Best of luck to you on your search. If I can be of any assistance let me know.
Harry Wilkins,
The Research Vessel Carpe Sol
www.rvCarpeSol.
Cell (813)610-3219
Office (813)968-0788
Fax (813)792-1162
To: electricboats@
From: matikanpoika@
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:39:46 +0000
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Research Vessel Carpe Sol
You are right. Economically it does not make any sense to switch to any kind of drive. However, it's a question of a good feeling :-). The reason I don't try to save the planet with my boating habits is fairly simple. As you already read I am motoring pretty little each year and I already have an engine. So environmentally it will probably be worse to buy a new electric drive, which will have to be produced and which is also going to use energy from the grid. No, if I wanted to to something worthwhile I should consider changing to electric drive on my car (w or convince my neighbors at the marina to get rid of their boats which consume my yearly consumption of fuel on the boat within less than an hour) for covering the distance to work and back, and I plan to get an electric car. There I could save the amount of fuel I use in a boating season within two or three days... and park and charge the car for free at work and in shopping centers... This makes sense as long as there are only few users of electric cars and "superfluous" electricity you can use for charging at night.
The reason for wanting to go electric on the boat are just getting rid of gasoline on the boat and having quite and instant power. Now I have to start the engine 1-2 minutes before I leave the harbor. And the most important reason I want to get rid of the Honda is its weight. With its electric start and all it ways 50 kg which is located half a meter aft of the stern. This weight strongly influences the boat balance. If I had 100 kg of batteries or more would not matter since they could be located midships.
I am sailing in Northern Norway (Tromsø). Mostly in Fjords and Sounds with some tidal current (up to 4 knots and sometimes more). The season here is pretty long since the water does not freeze in the winter. However, it is cold most of the time with water temperature never rising above 10 degrees Celsius(I guess the Torqeedos would like that...). If there was any kind of electric engine dealer within 500 km I might already have tried one, but there isn't. Maybe I get an opportunity to test a torqeedo this summer vacation in the South.
Best
Matti
--- In electricboats@
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> Matti,
> From a purely economic sense it doesn't make sense to switch to electric drive. You have a reliable motor and you only use about 10 gallons of fuel a year. As far as the "low speed" of electric motors, if I were converting a sail boat, I'd buy enough motor to push the boat to hull speed and consider an inboard system such as the Thoosa - http://www.asmomari
> But again, it doesn't make economic sense to do this until you have a need to replace what you already have for some legitimate reason. I say this because you previously mentioned "I am not trying to save the planet or anything, I just like it quite and odorless." The Research Vessel Carpe Sol on the other hand is being constructed specifically to test, document and promote the advantages of electric power for boats and we do want to "save the planet"; but in the end it still has to make economic sense in order to gain wide spread acceptability.
> Where do you do your boating?
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> Harry Wilkins, The Research Vessel Carpe Sol www.rvCarpeSol.
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> To: electricboats@
> From: matikanpoika@
> Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000
> Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Research Vessel Carpe Sol
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> Hi Harry
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> Thanks for your input. It's not that I don't have the information on a lot of electric companies. Actually I have contacted directly at least 10 providers of electric propulsion systems. Some of them have disappeared (and reappeared as the one you quoted) already or changed their names. Torqeedo is one of the few who became big enough to stay, if the concept turns out to satisfy the customers in the long run.
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> The problem I see is still, as I said, the reliability. For the time being my boat is equipped with a Honda outboard since the previous owner took out what seemed to be a gasoline inboard Honda/Volvo saildrive chimera. He glassed the hole so there is quite a job to do if I want to install an inboard in addition to having a hole in the hull which I don't like either. But I digress.
