On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 12:56:13AM +0000, Mark Lockley wrote:
>
> thanks for comments sorry i wasnt more clear on the relaxed cruising, basically
> the people that are off on longer voyages - example cruising mexico's west
> coast - running mostly daytime journneys of less than 20nm and will have
> extended stays at anchor in bays and marinas etc The person or people perhaps
> that would like to sail but are older or unable to operate a sailboat but in no
> particular rush to get anyplace ut love peace and quiet mostly.
One of the problematic bits that's usually hidden in that kind of
scenario is that systems need to be designed for the worst case rather
than the average. Designing a system that'll do 20nm/day is not much of
a problem... unless the winds pick up, the current is foul, and you're
getting pushed onto a lee shore that's a mile away. At that point - and
especially for older folks who don't have the endurance to deal with the
heavy-duty extended work that's involved in working off that shore - you
need something that'll power you out, and a system that's *just* capable
of doing 20nm/day isn't going to be capable of that.
This is one of the reasons that many boats are "over-powered" these
days: in part, it's accomodating the older people who tend to buy the
larger, more expensive boats; in part, it's lawsuit mitigation. Going
electric, in my mind, equates to placing more reliance on your sailing
ability and less on engine usage - a very good thing, from a certain
perspective, but not necessarily everyone's cup of tea.
--
Ben Okopnik
-=-=-=-=-=-
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