It's mid-2017. Time to discuss electric propulsion again.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by zloitapok

I had a problems with outboard at short waves. I think possible problems with outboard depends at boat construction. Your boat is more suitable for outboard than my.

Can you please specify how fast you can motor 20 nm at 1 gallon of gas? Speed?

Anywhere from 3 to 5.5 knots depending on waves and tide.......and where I sail crossing the lower open Chesapeake usually there is a split as far as tide, and the wind usually comes up during the morning crossing and turns a bit.

So quite a bit of the crossing will be between 4.5 to 5 knots. Also, the main is usually up with the jib being unfurled when it's beneficial

The motor is down on the 3rd out of 4 slots in the photos

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Anywhere from 3 to 5.5 knots depending on waves and tide.......and where I sail crossing the lower open Chesapeake usually there is a split as far as tide, and the wind usually comes up during the morning crossing and turns a bit.

So quite a bit of the crossing will be between 4.5 to 5 knots. Also, the main is usually up with the jib being unfurled when it's beneficial

The motor is down on the 3rd out of 4 slots in the photos

You should glass in a plug to your old prop aperture. Will make sailing faster! Non structural so could be foam covered with glass lightly.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by malbert73

You should glass in a plug to your old prop aperture. Will make sailing faster! Non structural so could be foam covered with glass lightly.

Good idea with the foam. Maybe one day.

I'll be pulling it late next fall for a bottom job maybe then since they have a Winter special at the boatyard for 4 months. Same price as my slip @ $8.00/ft

[malbert73]

And to original post question. Electric has been viable for a while. It only works if you use it as auxiliary power. So for long distance cruising with electric you have to be more pardey than motorsailor. Even Tesla batteries won’t change that. Could you drive a Tesla cross country in a week without plugging in? Same for a sailboat

[a64pilot]

I think for a small day sailer it is the future, one manufacturer I believe has fitted what looks like a trolling motor into the rudder, making it very maneuverable for docking.
I don’t ever see it fo mainstream cruising, and it’s not the batteries. Even if you had unlimited capacity zero weight batteries, you can’t generate enough power without burning some kind of fossil fuel.
Not yet anyway.

[Want2cruz]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I think for a small day sailer it is the future, one manufacturer I believe has fitted what looks like a trolling motor into the rudder, making it very maneuverable for docking.
I don’t ever see it fo mainstream cruising, and it’s not the batteries. Even if you had unlimited capacity zero weight batteries, you can’t generate enough power without burning some kind of fossil fuel.
Not yet anyway.

The energy density of diesel fuel is very high. The rate of collection of electricity from solar and others can be slow, as is the rate of charging due to heat issues.

While it doesn't necessarily have to be "fossil" fuel, for any serious energy need, there has to be fuel, and it has to be liquid and have a high energy density (compressed gas isn't dense enough energy wise, as poses explosion-hazards if the tank should rupture under pressure).

The earth is chock full of petroleum, and will last for many hundreds if not thousands of years. We've only collected the easiest-to-collect stuff, and the processes that make petroleum continue day in and day out, although, I don't think, at the same rate we are using it. It's a fascinating process where sedimented biological matter builds up, and under pressure of layers above, and heat from the core, convert to kerogen and then to either methane gas or crude oil.

There are also bio-fuels such as bio-diesel, alcohol etc., as well as synthetic petroleum products (Germany fought much of WWII on synthetic fuel).

Container ships use diesel engines, nowadays, and burn a left-over waste-product that is thick and black and nasty, but it gets heated up, spun in a centrifuges to separate out particulates and then burned in HUGE engines.

I've also read that the processes necessary to make batteries is very energy-intensive, and hard on the environment.

So, IMHO, "diesel" is here to stay for quite some time.

[stevegerber]

I searched the whole CF forum and didn't see any mention of the SoelCat 12 so I thought I'd add it to this thread about electric propulsion. It's not a sailboat, it's a stand alone solar charged battery electric catamaran, but it seems like an interesting example of what is required in terms of solar panel wattage and surface area required, battery size and motor size to drive a boat. 8.6 kWp solar panels, 120 kWh battery storage, (2) 30kW electric motors. They claim it can go 6 hours at 8 knots on batteries alone.

[john61ct]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-43798036

[yvest]

Originally Posted by Want2cruz

The energy density of diesel fuel is very high. The rate of collection of electricity from solar and others can be slow, as is the rate of charging due to heat issues.

While it doesn't necessarily have to be "fossil" fuel, for any serious energy need, there has to be fuel, and it has to be liquid and have a high energy density (compressed gas isn't dense enough energy wise, as poses explosion-hazards if the tank should rupture under pressure).

The earth is chock full of petroleum, and will last for many hundreds if not thousands of years. We've only collected the easiest-to-collect stuff, and the processes that make petroleum continue day in and day out, although, I don't think, at the same rate we are using it. It's a fascinating process where sedimented biological matter builds up, and under pressure of layers above, and heat from the core, convert to kerogen and then to either methane gas or crude oil.

There are also bio-fuels such as bio-diesel, alcohol etc., as well as synthetic petroleum products (Germany fought much of WWII on synthetic fuel).

Container ships use diesel engines, nowadays, and burn a left-over waste-product that is thick and black and nasty, but it gets heated up, spun in a centrifuges to separate out particulates and then burned in HUGE engines.

I've also read that the processes necessary to make batteries is very energy-intensive, and hard on the environment.

So, IMHO, "diesel" is here to stay for quite some time.

Wow, you better look at oil production and reserves figures a bit more closely.
As well as discovery figures per year vs consumption.