Adam,
You'll get plenty of suggestions from others here about possible diesel/electric solutions, but I thought that I might provide an alternative perspective. While cost is often a driving factor when chosing a drive system, as a multihull owner, I have learned that weight should be a bigger consideration for non-ballasted boats.
Before you dismiss ICE outboards altogether, consider the tradeoffs. The 40' racing catamaran that I crew on uses two 20hp outboards and can drive back from Esenada to Los Angeles (125nm) in a day against current, seas and weather. In the US, both outboards would cost about $5000US and install in a day. Total weight for both motors, including fuel tanks and starting batteries, is around 150kg. It looks like your boat's design actually calls for a single, larger outboard mounted centrally, which could be cheaper and lighter, however, going with dual outboards, you have built in redundancy which is safer offshore.
In my opinion, dual petrol outboards will be cheaper, lighter, simpler, safer, readily available, more powerful and easy to repair. Electric drives are usually quiter and cleaner, but diesel/electric systems give away much of those advantages.
You may have other criteria that you are using for your choice, and of course, it is your decision to make.
Fair winds,
Eric
1990 F-27F "Witchcraft"
1964 Cheoy Lee Bermuda 30 "Serenity"
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "nzsilvia" <nzsilvia@...> wrote:
>
> hi everyone, im new to the forum.
>
> i live in new zealand and i am about to start building a 35' sailing catamaran.
>
> http://www.wallerdesign.com.au/cs35.html
>
> simple deep v hulls 3600kg(8000lbs) displacement.
>
> the boat is designed for petrol outboards but i am really not keen on this idea. have been in contact with the designer who says due to the deep v hulls twin diesel installation would not be ideal. he reccomended somehow using a single centrally mounted diesel powering 2 smaller drives. this led me to consider diesel-electric propulsion....
where i get most confused is it the many possible ways of doing things.. i am on a budget and do not want to spend more $ than i have to....
>
> any help would be greatly appreciated! im keen to learn alot about it
> thanks
> adam.
>
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