I'm eager to see this thread develop. I spoke at length to them yesterday about attaching their motor to a saildrive. I'm looking to possibly repower a Nonsuch 30 with the original Volvo MD11C motor and 110S saildrive. The two different guys I talked to were very friendly and helpful. The second was their sales guy for boats. Their primary work is for land craft, or so it seems.
I agree, from my research these guys are way ahead costwise. The sales guy conceded that the parts used were not specifically designed for marine applications and water immersion would be a killer, but the brushless motors were a requirement for spark concerns. I directed them both to google images of saildrives and explained their advantages and disadvantages compared to straight shafts. Neither of them knew much about saildrives, but they know way more than I do about the electrical components.
I read somewhere that the 110S drive is a 1.66:1 reduction. TS's reduction gearing is 2:1 but they said they could work fine with the 1.66:1 ratio. Engineering-wise, they love boats as we can use more conventional batteries that require very little attention while operating. The sales guy referred me to Sam's for sealed deep cycle 100ah batteries. We pretty much agreed it should be doable to mount their motor to the saildrive. If an adapter of some kind is needed, it shouldn't be that hard.
I asked if there were any boats running with their system on them that they could direct me to. The sales guy said all they had were invoices with addresses. If it were my company, I'd have examples out there, follow up, and offer referral bonuses to develop the niche market. He did refer me to message boards such as this, but that was it. If I actually do this project, I'll definitely offer to be their posterboat/field sales rep. Decals or pennants could fly, etc. But as I said, I think their primary focus is on land stuff.
I'm new to this topic (and this board), and it appears to me that this is still a developing "experimental" concept. In a few years I expect someone will "marinize" the components more fully. But in discussing possible equipment changes coming, with weight not being an issue, off the shelf batteries (not lithium), and the current controller/contact/throttle/motor seem to be satisfactory.
Oh, and go easy on the cost numbers. I referred to what it would cost to repower with a new diesel/saildrive package and how much cheaper their system was and the sales guy shot back, "Wow, we should raise our prices!"
George
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (16) |
No comments:
Post a Comment