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> The 10 hp Honda I have has always started and never stalled in the 4 years I have had it (and always starts). At low speed (3-4 knots) which I started to get myself used to since contemplating electric drive, it is not so noisy either... However, everytime I refuel there is considerable fuel smell all around the boat (since I already removed the built in tank). Fortunately I only need to fill up the 12 liter tank 2-3 times a year. And I can't complain about the servicing either... Oil and gear oil change is pretty easy and done directly on the boat (with the dinghy underneath to keep the oil leaking into the environment from dimensions attributed to BP...). Unfortunately there are very few long time experineces (max. 2-3 years) with torqeedo engines. And the time intervalls of completely trouble free use I know of are even shorter.
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> Otherwise I would have already bought one. I think I will only need a 1 kW engine. That is enough to get myself out of the harbour and back if there is no wind. In presence of wind I don't need an engine and if it is too much wind for me to sail it is certainly too much wind to use the engine on my boat. And I don't have the storage capacity on my boat for the energy needed when using more power anyway, so why bother :-).
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> So I think of installing a torqeedo cruise 2.0R or 1003 with remote control. But I have to admit that 3 years ago I thought I would at least need 2-3 kW and a lot of batteries...
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> Best
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> --- In electricboats@
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> > In addition to Torqeedo, which has a good reputation for performance and quality, you might also look at the following for competitive information.
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> > Or you could Google "Electric outboard motor" and find many other links.
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> > Repowering a small sailboat is a pretty straight-forward matter, especially if you are going the outboard route. Just don't try to save money on the batteries. Buy big deep cycle batteries. They cost more to buy but they are much less expensive and more reliable over their lifetime.
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> > Thanks...
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> > Harry Wilkins,
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> > The Research Vessel Carpe Sol www.rvCarpeSol.
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> > Cell (813)610-3219
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> > Office (813)968-0788
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> > Fax (813)792-1162
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> > To: electricboats@
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> > From: matikanpoika@
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> > Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:29:37 +0000
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> > Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Research Vessel Carpe Sol
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> > Hi Harry
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> > Actually I have no real interest in electric boats, but I would like to move my little sailboat also in absence of wind without the use of a combustion engine and fuel on board. I am not trying to save the planet or anything, I just like it quite and odorless. For the time being I have a heavy 4-stroke outboard hanging on the transom. Once I find something electric fitting my needs I will get rid of it. I am planning to buy a torqeedo, but I am not yet convinced of their reliability.
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> > Why they have all those engines on SolarWave I don't know, but if you have a look at the sponsor list it might explain the reason. It seams everyone wanted to somehow be represented on these 46 feet of swimming advertisement. Anyway, I think the homepage will provide the interested reader with interesting information about energy consumption at sea and on inland waterways.
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> > Best
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> > --- In electricboats@
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> > > Thanks for the information. I've been watching the Solar Wave progress for some time. I haven't quite worked out why they have both the Torqeedo outboards and the Aquawatt inboard motors. Other than that mystery, they seem to have designed a nice boat and it should serve them well.
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> > > What is your interest in electric boats?
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> > > Thanks...
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> > > Harry Wilkins,
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> > > The Research Vessel Carpe Sol
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> > > www.rvCarpeSol.
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> > > hw@
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> > > Cell (813)610-3219
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> > > Office (813)968-0788
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> > > Fax (813)792-1162
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> > > To: electricboats@
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> > > From: matikanpoika@
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> > > Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:00:27 +0000
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> > > Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Research Vessel Carpe Sol
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> > > Hi
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> > > I don't have any personal experience with electric engines, but there is a solar catamaran (46 foot) which just started its circumnavigation from Vienna in Austria. The link is: www.solarwave.
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> > > Anyway there are surely many other solutions for propulsion but the real world experience of this online blog might be interesting for you (since they have two independent electric propulsion systems on board).
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> > > Matti
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> > > --- In electricboats@
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> > > > Greetings,
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> > > > I am looking for input on the most efficient electric motor system for a 36 foot, 14,000 pound catamaran. The boat will be a full time live aboard and will travel the inland waters of the USA year round.
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> > > > Thanks for your input
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