Alright guys, I know I don't post here much (never) but I would like your opinion.
About 3 years ago I acquired an old Valiant 40 (one of the first 20 made) and I have slowly been restoring and renewing her. I am a sailor not a powerboater, and the old Westerbeke 4-107 as been leaking oil and embarrasing me whenever the bilge pump goes on. I have dreamed of electric with regen for along time, I realize that I can't do it completely, but this is what I want to do....
I did my calculations- it looks like I need about 11 horsepower to do whatever I need with an auxillary. With the genset powering 50 amps of 48 volts, I think I can cruise at about 5-6 knots. But I usually motor in and out of port, and use my diesel to face into the wind to deploy the main- that is about it. For the engine – a 180i. I just don't think I will need more. If I have to carve off a lee shore during a storm, my sails will make or break me anyway. My Westerbeke has about 20 hp total- probably less than that at the propeller. I rarely use it above 2000 rpm. I just use the wind to go places.
Two banks of batteries- 12v 450 a-hours (which I already have in place) for the house bank.
400 a-hours 48 volt to power the motor.
A Next Generation kubota genset 5.5.KW with battery chargers going to 48 volt (25 amps) and using my current battery charger (I think it is 15 amps) to the 12 volt bank.
Now here is where it gets tricky. I will have a Mastervolt inverter to cover the galley, microwave, and Big screen TV. I will go all electric stovetop and thus eliminate propane entirely from my boat (except the outdoor grill) I use all of these very rarely anyway. I will have a set-down transformer to convert the 48 vdc to 12 vdc when on the hook for extended periods. And I will keep enough solar panels (400watts) to keep everything charged when I am away from the boat. During passagemaking, the regen/solar will keep the 48 vdc and housebank charged. When I am cooking a meal downstairs, I will either have the batteries all topped off already, or just start the genset for an hour.
Speaking of the genset, I will pipe the freshwater heating to the hot water heater, and then to a radiator (for winter heat) or a keel cooler (for tropical cooling)
In the future- I will put in a low watt startup heat pump for cooling and heating.
So there you have it- I get rid of two rather bothersome systems (propane and big diesel) and relace with a multifunctional genset and lots more batteries. What do you think??
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