. While we don’t expect to travel 12 knots, it isn’t impossible, so we saw it as necessary insurance.