Off the cuff it sounds to me like you're dreaming.
The more experienced people can help out but just thinking it through in my head, keeping under a ton of batteries means something like a 40kW bank. 8 of those PVL-68s is only a 544 watt array. About 5.6kW to make 6 knots. So maybe 3 or 4 hours of 6 knots in good conditions. A cat with a lofty rig is going to have a huge amount of windage and will require an awful lot of power in bad conditions to keep making way. These are all off the cuff numbers from a newbie, so I'll defer to whoever else replies as to the numbers, I hope this is in the ballpark!
Electric: light, fast, and range don't really go together. Pick two of them perhaps? Well, maybe with lithium batteries, I was only speaking about lead-acid batteries above, but then we're getting into major bucks.
David
Hello Group!
I just joined today. The reason for my interest is finding help in planning out an electric alternative to conventional internal combustion engines on a catamaran I'm beginning to conceptualize.
The dimensions will be ~ LOA 36', Beam 22', Mast Height 60'. It will be a light, fast, demountable sailboat that will fit on a trailer ~ 8' wide for towing anywhere. I may consider going into production if this works as I plan. The first one will be used to do a lot of fishing in the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Panama. Weight is critical! Reliable power is critical. The boat will have all the necessary systems to sustain 4 adults for extended voyages, maybe even an ocean crossing some day. 3 or 4 knots in calm waters is of no use to me. I have to be able to control my boat in high winds and surging ocean currents and troll or motor at above 6 knots for extended periods. I have a couple things most sailboats do not, twin hulls = less weight for a much larger usable space and a huge hard bimini top for solar (~13'X14'). I'd like to cover this bimini with something like the Uni-Solar (http://www.uni-
solar.com ) PVL-68 laminates. I figure I can get 8 of the them up there and they'll weigh less than 100 Lbs.
It looks like my bogey is battery weight. There is no way I'm adding a ton of lead to this boat! I can get great performance from a couple 20HP outboards that weigh less than 120 Lbs each. Is there any hope of electric propulsion or am I dreaming?
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