Sunday, February 5, 2017

Re: [Electric Boats] motorless

 

Yes, green cove is nice, but it is a barebones marina. Lots of boats doing refits or major work. The bathroom has one shower, so you have to wait some times. You need a vehicle if you plan on staying there. Town is about 3 miles away, and has some restaurents and stores. There is 1 bar and restaurant across the road.
I spent 2 weeks there it was a good time.
You will almost certainly need a tow once you get to the inlet at jacksonville. It would be very difficult/dangerous to sail all the way up. There is a lot of big boat traffic, so you wouldn't want to be in front of one and lose your wind. If you want to stop for lunch in Jacksonville, you can tie up for free right in the downtown. This is nice if you are fighting the current. I stopped and had lunch.
You might want to bring a sat phone, or rent one. 
Are you going to do it in a straight shot?
Mounting an outboard wouldn't be a bad idea. It could be very helpful if you want to go into a port, or get in a bad spot. If you don't want to mount an outboard, you could use your dinghy tied side to.
Having an auxilary power is a good idea. If you are doing a straight shot, you probably won't need it.

On Feb 5, 2017 07:00, "Jeff LaCoursiere jeff@jeff.net [electricboats]" <electricboats@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 


Ah, exactly the treatise I was looking for.  Advice sounds reasonable and attainable.  The batteries I am struggling with.  I won't be ready for the Lithium bank before the trip (and difficult to get them down there anyway), so whatever I buy for the trip will probably be wasted.  Maybe 2 x 8D cheap lead acid?  Should be able to get 400AH from that.

I've never been on the St Johns, and expect I will need a tow at some point.   Green Cove Springs Marina is in fact the destination - did you like it?

Cheers,

j

On 02/03/2017 10:02 PM, Kev captainyoung@gmail.com [electricboats] wrote:
 
Lights, if not LED, and not a tri-color mast head, will probably use up 4 amps per hour x 12 hours = 48 amp/hours

VHF, 0.5 Amps receiving x 24 hours = 12 Amp/hours

You also might use a light in the cabin, bilge pump, water pump... so just say another 10 amps for miscellaneous use.

That is 70 amp/hours needed, you have to replace each day.

We had 2 x 85 watt panels, and in the Bahamas in spring, I would say that we got around 80 amp / hours back into the batteries during a typical sunny day.

So I would go with 2 x 100 watt panels, minimum. Panels can definitely be reused, just plan out how much you want to total, and where you will mount them. Then you need a charge controller, just size it for the maximum amount of solar you can fit on the boat.

Batteries, minimum you need would be  200 amp/hours capacity, which is really 100 amp/hours usable capacity. But that means if you don't got sun, you are out of electricity in one day. So 400 amp/hours would be decent.
You can reuse these for your power bank later, just make sure you get the same make/model you want for your power bank.

If you don't have an led tri-color light on you mast, I would highly suggest you get one. They use a half an amp, so instead of 60 amp/hours you use 6 amp/hours a night.
That means you are down to less then 30 amp/hours needed per day. which means 1 x 100watt solar panel and 1 battery would take care of you. So a pretty small system, to get you back. you probably could go with one of those semi-flexible panels, so you don't have to mount it.

You can also turn off your VHF most of the time, and save some power. But you should evaluate all the possible use more carefully: http://www.sailboat-cruising.com/boat-electrics.html

You just have to figure out how much you will use each day. Then get enough solar to replace those amps, and I would size the batteries for 2 days of use, so if the sun doesn't shine one day, you are okay.

Good luck, I guess you will get a tow up the river?
I have been up the St. Johns and stayed at green cove. There is a very strong current on the st. johns. It would be tricky sailing all the way up it. Also, a good amount of traffic.






On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 5:23 PM, Bob Moriarty moriartybob@yahoo.com [electricboats] <electricboats@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 
Hi Jeff,
So basically, you'd like to get up the St Johns River (to Green Cove Springs or beyond) under sail and reuse whatever auxiliary power sources you put in place in the USVI for an eventual conversion to electric auxiliary propulsion.
I would get an inexpensive Harbor Freight generator for your motorless trip to the US mainland, if they're available in the USVI. It could serve eventually as a backup to your solar panels. Honda generators are much more expensive but might be an alternative. 

 
 
Ox 1976 C&C 33
LOA:  32.87' / 10.02m
LWL:  26.42' / 8.05m
Displacement:  9800 lbs./ 4445 kgs.
Propulsion System: Electroprop Racer
Batteries: 4 X Northstar 210 FT Blue+
Current Prop: 2-blade fixed 16X10X1
(original - came w/A4)
Jax, FL USA
 


On Friday, February 3, 2017 9:38 PM, "Jeff LaCoursiere jeff@jeff.net [electricboats]" <electricboats@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 

I am starting to plan the delivery of my poor old Hunter 38, currently
stranded in the USVI with no engine, back to Florida for its complete
renovation. I bought a 20KW motor kit from Electric Yacht (thanks
Mike!) which has been sitting in my garage for over a year now. I want
to do the refit at a particular yard outside Jacksonville, which happens
to be 50 miles up river from the entrance (low cost, easy access from my
sister's house).

I'm planning to purchase the bare minimum in supplies to make the trip,
and intend to do it motorless (the new motor, controller, etc will be
installed once it is there). Partly this is to avoid the cost and
hassle of shipping it all to the USVI, and partly because... I have this
odd desire to make the trip as low tech as possible - do it "the old way".

That said, I don't want to be completely foolish about it. I'd like to
take some power with me, and have at least lights and VHF. Any thoughts
on solar panels / chargers that wouldn't be wasted for the eventual
refit? In other words, what is the minimum I could buy to maintain
minimum power on board for perhaps 20 days with no generator, but that
could then be used as part of the refit for the eventual full electric
yacht? Hope that makes sense :)

j





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