I have to agree with Carter. I have what many people would consider extensive experience with electric conversions, but that was mostly with cars in the mid '90s, long before I converted my 30' ketch. On the non-electric side of things, I've built a few smaller boats so I have a pretty good understanding of marine design as well. Even with that kind of background, perhaps because of it, I chose one of the complete systems from Propulsion Marine. I actually knew what I didn't know, and felt that a fully engineered, integrated system would save me time (it did) and probably money (it might have).
With what I learned from doing this conversion, I'm sure that I would have a much better chance of being more successful doing a conversion from scratch (raw components), but I don't have another boat that lends itself to electric propulsion. And if I did, I still might buy a compete system just to reduce the personal financial risk of having to build something a second time to make it work well.
I know that a lot of people look at electric as a way to repower cheaper than ICE, I don't think that the savings end up as significant as they look like from a distance. My DIY conversion cost very close to what a DIY re-power with a diesel would have cost. I know that I could have saved some money (15-20%) by choosing cheaper or different components, but I would have been giving up range/performance and adding weight. It's all about the trade-offs. I'm very pleased with what I paid and what I got.
I'm all for re-inventing the wheel, if I thought that I could build a better wheel than what is available. But to put that all effort and money into a system that isn't as good as something that I could buy off the shelf, doesn't interest me as much as it once did. For me, life is too short and I'd rather be sailing. :)
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Carter Quillen <twowheelinguy@...> wrote:
>
> Why have you gone thru 4 motors? Where they all bad from the factory? Has Electric Motor Sports made good and given you 4 new motors under warrantee? Because if they have it sounds like you don't have a whole lot to complain about from them.
>
> An electric conversion is NOT for novices no matter what the online ad might make it sound like. Even with a background in working on boats all my life, a mechanical engineering degree, and 20 years of industrial maintenance and construction experience it was one of the most challenging projects I've ever undertaken....
>
> My advice would be to find someone who has extensive experience with your particualar hardware, bite the bullet and hire them to help you. Hopefully you will come out spending less than if you'd hired a retailer to do it for you to begin with.
>
> Good luck.
>
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