Practical Sailor's gear and boat reviews take the guesswork out of your buying decisions.

Volume 29
Number 4
February 15, 2003

Towed Water Generator

In our experiments last summer, the Hamilton Ferris generator did very well with a spinner in the water, less well with its optional wind blade.

The towed spinner generated good power
ûwith very little effect on boatspeed.

Back in 1992, a friend of ours competed in the OSTAR (Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race). Onboard electrical demands, especially from electronics, had recently grown, and he needed a charging source other than the engine. Marine wind generators were still unproven and solar panels were prohibitively expensive.

A group of us got together and bought for him a towed water-powered generator for charging his batteries. He came back with good stories of how much electricity it produced—but alas, he lost the boat and generator 500 miles from the finish, so we never got a chance to try it ourselves.…

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