Allen F. Browne, M.D.
I'm interested in building an electric house boat. The basic concept is an easily driven houseboat, strictly displacement speeds (6 - 7 mph), powered by an electric outboard. I'm thinking about a 10kw outboard. The boat as sketched would displace just a little under 6 tons to sit on her lines. Here are a few pictures of the boat sketch (and a .skp file if anyone wants to play around):
http://www.dwdogs.com/Fusion/
I'd love to go with a ~40 kwh LFP pack, but reality probably has me sticking to around 20 kwh. There is enough space on the roof of the boat to fit 2 kw of solar panels. More if I really stretch it, but I'm thinking 2 kw should be enough.
Basic boat dimensions: 32' x 8' with a 16" draft. At 12,000 lbs with the proper center of gravity, the bottom of the transom would just be touching the surface of the water.
I live in Minneapolis, and this boat would be for cruising on the upper Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. Fairly sheltered, and no currents greater than 4 mph (hopefully less most of the time).
The boat will be built with plywood covered in glass / epoxy. I do plan on having fairly thick cabin walls for a boat... 2x4 construction, with closed cell foam insulation / floatation in the walls, hull, and cabin roof.
Any feedback about the sketches or general idea? I'm designing this as a liveaboard, and I plan on living on the hook as much as possible.
About the outboard, I'm not really sure how to figure the proper prop size, pitch, and rpm to shoot for. I understand the general rule of thumb "bigger prop, slower rpm, better"... but I don't know much past that. Could an electric outboard like say the up and coming Parsun 10 kw efficiently drive a heavy displacement boat like this? Or would it be better to think about using an inboard instead, so I would have the flexibility to tailor the rpm to my liking? I really do like the overall project simplicity of an outboard, but if it's really less than ideal I could consider alternatives.
Thanks for your thoughts and feedback. Cheers!
-keith
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