T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Repower for a Bristol 27

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Re: [Electric Boats] Repower for a Bristol 27

Hi Jason,

Greg Martin (can be found on www.electricseas.org) has a Bristol 32 that he has powered with an electric motor. He sails his boat in Japan and would be able to give you some very good input as to what to expect. He has encountered some crazy sailing conditions in Japan! He loves his electric motor.

Sally Reuther

On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Jason <jason.sattler@yahoo.com> wrote:

Good morning all. I've been lurking here for a while now and trying to get up to hull speed on this topic, but not getting the nuts and bolts into my head as fast as I'd like. I'm repowering a Bristol 27 (6600# displacement). The original Westerbeke 10 still runs, but I think the rings are leaking, and I tore something up in the transmission this fall...

Anyways, I have two big AGM 12v batteries (250Ah each) I'd like to use to keep costs down, so I'd like to go with a 24v approach. I've been told this is not as efficient as a 48v system. Whould anyone know why? I'd be willing to upgrade to 4 new batteries, but it would be nice to be able to stage it over a few years...

Prop. I've got the standard 2 blade factory prop. Should I be loking at a 3 blade if I plan to do regen? 4?

Gearing? The 3000rpm Westerbeke was reduced 2.8:1, which gets it down to around 1100 rpms at the prop. Do I do a belt drive? Gears?

Sorry for all the newbie Q's.