Quote:
Originally Posted by alpgulden
Hi
I am pretty much in the same boat with you. Just got my Cat 27 and right in the decision using an electric or rebuild the engine or come up with a hybrid idea. Could you please share your system details, how much it cost you and how I can follow your steps. If you dont mind. My email is alpgulden@gmail.com. thanks for you help in advance.
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After selling the Atomic for $400 I realized a total cash outlay of about $2300, including
batteries. I don't own the boat anymore. I
sold it a couple months ago to a young lady who wanted it for a floating apartment. The
batteries were showing their age finally, and I was about to have to get 8 new GC-2s from Sams Club. I was in the (stalled) process of replacing the old
bronze prop shaft with a nice SS one but it was oversize and didn't turn as freely as I wanted in the cutless bearing. So I was planning on running the
motor with the shaft coupled, and hand
sanding it down to fit. Never got around to that. I was going back and forth between the different gearboxes and direct drive, looking for the sweet spot, and I had reached a point in my life and schedule where I didn't have time to keep tinkering. Then I bought Brute Force, a
Bruce Roberts 44, with a running
diesel. I wasn't
living aboard, married again so living
on the hard in Mrs Monster's house in Gentilly. So I got rid of Mr Wiggles, and wife
sold Bon Secour so now we are down to one boat. It's like 26 tons I guess, and not really a candidate for the sort of EP system I like to do, and the Westerbeast still runs okay anyway. So I am out of the EP thing for now.
We are looking at
buying a camp on Irish Bayou but the
water at the
dock is too shallow for Brute Force. Thinking about building sort of a cross between a dhow and a sampan, for
fishing in the shallow bayous and flats around there, and it will be diesel/electric hybrid if I go through with it.
Anyway all the particulars of Mr Wiggles' EP system are in the thread. Motenergy
motor, Kelly sine wave controller, 48v x 220ah bank, GC2 golf cart batteries,
shore power charging, no onboard genset, no
solar.
Charger was I don't remember the brand but got it at Worst
Marine, a 4 bank
charger, isolated outputs. Each output was connected across two of the 6v batteries for 12v x 4 = 48v. I experimented with using a Ryobi 2kw portable gasoline
generator in the
cockpit for
emergency get-home
power, feeding the batteries through a Variac and a rectifier from a welding machine, manually adjusting the voltage while watching
charging and
propulsion current. Required constant attention and adjustment, of course, but it worked fine. Not for the faint of heart or those not used to constructing or operating this sort of thing.
The
propulsion system itself ran pretty good, meeting my expectations. The batteries lasted 7 years and are still hobbling along, or would be if they were being maintained. I would have got another two years, maybe three, out of them if I was taking care of them properly toward the end.
I don't have any power/speed/range figures on hand. But if you only need
power for ins and outs, and mostly do day
sails, with 8 golf cart batteries you will do fine with just
shore power charging. If you want to motor around at 5kts all day you will be greatly disappointed even with twice as big a bank. Don't go into this with unrealistic expectations. You will enjoy the quiet operation. You will love the added maneuverability. No more bumping in and out of
gear to approach a slip slowly. You can motor at just a few
RPM if you like. Instand torque. Instant on, no warmup, no starting regimen, just flip a switch and turn a knob and its rooom-a-zoom-ZOOOOOOM. No
exhaust. No
fuel smell, no spilled
fuel, no paying for fuel.
EP has a lot of things going against it for a cruising boat, though it has been done. But for
day sailing, it is STUPID to feed and pamper an ungrateful
diesel or worse, an Atomic 4 or
outboard, when you could have simple, clean, quiet electric.
Your costs will probably be higher than mine. I am pretty good at finding
cheap stuff and making it
work as good as expensive stuff. I spent a lot of time researching this and I am no stranger to
electrical or electronic stuff, and I understand how motors and controllers
work. You will need to spend at least a couple of years studying and researching before you whip ot the credit card and start
buying components. If you go with a full system already engineered for your size boat, you will pay twice as much but everything will work right out of the box if you put it all together correctly. Or you can have it all installed, and add a couple thou more. Or go with fancier batteries and add a LOT more. Up to you.
Anyway like I said, I am not the electric boat guy any more. Until maybe later...