Hi there,
I live aboard a 43 ft trimaran which almost totally green. I say
almost because I have a small genset - a Honda 1kva for emergency use.
I don't use it much and with batter planning (or perhaps more
stubborness) I wouldn't have needed it so far.
My usual power source is 500 watts of solar panels and on sunny days
thats adequate but on overcast days it can be difficult to break even.
I can get by with this but it would be better with a few hundred watts
more capacity.
My wind generator is not rigged at present and its other use as a
towing generator has also not been rigged. So these two power sources
have not been tapped lately.
The engine battery pack is 10kwh of Lithiums, and the house pack is
2.4 kwh of lead acid. This is barely enough and I will soon be
replacing the house batteries with the same weight (actually slightly
less) of Lithiums for a capacity of 5 kwh. I will be wiring that up
so I can use it at 48v as a "reserve tank" for the engine.
The solar panels I use are Solara which can be walked on. Two of these
are under the boom and although I rarely step on these panels,
sometimes it does happen. They are mounted side-by-side and quite
often one is shaded and one is in the sun. These panels are more
expensive than the regular ones but I think they are great. They are
only a few mm thick and so can be placed on deck around the boat with
minumal disruption to deck use, and minimal windage.
I see my boat as primarily a sailing boat and use the motor only
sparingly. I had this perspective even when the boat was powered with
a petrol outboard - so the impact on my usage of the boat has not
changed much by converting to electric propulsion. But to address
your comment about the 210 litre diesel tank... to hope that you'd be
able to provide the same amount of motoring capacity as a full 210
litre tank could be considered pie-in-the-sky. I suppose it could be
technically possible, but practically very difficult.
On the other hand it could be useful to think of how low does the tank
get before its refilled? This could give you an idea of what is the
usual capacity of the tank under normal use. For example if its
regularly drained to say 1/4 full, say 50 litres, then this could be
considered as your customer's idea of a suitable emergency capacity.
I like to think of my battery pack as a very small fuel tank (probably
its equivalent to around 20 litres or so) with a slow drip feed that
keeps topping it up continously (say 0.5 litre per day).
gotta go now. You can check out my boat at http://currentsunsh
and I'm happy to give you more info about my experience with a
(almost) totally green boat.
Cheers
Chris
Quoting r1ck_r0ck_4_
> Hi,
>
> I'm an electrical engineer who specializes in electric vehicle
> designs. I was asked by a boat owner who wants to convert his 2007
> Bavaria Vision 44 into electric powered with no compromise. He is
> willing to go for the latest lithium, solar, and wind technology. He
> basically want this boat to be 100% green with not a single drop of
> fossil fuel needed.
>
> I am fairly knowledgeable with electric vehicles, but I am very new
> to boating. What is the average energy consumption per day needed
> for a 44foot sailboat? eg. It has a 210L diesel fuel tank. how long
> does the 210L diesel fuel last usually? What is the energy needed to
> propel it to a reasonable speed?
>
> the area under the main sail in the middle of the boat, can solar
> panels go there or does the sailor needs to stand on that part?
>
> are there controllable pitch propellers for boats this size?
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
>
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