I can see why a lot of them don't want to help; a houseboat is a big boxy contraption (I have one about your size) and it's going to take a LOT of power to move it very fast and a lot of BATTERY to go very far. Just for a lark one day I tried to push mine with a 30# electric trolling motor; I got ONE mph average going both ways in a dead calm, so yes it's possible. For comparison on the same day I tried a 4 hp gas outboard; I got TWO mph under the same conditions.
For starters I'd borrow a dinghy with a gas outboard (10 hp or so) and see just how fast you can push that houseboat. That will at least give you an idea of how much horsepower is needed to go X mph. It's a rough guess but it's a start. Some one of the experts on here can probably take that number and give you an estimate of how many KW of motor it'll take. Then you have to figure how far you want to go and how much battery power it'll take to get there. Then IF you're still interested you can start comparing different types of drives.
Every time I buy diesel I dream how nice it would be to install an electric drive and push my boat with solar power, but every time I do the math it gets pretty discouraging.
Bill
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