Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Skeptical wife has question about SolidNav

 

John,

The reason that 48 volts is a popular voltage is that it takes a certain power to push your boat.  Power = volts times amps.  Double the voltage, cut the amps in half.  Resistance losses in the motor vary with the square of the current so a 24v motor at 100 amps is less efficient than a 48v motor at 50 amps.  Also, the size of the components generally goes with the amperage, not the voltage so a higher voltage, lower amperage system can have smaller wire, smaller controller, etc.

 

12v systems are not used, except for the smallest trolling motors, because the current would be so high to get the required power.

 

Charging a 24, 36 or 48v system is simple.  If you do not want to get a high voltage charger you can use multiple 12v chargers; one for each 12v battery or pair of 6v batteries.

 

You will want at least (4) 60 - 70# 12v batteries to get enough energy storage to have a practical range under power. (8) 65# 6v batteries would be even better.  Starting with one 12v battery with the thought to add more later is not a practical option.  48v motors, chargers and controllers are readily available.

 

I believe Compac has tried a few EPower pod drives from Kevin Plank.  He is now out of business.  You would be better off with an "inboard" electric motor or a Torqeedo outboard on a transom bracket.

 

The electric system, including a decent bank of AGM batteries, should cost around the same as a diesel.  The diesel will have more power to push the boat into adverse weather, have much greater range, be annoyingly noisy and require some periodic maintenance.  If you can live with the range and max power limitations of electric drive and can recharge from shore power conveniently, electric may be for you.  Cruising along in a flat calm at 5 kts in silence is sweet.  A well engineered system with AGM batteries requires no more maintenance than your cell phone - just plug it in at night.

 

You should try to get a ride in an electric boat before committing to diesel.

 

Denny

 

----- Original Message -----

From: John Francis

To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 5:42 PM

Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Skeptical wife has question about SolidNav

 

Thanks Pat

And to Dennis . . . I completely forgot about needing to vary the speed . . . oops.

ANYWAY . . . the gist of my thoughts were toward simplicity.

SO, to my way of thinking the next-best step toward simplicity would be a 12-volt system.  But, worthwhile motors seem to operate at 24 volts and above.

A 48 volt system, to me, would complicate the charging and overall, 48 volts seem like a lot, even though, as a kid, I used to stick my finger in a light socket . . . often, just for kicks(to this day I can feel that, ohh . . . funny feeling).

Even a 24 volt system bothers me, because I can either buy 12 volt stuff or 120 volt stuff(everything else).   At 12 volts, as a battery gets toward the end of it's useful life, that same battery will work great for my LED lights, very small TV and such, and I don't need to pair out my batteries,  although I would eventually get all the same type/size batteries down the road and the charging should be much easier by either a 120 volt charger(at the dock), a generator or solar.

I'm 60 years old(none of my 3 older brothers made it to 60), and given my family history(they all died of completely different things), I work on a 2 or maybe 3-year plan . . . a rolling plan(I hope), as such that my planning is ALWAYS for another 2-3 years. So, if I live to be 62, my plans will go to 64-65.

BUT anyway, since I'm planning rather short-term, I don't want to get caught up in more complications than I need.


John Francis

On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 4:24 PM, rwsandersii <rwsandersii@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Mark, Yes, Compac will be installing it. Thank you very much for your imput. My husband really wants the motor. Not that I don't...just that I think even Compac would rather do the diesel because that is what they are used to. I think they tried another motor once and it didn't work. Just don't want to get burned.
Lisa

--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "acsarfkram" <acsarfkram@...> wrote:
>

> I have had a SolidNav Explorer in my 1976 Ericson 27 (27') for almost two years. I have not had any trouble with the motor. If SolidNav (probably Jason)is telling you they will deliver the motor I'm sure they will. I had very good service from the company when I bought the Explorer. I haven't spoken with Jason in a while so I do not know how the company is doing, but I would imagine they are like most in the boating industry and sales are slow. I wouldn't think twice about ordering another SolidNav product.
>
> The motor is plenty strong for the E27.
>
> For me there is no comparison between a diesel and electric. Just one issue is I do not like diesel odor while motoring or docked.
>
> The convenience of "right now" power is reassuring.
>
> It depends what you are going to use the boat for. Electric propulsion has a shorter range than diesel. With my setup I think I can get at least 70 miles motoring at 4 knots before needing a charge.
>
> If you go electric is Compac installing the motor in the boat?
>
> Mark
>
>
> --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "rwsandersii" <rwsandersii@> wrote:
> >
> > My husband ( who has posted in this forum ) and I are buying a compac 27 sailboat and he wants to put in a SolidNav Motor. My questions are:
> >
> > For anyone with a SolidNav motor in a sailboat:
> > What size sailboat do you have?
> > How does the motor handle your sailboat?
> > Are you happy you put in the SolidNav motor?
> > Is the motor better than diesel?
> > Have you had to do any repair work, and if so what became of it.  Availability of service & parts?
> >
> > The guy from SolidNav wants all the money 4,000 up front stating he's been burned a few times and won't credit the boat builders. What do you all think of this? Is this normal? He had a for sale sign up on his web page stating he wants to sell the company to a bigger company,but then took it off the web page. Do you think the company is on solid footing?
> >
> > Any help and comments would be appreciated.
> > Lisa
> >
>




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