Cornell quits electric motors

[Fore and Aft]

Looks like Jimmy cannot keep the charge up to his batteries without using a generator. Click on the link below for the full story. The electric engine idea sounds so good.
Now lets hear from the "experts" what he did wrong!

Cheers
(my first ever emoji since there is bound to be some entertaining replies)

https://www.noonsite.com/news/electr...cumnavigation/

[Franziska]

There is already another thread on this...

[roryboy]

I'm not sure what the problem is. Joshua Slocum managed to circumnavigate single handed with no engine.

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by roryboy

I'm not sure what the problem is. Joshua Slocum managed to circumnavigate single handed with no engine.

Remind me how his story ended?

[Adelie]

He made it all the way round the world.

[BillKny]

I am more than a bit surprised and confused.

Surprised that Cornell was snookered when a bit of normal engineering calculations would have shown the problem.

Confused: I have sailed a boat with a hydro generator across an ocean and we had all the power we could use, and then some. On a two week passage our batteries never dropped below 96%. Right now I sail a large electrically “dense” boat (eg, two freezers) , and our normal power draw at anchor is 200W (about 5kW-hrs/day) and underway about 300W (about 7kW-hrs/day). On his test boat where does all the power go??? Even if regeneration is half what he was lead to expect, it seems like it should be enough to run a boat... if it is sailing.

It sounds to me like the REAL problem isn’t really power usage or production, but the boat doesn’t sail well enough and needs to motor too much...

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Looks like Jimmy cannot keep the charge up to his batteries without using a generator. Click on the link below for the full story. The electric engine idea sounds so good.
Now lets hear from the "experts" what he did wrong!

Cheers
(my first ever emoji since there is bound to be some entertaining replies)

https://www.noonsite.com/news/electr...cumnavigation/

He didn’t quit electric motors, he realized the boat he had wasn’t meeting expectations and he curtailed an attempt to circumnavigate with that boat at this time.

My understanding is that he is researching the issues and deciding what to do next. Wait a bit and see what happens.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by roryboy

I'm not sure what the problem is. Joshua Slocum managed to circumnavigate single handed with no engine.

And people used to cross the pacific in boats made of reeds too

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by Adelie

He didn’t quit electric motors, he realized the boat he had wasn’t meeting expectations and he curtailed an attempt to circumnavigate with that boat at this time.

My understanding is that he is researching the issues and deciding what to do next. Wait a bit and see what happens.

Having read that posting, my take is that the regen was not performing as was promised. He had a cat which should have provided the sail speed to recharge those batteries had the regen performed correctly. I find it disappointing that apparently the regen capability of the Ocean Volt system is not what is advertised, as this was something I had seriously considered doing. I'll be sticking with diesel until electric motors can prove they'll transit the Panama Canal without diesel backup.

[BillKny]

I have to say, I am highly dubious of taking technical advice on electric boats from anybody who writes using the term “Watts per hour”, a totally meaningless phrase to anybody who actually understands the mathematics of electrical power.

Based on the result of the “experiment” my dubiousness would have been right on target...

Cornell has done a lot of great stuff for the sailing world, but he needs to listen to his engineers more and his heart less.

[Searles]

Interesting, jimmy problem is that the regeneration is not enough ,this the problem we at the boatyard found some years ago with Nikki and Jamie Morrison’s yacht siandra a lion class 35 footer , they removed an older diesel and fitted a thousa electric drive ,full of promises,local electrical experts advised it was unlikely to be a success as the regeneration was quite small even with Minimum lifestyle ,they tried ,now back to small diesel ..��⚓️

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Adelie

He made it all the way round the world.

Before he and his boat disappeared at sea

[Russ]

No one seems to have commented on the fact that Jimmy's boat and "lifestyle" were power-hungry.
He had among other things electric winches, all electric Galley etc etc. He was going for a green voyage but his power usage even admittedly after going "spartan" as he called it was still unable to be replaced by the prop charger.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by StuM

Before he and his boat disappeared at sea

Nobody has any idea whether that was because he didn’t have an engine or not.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Russ

No one seems to have commented on the fact that Jimmy's boat and "lifestyle" were power-hungry.
He had among other things electric winches, all electric Galley etc etc. He was going for a green voyage but his power usage even admittedly after going "spartan" as he called it was still unable to be replaced by the prop charger.

It was worse than just the Regen not keeping up, he had solar on the boat, something near 1kW I’ve read but am not sure.