Sorry for having to prod memories, I am in the middle of moving house, so I have pasted Erics response from a few days ago once more at the bottom of this.
The boat I have was sailed with no engine at all for the last two years. It is currently in an inlet that, provided I keep away from the channel out to the Atlantic, should have few currents. I intend having someone who knows what they are doing on board for the first few trips. To be honest, I am terrified of the thought of it getting away from me - I sailed in a dinghy a coupla times when younger, and the power of the sails was impressive.
I hate outboards, but you might be right. The big advantage is that it frees up the engine space for electric fiddling to take place.
Meanwhile I can stay a bit quiet here and see what info I can pick up piece by piece.
Thanks,
John
Re: Keeping it simple....hmmmm!
Hey John,
What kind of boat do you have? You've said it's 26 foot and it's 6500 pounds.
If you've never sailed, and your boat is currently not operational, please try
to find someone to give you a few lessons in a boat that is set up correctly.
The size of the training boat doesn't really matter, though if you learn in a
dinghy, you may find your bigger boat a handful, once you're getting started
with it. Many well used boats are no longer set up correctly to sail, getting
someone with experience that can take you out on your boat to see if there are
any major problems is a good idea. When I was learning to sail with my Catalina
22, I found myself in plenty of tight (dangerous) situations, luckily with no
lasting damage or injuries. And that was with everything working well.
If your current engine is shot, another alternative (depending on your
particular boat) is to temporarily mount an outboard, a high-thrust 9.9hp should
drive your boat as well as the Atomic 4. A new electric start should cost less
than $2500, and you might find a used motor for a lot less. You could use the
outboard while you learn to sail and save up for all the bits of an electric
drive. Once you are ready to convert, you should be able to recoup a reasonable
amount of your investment, especially if you bought used.
Even a very DIY electric conversion will be more expensive than you think,
certainly more than a very DIY ICE repair. I believe that virtually every
electric conversion is more expensive than it's ICE equivalent. The point that
I'm trying to make is that right now, the justifications to go electric are
philisophical and environmental, not economic. Do it to save the planet, not to
save money.
Be smart, be safe.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--
_______________________________________________
Surf the Web in a faster, safer and easier way:
Download Opera 9 at http://www.opera.com
No comments:
Post a Comment