T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Planing Electric Skiff

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Re: [Electric Boats] Planing Electric Skiff

You might want to experiment with a jon-boat conversion before going
too deeply into exotic composites. In page-2 of photos there's an
album of electric racing pictures. 2nd from the end is a line sketch
of a Jon-boat entry-level proposal that was tested but not developed
as a class.

Jon-boats are pretty ugly, but they're efficient planers due to a
flat bottom surface. In racing we use them as turn-judge boats and
kickers to tow in disabled race boats, and it's not uncommon to see
judges and kicker operators jet to positions at speeds near 50 mph
running 9.9 hp OMC outboards.

The traditional rounded shapes of most boats push a lot of water to
cuts speed and eat power instead of skimming atop the surface.

John

On Jul 30, 2009, at 8:58 AM, rumblecitygroup wrote:

> Here is a first draft of a video for a new project I'm working on.
> It's a `planing electric skiff' with a 48v outboard, high pitched
> prop, and 240 lbs of high-performance AGM dry cells. This video
> shows my second run, after making some minor tweaks to the original
> setup. The video quality is POOR and I'm working on improving
> that, but I did want to get this first draft out to be seen.
>
> This boat is 15 ½ feet x 5 feet and is made out of fiberglass. I
> can also have it made out of Kevlar as well ($$ upcharge of
> course). This base model has 2 bench seats, tiller motor,
> batteries, charger, and trailer for about $8,900. It planes easy
> and will run consistently at 10+ mph in calm water with one 200lb
> person. As configured you've got ABOUT 1 hour at plane, and of
> course much longer at 5mph and ¼ throttle. It will recharge in
> about 6 hours. The boat will take the weight of two people but
> will not plane (unless you are really small people!).
>
> A higher performance model will be made out of Kevlar, have a small
> steering console, and have a higher power motor with an even better
> prop. The goal of the Hi-Po one will be to plane 2 people. Cost is
> TBD but should be reasonable.
>
> If anyone is in South Florida and would like to demo it please
> contact me off list, I'd be happy to make it happen.
> Todd
> www.epowermarine.com
>
> Video link:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBoX3tr0Rm8