Re: [Electric Boats] Re:Batteries as ballast

Hi every one thanks for the responses.    I get the impression that no has as yet has designed and built a 35-45 foot sailboat from the "keel up" as an electric boat.  It would be a daunting and expensive project.  You would have to design the keel around accepting a specific battery dimension (like computer "blade" servers in a rack) and hope like hell they don't change the dimensions 10-15 years down the road when you need to replace them.   The other technology I find intresting are the flexable solar panels that are being developed.  If they could be incorporated into the sails they would provide a huge area for solar collection, they could be put on both sides of the sail and give you double the surface area.  Are any of the sail manufacturers working on this?  A roller furling main that stows in the mast seems like the most logical way to do this.  I imagine the sail would cost almost as much as the boat though..   Geff --- On Mon, 12/21/09, Chip G <chipg_98@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Chip G <chipg_98@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Re:Batteries as ballast To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, December 21, 2009, 5:55 AM Interesting observation about submarines Stephen. Is your signature "SSK" a conincidence? You know they use SSK to refer to some types of diesel/electric submarines?   Merry Christmas, Chip From: Stephen <machinist@coastalnow.net> To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, December 21, 2009 4:50:33 AM Subject: [Electric Boats] Re:Batteries as ballast   Batteries as ballast works in some designs.  They are used that way in old diesel/electric submarines.  Of more interest for people here would be some of the late Phil Bolger designs.  He used a lot of "box" keel structures in some of his later designs and specified that the box could be used for battery storage/ballast.  His wife, Susan Altenburg (sp?) is still in business in MA and could probably point you to just the design, or even design a custom hull for you.   Regards, SSK