Maria, a word about hp ratings for electric motors - they aren't like gas engine ratings. A motor will produce as much power as you feed it with electricity (volts times amps = power), at least until it melts and produces no power at all. Often motor (and controller) manufacturers prominently display a high power figure only sustainable for a short time - maybe one or ten minutes. This is often 3X the continuous rating. This makes some sense for land vehicles as the high power is only used for acceleration, not cruising.
In a boat you only want to consider "continuous" power, that's how much it can produce for hours on end without damage. You 24hp golf cart motors are most likely 6-8 hp continuous.
The other factor, and one more significant than motor power, is battery energy storage. One 65 lb 12v battery (100ah AGM, discharged to 80%) can produce around 1/2 hp for 2 hours or 1 hp for 50 minutes. Your real problem is carrying enough batteries to get some where.
Your other problem is you have about the least efficient hull and cabin shape possible - you want a hull shape like a sailboat (think really big canoe) for efficiency and a low cabin for not so much wind resistance heading into the weather. You have a house trailer on a barge..
Would it work -sure, but not very fast and not very far and not hardly at all into 15 - 20 kts of wind.
A new 20hp 4 stroke OB would cost less than the batteries you would need for even a poorly performing electric installation. If your old V-8s are toast that's what I'd do.
I love electric boats but they are not a universal replacement for gas engines.
Denny
.----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 7:35 AM
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Houseboat
I think a pair of 3 to 4Kw electric motors connected to the V drives would give you what you want .
Chris S
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, maria_kirol <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> I have a houseboat that I am rebuilding. It is a 38ft aft cabin holiday mansion. This boat came with twin small block crusader inboards hooked to borg-warner v-drives 2.00:1 ratio. With the original power this boat would do a very frightening 30+kts I just want something that will move this boat at 3-5kts. What sort of electric motors would I need to accomplish this? Could the motors be hooked to the v-drives or directly to the prop-shaft? Is this even a do-able project? I don't want to spend a fortune for this either. I have seen golf cart motors up to 24hp. Would something like that work in this case?
>
> Just looking for suggestions.
> Thnx.
>
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