Hi Rob,
Not sure this will help you much but first off I envy your obvious budget. The boat pictures look great and I love the lifting concept.
My Wife Monika and I bought a 1990 Catana 42 in 2013. The survey showed the boat was structurally sound but everything was very dated and neglected. I’ve helped build, worked on, and done deliveries on boats for over 40 years so I knew we could fix what needed to be done. We’ve had some surprises along the way but now after a 6+ year refit (1 winter in the water at Tampa Florida and 5.5 years on the hard in Saint Marys GA.(We do take summers off)), We are on our shakedown cruise in the Florida Keys. Timing sucked but It is a great place for us to be during this craziness.
During the trip from The Georgetown Yacht Basin on the Chesapeake (where we bought her) to Tampa Bay FL, I caught a crab pot Off the tip of FL. and ended up breaking a CRANKSHAFT on the Port engine. During the research of looking for a replacement I came across Thunderstruck. After a bunch of emails, pricing, looking at the budget, and advice from some very knowledgeable friends, I decided to go with an electric motor for a Port side engine anyway. As this side is also the master stateroom side, getting diesel, oil, heat, and noise out seemed like a good thing. Even with AGM Lead acid batteries the estimated cost for the replacement was a bit less than a Beta Diesel. All up when finished I came in about even with the Beta cost and about 100 lbs. lighter. If I can ever afford LI Batts the weight will be even better.
With The current system that ignored any attempt at getting more efficiency (budget project) the current 100 Amp hour bank will move the boat at about 4 knots for close to ½ hour. More than enough to anchor, maneuver a bit, etc. We currently use the Starboard rust bucket 27 HP (when new) VP for longer distances as it will push us at 4 knots until it says enough for today, let me rest. The current draw for the electric to do that is over 100 amps per hour and I cannot put enough power back into the batteries with the chargers I have to keep that level of use happy. I can push the boat (we need to go on a couple thousand pound diet) at just over 2 knots with the Generator running without depleting the batteries. We’ve done this a couple times when the wind died and it seems to work well. Plus the NL Gen just sips fuel.
So far I am extremely pleased with how things are working.
The attached document shows the engine room.
Good luck with your project.
Cheers,
Ric Sanders
Ric Sanders
1+562.505.7920
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