West Marine Wind Generator

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Maeve Meuser

We have a West Marine Wind Generator that has stopped rotating even in strong winds. We recently replaced the blades (one had broken over the winter up north) and the nose cone and it worked quite well for a while for a couple of weeks. Now all of a sudden it stopped turning. We are planning to take it down and check it out, but would appreciate any input from the sailing forum as to what the problem could be.
 
May 11, 2005
3,431
Seidelman S37 Slidell, La.
Check

I don't know how yours is set up, but if you had a broken blade, and a bad hub, the first place I would look is at the front bearing. If the hub and blade were bad, theres a good chance that some moisture got in there, and got the bearing.
 
Jun 14, 2005
165
Cal 20 Westport CT
What a great idea!

A wind generator? I've always checked sailflow for the wind forecasts. All this time, I could have been generating my own. What a lot of precious sailing time to lose. Is it akin to the artificial snow generators on the ski slopes?
 

Manny

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Oct 5, 2006
983
Hunter 82? 37 Cutter Wherever the wind takes me
Don't know much about wind generators

But don't they have some sort of locking mechanism so you can keep the blades from spinning when conditions are too extreme or for servicing? Could that be engaged or jammed? My 2 cents. Manny
 
Dec 3, 2003
2,101
Hunter Legend 37 Portsmouth, RI
I second Nice 'N Easy...

...but look at the bearings and brushes. Being off balance probably did in the bearings and scored the brushes or armature. There may be an off-balance problem, now.
 
M

Maeve Meuser

Generating wind

Hi, Gee, our wind generator doesn't do much for the sail flow, but it sure helps alleviate the load on the batteries with the autopilot, refrigeration, VHF radio reception, etc., all going. We sure miss it, when it's not working.
 
M

Maeve Meuser

Wind generator

Thanks for all your possible solutions to our wind generator. We will be checking for moisture and the bearings. Without it, we sometimes have to run the engine just to keep it all going.
 
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