Part 2 of renewable energy on Iemanja...wind....

The location of the SuperWind 350 wind turbine was pretty straight forward but as with everything on a boat, getting to the end result always offers some challenges. The 9' mast from PYI in Washington along with all the adapters and supports was easy. The marriage of the mast base to the stainless steel support on the starboard corner of the boat was another story. It required a special 1/2" SS plate to bolt into 4 existing metric holes onto which the movable base was mounted. Again this had to be drilled and tapped for maximum strength. A local machine shop helped out with this component but getting wrapped up in the thanksgiving holiday added a twist. Anyway......wiring was completed over the holiday weekend so that when I got the plate it was a matter of bolting on the mast and plugging in the turbine. Not much wind today for a good test but all in all, things went according to plan and we now are reading some additional amps going into the battery. This will become increasingly more important when we get down to the trade winds in the Bahamas, which blow pretty consistently from the east..at 15-18 knots.