Pepperwynn,
I've an H55 pure electric. I will be making it more of a hybrid with parallel diesel and electric (either could turn the prop). I also sail a Cal 2-24 with Torqeedo 1003, Cal 25 with 9.9 Yamaha 4 stroke, and Tartan 26 inboard diesel. I much prefer electric.
My problem with pure electric on large (35' +) heavy (15 ton +) sailboats: too many batteries. I had 16 6v (96v) golf cart batteries that kept failing. I obtained 8 fresh 12v SLA, but am still installing. Big boat/ship commercial diesel/electric systems do not use storage batteries; the diesel generator(s) feeds the AC (or DC) drive motor(s) directly. If you want to motor for more than 4 miles or at more than 4 knots, you won't be happy with "a bunch of 8Ds". Most batteries get pissed if you ask for more than 100amps for more than 10 minutes. Until we have pocket sized fission or anti-matter reactors, stored electrons cannot reliably drive your big boat fast or long.
The good news: pure electric will make you happy if you give up speed or distance. It can also be 1/4th the cost of a replacement diesel. You can't fight a tide, but if the wind is calm, you can motor SLOW for 20 miles. If the wind is up, why are you motoring?
Just my perspective,
Mark Stafford
GreenMarineRePower, efficiency advocate
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "pepperwynn" <pepperwynn@...> wrote:
>
> Hello, E boaters. I'm fishing for opinions and technical info in my hopefully pending conversion of a 40ft sailboat. Its a big heavy cruising boat (with a dead engine), and I shudder at the thought of putting another diesel engine in the thing. The problem is where I live in Puget Sound the wind is fickle, so i'm trying to reconcile changing my cruising habits with available technology. Now that I can get a powerful enough AC motor, my issue is how to make a defacto diesel electric. I'm thinking lotsa 8D batteries and a 10kw genset would allow me to cruise 3 to 4 hours a time with a 10kw draw at 80% of hull speed.
> Has anyone out there tried this?
>
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