Alright, I have a 27' sailboat from 1984, with a
Volvo Penta MD7B seawater cooled,
Saildrive 120S.
The
saildrive has multiple issues, and the
engine is running without a thermostat, since no one has been able to figure out why it fluctuates wildly in temp with one installed.
I use it for weekend trips and summer holidays, almost always
shore power at night, and max 25 nm per day.
I usually use around 20 litres of
diesel in a season.
I love the
boat, gonna keep it, but something has to be done -
propulsion wise.
The
boat was originally
sold with an 8 HK
diesel, even though mine was delivered with an upgrade: MD7B (14 HK). I have never been close to full throttle with it. Normally runs around 1500
rpm giving me 5 knots.
I've been quoted (albeit no one seems to give exact quotes anymore) around 20,000 USD for a new
installation of a
Volvo D1-13 with S130 drive.
On the other hand I'm looking at an
electric propulsion system from ePropulsion. 6 KW pod
motor with a 9KWh
battery pack and
charger. (Shore power remember).
That will be around 15,000 USD including the
work done to close the saildrive hole in the bottom of the boat.
So I can save
money, and have a what seems to me to a much less complicated system to maintain. Not a plethora of things that can go wrong:
generator, pumps of different kinds,
fuel contamination,
cooling issues etc etc.
I also like the idea of hearing a lot less
noise when motoring, and would be happy to
trade 1-2 knots of
cruise speed on that account.
With the 9KWh
battery it will give me plenty of range for the very few becalmed days - as I said, if I am able to sail in almost silence, 3-4 knots is fine with me.
Sales value is not an issue for me, I will keep the boat, and I don't expect to get anything for it when I stop sailing.
So, I'm very close to "add to cart" on the
electric system - but I want to hear if I am missing something in my thought process here?
So - go ahead - change my mind
Some info:
The boat:
https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/nordship-808
The
engine: (6.0 EVO)
https://www.epropulsion.com/pod-drive/
The battery: (E175)
https://www.epropulsion.com/e-series-batteries/