The Catalina 30 makes a great electric boat. The Catalina 30 is light and has a small power requirement yet beamy with lots of room for batteries. A large solar array over the cockpit that can produce enough energy to power the boat at up to 3 knots, as long as the sun is shining. The motor is located forward to contribute to a very horizontal propeller shaft which increases driveline efficiency.
The batteries are best placed under the aft berth, slightly to the starboard side. Catalina 30's have both the head and galley on the starboard side so tend to list to port. The Catalina 30 is a very light construction so it is best to reinforce the hull and prevent any point loading from the corners of batteries. Reinforcement of the hull becomes more critical with larger batteries. Before firmly mounting the batteries, put them in place then go check your waterline to make sure the boat is not listing. Also check the decks to make sure they are draining properly. Catalina 30 decks may puddle water after the motor and gas tank are removed and it is the addition of the batteries that corrects the trim of the boat.
My boat Kapowai has an Electroprop E-7 installed with a 450 watt solar array. She has been completely energy independent for 5 years. She has been completely maintenance free for 5 years. You can see details of this installation here:
http://electroprop.com/blog/2013/03/23/kapowai/
The Electroprop E-7 powers Kapowai in calm conditions with no wind and no waves at these power levels:
6 knots - 6 KW
5 knots - 3.2 KW
4 knots - 1.5 KW
3 knots - 663 watts
2 knots - 262 watts
You might also be interested to know that we are building a new drive system set to be released in about a month. Feel free to contact me off list for more details of this drive system. Power levels are between 5 KW and 30 KW at voltages between 36 volts and 96 volts. The new drive system promises to be more compact, lighter, easier to install, quieter and completely maintenance free. It is the result of intense research and development of drive systems for 8 years.
We are also working on a new Lithium Battery System complete with touchscreen display that gives complete BMS data to the user. I have always prioritized total information management for every drive system that we have every built, believing that you should be notified about the decisions your controller or BMS makes. It is important that the motor controller, any loads, and charging sources hooked up to the battery get their logic from cell voltage and temperature and not pack voltage and temperature. Lithium batteries can be made to be very safe provided that they have adequate monitoring and control of charging sources and loads. If a Lithium battery is properly contained, monitored and controlled it is safer than a lead acid battery. For more information on this subject I recommend reading Nigel Calders most recent article in Professional Boatbuilder Magazine.
All the best,
James
James Lambden
The Electric Propeller Company
625C East Haley Street,
Santa Barbara, CA
93103
805 455 8444
james@electroprop.comwww.electroprop.com
Hello all. I am a new member and will be converting our Catalina 30. I want to keep cost low and develop the system as needed. I have been researching the archives in this group which has been a great help - thank you. Currently my plan is to get the 10kW kit with gear reduction from thunderstruck and a 200Ah LiFePO4 battery system. This should give me towards 2hrs of running time. Eventually I want to add a generator to create a serial hybrid.
I have some experience as an engineer working on control systems for power generation. I also want to sail so I want to return to a functional boat as soon as possible. My plan is to get the basic system running and see if I can develop a monitoring system that gathers performance data over time so I can tweak the prop and gears if needed.
Any suggestions for installation - components, placement, sourcing - is extremely welcome.
Cheers!
Willem
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