T-Pain Is On A Boat: [Electric Boats] eBoat "regatta" in SF last weekend

Thursday, August 6, 2009

[Electric Boats] eBoat "regatta" in SF last weekend

We had a sail-in to Treasure Island last weekend which included 4 e-boaters on 3 sailboats - mine, Hans K and Kevin brought his Erickson 27 powered by Arby's [http://www.advancedmarineelectricpropulsion.com/] motor. Tomasz and his wife came along on my boat (he's got an e-boat down in Monterey) so I got to make a couple of new friends to boot.

It was a great day for sailing and we hit the tides well (all coming from a different spot on the bay). We'll hopefully get some pictures up soon.

We did have a "watt race" - my boat and the Erickson running parallel and each calling off watt (amp actually) readings. This was all very un-scientific but we did calibrate the ammeters and had independent observers at least.

Downwind, the 100% watt draw advantage (for example I was at 2KW, Kevin at 1KW) was pretty close to true. Upwind (about 15kts) it narrowed a bit to about 50-60% fewer watts advantage (i.e. I was at 2KW vs 1.5KW for Kevin)- making sense with that boat being about 30% lighter and a freshly scrubbed hull. (Kevin I'm going from memory, so please correct me if I mis-state). We were nowhere near hullspeed - maybe 4kts down and 2-3 back.

I'm still nursing a set of bad batteries, comparing very different boats, mine needs a scrub, props, etc -- so unfortunately I don't place much faith in the numbers - this was intended for fun more than anything else, though I'm sure this will trigger some debates (what's the expected difference in those hulls, etc...)

That said...Arby's motor is a very sweet package - very clean, compact, and very robustly assembled (so much so I'm afraid pictures taken of my setup are going to end up as "before" pictures like those diet ads in the tabloids...). In particular, I think the lack of exposed wiring will be a huge advantage in long-term reliability in saltwater installations.

I think more testing is in order before declaring it SF Bay ready for a boat as large as mine (30' 9800lb), but it seemed to me a good fit for the Erickson and for the very large number of boats up to that size/vintage ready for new motors. The 24volt package has obvious advantages as well, though I would love to see 36V and 48V options.

YMMV, Caveat Emptor and all that - but all in all I think it deserves consideration as a legitimate option in appropriate sized vessels and sailing conditions. What "appropriate" means will involve further testing, experience, testimonials, etc.

-Keith