rigger 47 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 roller furling squares were described by Nares in 1862 - Patented by Cunningham I think Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 http://www.efoy-comfort.com/ These seem to be something that may change some aspects of sailing. That is maybe get away with very small batteries and one of these charging quietly in the background. Around $7000 and $80 for 10 litres methanol. With one of these you would be able to go without the wind generater and the solar panels which to my eye are just cumbersome and untidy. Link to post Share on other sites
ab1974 1 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 BBay looks like a nice little solution albeit expensive. 10L of methanol will effectively produce 925AH of charging. If I had a daily power useage of 100-150AH per day then I would only get 7 days of charging before I was out of Methanol. $80 a week seems a tad expensive for a weeks charging....... The concept is great though. Much nicer than a 4 stroke generator. Not sure how easy methanol is to get at the local servo in the islands.............. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 May be able to buy methanol locally and top up the tank somehow. If we had some solar panels below that were set up when anchored and a decent alternator then should last a fair bit longer. I don't know much about methanol regarding availability in NZ but if it is then should not be too difficult to set something up to recharge the tank. Link to post Share on other sites
Grinna 2 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Will the unit run on ethanol or just methanol? Ethanol is pretty easy to brew from plant material and then distill, but the problem is by the time you've done that, you've used an awful lot of energy to make fuel that then eventually gives you electricity. Doesn't sound that efficient by the time you've gone through all the conversion steps and lost energy at each step. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 That technology's got a few years on it now and the Ethanol that was being supplied for it was originally very expensive. Originally they had some reason why you had to buy there "special" ethanol. I expect it was to ensure purity and "proof". Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 most of the ethanol available now comes from Fonterra Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 It is Methanol. Wood alchohol but not drinkable! Ethanol is the stuff that makes rum fun. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Sorry, I meant Methanol. Link to post Share on other sites
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