OK, an interesting mix of responses ranging from "dumb idea" to "it's possible". Being somewhat of an optimistic realist, I'll persue the idea further.
Dan, I looked at some of the powerboats but they seem to need huge ICE's to get them going. Sailboats in roughly the same size range seem to use reatively tiny engines, less than 20 HP in many cases. I assumed that sailing hulls were better designed for the lower displacement speeds I could expect from an electrically driven boat. I'm wondering if trimming the keel down and replacing the weight I save there with batteries would still be stable? Stability of the boat is really my greatest concern with this idea.
Thumper mentioned a catamaran. I'd LOVE to go that route but it isn't likely to be in my budget unless one magically appears on the market really cheap with good hulls and everything else trashed.
Having a Honda generator on board, as Capt. Mike mentioned, sounds like an excelent addition to the mix and would probably be used for distance cruises to keep from running the battery banks flat.
I did some playing around with dimensions today. If I add a solar hardtop covering the cockpit and give up any overhead hatches in the cabin, I think I can squeeze on enough comercially available solar panels to give me around 1.6 KW of solar. Of course that is if all the panels were sitting on the equator pointed directly at the sun at high noon. Being practical, I'm thinking I can get maybe 1KW out of solar panels, maybe enough for limited day to day use without beating my battery banks up too much, but if I want to go any major distance I'm thinking a generator will be a necessity.
And I am currently located in Illinois, but will be relocating to Florida in about 2 years.
Thanks to everyone for the information so far. I'm still on the fence about actually putting any money into this idea so more input from the group, both pro and con, will be appreciated.
-Red
--- In electricboats@
>
> Red,
> Your basic idea is entirely doable, but there are many different ways to accomplish it. Where are you located?
> Capt. Todd
> www.epowermarine.
>
> --- In electricboats@
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I've been lurking in this group for the past year or so and have learned a lot from you all. I've had a project in mind and I'm trying to figure out if it's practical and how to make it work. Would it be possible to modify a smaller cruising sailboat to a pure solar powered boat?
> >
> > My thoughts were along the lines of buying a sailboat around 30' LOA, stripping out the engine, mast and rigging, fuel tank, etc. and replacing it with an electric motor, batteries in place of some of the balast, and as many solar panels as I can fit on the cabin top and on a hard top to replace the bimini. Most days I'd like to be able to cruise around 5-6 knots for 4 hours or so, but still have the capability to go 70-80 miles on occasion. Oh, and the maximum budget for the project is about $40K.
> >
> > Is this possible? Practical? Safe? And how would you accomplish it?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > -Red
> >
>
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