[electricboats] Pocket Trawler Electrification

Greetings, new to the group and it looks like I've found just the right place to get some ideas on my project.  I came here from the link at Thunderstruck.

 

My boat is a 27' trawler designed by Ted Brewer.  The design is the Blue Hill and the specs can be found here http://www.tedbrewer.com/power/bluehill.htm

 

The boat is powered by a Yanmar 4JH3E which is way overpowered for displacement speeds (what I do) and underpowered to push the boat on a plane.  My normal cruise is 5-5.5 knots at 1800 rpm, which is really too slow for the motor to be spinning.  The transmission is a 1:2.67 Kanzaki reduction, into a Walter v-drive (no reduction) to a 17x12 three bladed prop.  The transmission is making a clanging noise at low forward rpms which disappears at the rpms increase.  There is visible movement of the output shaft and I can grab it and fell it clunk as I pull up and down.  Forum wisdom is that that transmission isn't worth rebuilding even if the parts are obtainable, and a ZF or TwinDisc replacement is the way to go.  So, since I'm already lined up for a $4k+ bill...

 

It would appear that 10-12kw will be enough power to get me to near hull speed of 6.5 knots or so, and easily at my target 5.5kn.  My cruising grounds are the Great Lakes, North Channel, Trent-Severn waterway, etc.  I do have a NextGen 3.5kw generator onboard, and have experience putting together my own DIY LiFePO4 batteries.

 

Options I'm considering: 10-12kw Thunderstruck kit/motor with the belt reduction, which because of the very low placement of my prop shaft would still require that I use the energy sapping Walter v-drive.  Or, two ePropulsion pod 6.0, for a total of 12kw between the two pods.  I like the redundancy of two pods, and removing the weight of the v-drive and prop shaft (1.5", 7 feet long).  That extra weight alone would allow me to add another 48v, 314ah battery.

 

Thoughts on the pods?  Thoughts on the inboard motor direction?  I'm sure I'm missing plenty.  Thanks in advance.  Data from vicprop.com for the pods is included in the image below

 

Lars