T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Anyone with experience re this inline thruster

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Anyone with experience re this inline thruster

I looked at their website as well and I do really like their design idea! I can see them working well on hulls at speeds under about 10 to 12 knots. The big thing is the drag of the housing at speeds much over that.

With most nozzles your gains start falling off quickly when you get much over the 12 to 14 knot mark because of drag. But I understand there are a couple of newer designed nozzles that work at higher hull speeds... But them again I'm not sure any of us would want to feed that size of power plant. What they burn in an hour would run most of us a year... after all some talk about fuel burn in tons per hour.

Well you still have a prop it's just ring with the blades on the inside. The drag is going to be less because of no shaft or struts, but you are still going to need a rudder/s. on a small boat I don't know if you would save any on the power conversion or not. But I could see it working well as a diesel-electric set-up. The big saving would be the lack of drive train losses with shaft and gear. The other thing that would need to be looked at is cost.

--- On Sun, 10/2/11, Mark Lockley <lockleymark1@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

Hi

Have not contacted Voith yet - wanted to try get some unbiased opinions re their product beforehand but it think other than the large canal vessel they have one on (see their website) its not in common use yet.
obviously not having a prop and shaft would be nice.

From: James Sizemore <james@deny.org>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, 3 October 2011, 4:01
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Anyone with experience re this inline thruster

Does Voith make a unit small enough for a personal craft? And have you been able to get pricing and horse power numbers out of them? Getting big companies to sell you stuff in small quantities is always such a bear. Good luck!

On Oct 1, 2011, at 8:51 PM, Mark Lockley wrote:

Hi Mike,

Mark lockley here - just to put people in the picture Myself and a friend are looking to start a boat building company and the concept is a cruising power catamaran with a 45 100w solar array on the roof backed up with a DC genset couple to either lithium or AGM batteries and the drive system is what we are currently investigating hence my interest in the voith inline thrusters. Apart from the fact we dont have a customer or investor yet we are looking to refine the specs for a boat. So appreciate your comments on the voith
anyone else got any better suggestions / we originally looked at thoosa

thanks Mark

From: Eric <ewdysar@yahoo.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, 2 October 2011, 2:47
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Anyone with experience re this inline thruster

Hi Mike,

So in your professional opinion, do you think that this specific technology will be better (more efficient) for our boats than conventional props? Are you going to think about suggesting this type of drive to one of your conversion clients instead of an Electric Yacht drive?

Eric

--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Gunning" <mike@...> wrote:
>
>
> The Voith company has built traction systems for the tugboat industry for a long time. The systems are remarkable in their ability to place power within 360 degree. I have been on tugs and have gone from full power forward to reverse and to the side and it defies what I have seen on any other boat.
> The inline thruster seems to be another innovative product from a well respected company. The engineering seems to be first rate and the manufacturing displayed in their past products is first class. I would not consider any product from them to be anything but commercial and viable.
> Mike Electric Yachts So Cal
>
> --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Mark Lockley <lockleymark1@> wrote:
> >
> > Found this item on the internet but not any real information about do they last or are they just a gimmick still to be field proven.
> >
> > http://www.voithturbo.com/vt_en_pua_marine_vct_inline-thruster.htm
> >
> > Any ideas anyone ?
> >
>