Hi Winslow,
The rule of thumb that we use in this group for auxiliary sailboat conversions is 1kW of power for each ton of displacement. This means that you should be looking at systems in the 5.5 to 6kW range. Buying a more powerful system only gives you the ability to drain your batteries faster with little increase in top speed. For some reason, Electric Yacht doesn't rate their system in the industry standard kW (it's the electric equivalent of HP in a car), but you can get there with some simple math.
If you are considering vendor supplied solutions, four of the vendors that are represented in this group are (in alphabetical order) Advanced Marine electric Propulsion, Annapolis Hybrid Marine (seller of ASMO drives), Electric Yacht, and Propulsion Marine. They all sell excellent products. I chose Propulsion Marine in Santa Barbara when I converted my Cheoy Lee Bermuda 30, I couldn't be happier with the quality of the product and the vendor support.
It is up to you to figure out which features are important and what you're willing to spend. Keep in mind that there is no standard for drive ratings. For example, the motor that Thunderstruck sells as a 10.5kW motor, Propulsion Marine rates at 5.5kW in a typical marine installation. Running a motor in the depths of your bilge is very different than running it exposed on a motorcycle or on a test bench. Also keep in mind that in an electric boat, you should be more interested in continuous power ratings rather than peak power or even 1 hour ratings.
Look at what the drive systems are made of and you'll find that many of them are assembled with similar motors and controllers, even though the vendors rate them differently. All of these drives should give similar performance in your boat, in spite of the varied ratings.
The most important thing to consider is how you actually use your boat(s). Many of the people on my dock in my marina would be completely dissatisfied with the compromises that converting to electric includes. Others, like most of the people in this group, see the conversion to electric as an improvement. But the decision is not as obvious as some would like you to believe (many of them would like to sell you something). Heck, even though I converted my 30' ketch to electric, I did not convert my 27' trimaran when I had the chance. For the way that I use the boat, electric would have been a big step backward in many ways; e.g. more expensive, heavier, slower, shorter range, etc. This is coming from someone that is a huge proponent of electric conversions, both boats and cars. So I suggest that you do your homework. For some, converting to electric can be a very expensive disappointment.
Feel free to ask more questions, we're here to help.
Fair winds,
Eric
1964 Bermuda 30 ketch, 5.5kW Propulsion Marine drive, 8kWh Lithium batteries
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Winslow" <winfurber@...> wrote:
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> Can I use the Electric Yachts 180ibl, which is rated up to 34' but also up to 14,000 displacement, or do we need to, should we go with the larger 360?
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