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I once sailed on a Hans Christian 39 from LA to Cabo San Lucas. We had a brilliant idea - There was a massive storm front coming from the NW so we decided to try and run down the coast in front of it.
Of course the storm immediately ran over us and then set on top of us all the way down...50/60 mph winds - 30 foot seas. In fact the seas were braking over the boat and filling the cockpit. We were well battened down but On the last watch I would end up up to my waist in water in the cockpit but the boat had huge scuppers and would drain in 20 seconds or or so. We had the engine off and were flying. The generator however ran the entire time. So we had the full complement of electronics and that is very helpful.
When we got to Cabo it was actually a nice day but the engine would not start so I got the thrill of sailing a good sized boat into a slip. Had a couple of other real sailors on board so we pulled it off.
I personally liked bigger boats...I would single hand anything up to 60 or so. In some ways easier than smaller boats. Don't know if I could do it today as I am pretty cripple. But it would probably work. I always crawled in bad seas so now I would simply do it in all seas.
It was actually fun Though we realized the possibility of real harm.
I had an O'Day 322 for many years. It was the only boat I ever owned and I sailed it mostly alone.
The 30 to 40 foot range is HUGE! A 30 footer has almost nothing in common with a 40 footer insofar as "feel" is concerned. I like the way my friend with a 41 foot Cape Dory put it; "In heavy wind, almost everything on a 40 foot boat can kill you."
I used my boat every month of the year. In fact, I never winterized it. I refueled my 15 gallon tank every 18 months or so; that's how little fuel a sailboat engine uses. The rule of thumb for diesels is, one gallon per hour for every 20 horsepower output. My 2 cylinder Yanmar usually put out about 10 HP - but that's a guess. It was rated for 20 or so, but I doubt that it ever worked that hard.
Electrifying sailboats is possible and has been done. Might be fun, too. But you're going to need some pretty hefty batteries and you will do without hot water, which is generated by the engine. And you will have no way to charge a dead house battery, which is needed for communication and navigation lights. Sometimes, of course, those things are just not important. Lake sailors and day sailors usually don't need them.
35 foot sailboats have 25 HP engines. You would not need that much horsepower if the engine were electric, but 25 HP is equal to 18.6 KW. So your 48 volt battery bank would have to deliver (I=P/E) 18,600/48= 387 Amps. That's a lot. You'll need an engineer. Or at least I would.
Yes, sailboats require a lot less power than a planing powerboat, but you'll still need more than the approx 1.5HP of that little Spirit motor mentioned earlier.
Elco has been making quality electric marine engines for a long time. Their current range includes both inboards and outboards. Here is their inboard range for a conversion: https://www.elcomotoryachts.com/prod...tric-inboards/
As you can see , it won't be cheap for a 20HP, and that's just the motor. I'd expect the battery bank to cost a good deal too, depending on your desired range, and there may be some mods needed to support the battery bank in the hull, as it won't be light. At first blush, it looks like you would need 6 of those 225Ah batteries, at about $3600 more for the relatively cheap AGM batteries, which also weigh 140lb each. You'd save some dollars and lbs with the 165Ah batteries (105lb ea). I would second the recommendation for an engineer's advice to understand what this will take, first.
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 11-11-2021 at 12:26 PM..
If someone cares, I tested the Spirit 1.0 today on a 12-foot jon boat, Lowe L 1240. The boat weighs 110 lbs and I'm 185 with my gear, plus 42 lbs for the Spirit 1.0.
Going really slow the display gave me an estimate of maybe 4 hours range. At max throttle it gave me an estimate of 1 hour 15 minutes remaining. At max throttle it is faster than rowing but not by a great deal. This was on a calm lake with no wind.
I will be using the Spirit on our local Paradise Lake where gas engines are not allowed. On any other larger lakes I plan to get a 5-6 hp gas outboard. We are near the Sacramento River and I don't think this electric marvel could go far against the current. Once I spent 15 minutes paddling our kayak upstream and coming back only took 3 minutes to reach the spot where I started.
The best thing about the Spirit is that at 42 lbs, (the whole package) it is lighter than a 12-volt battery on an ordinary trolling motor.
Just for fun because I don't think anyone here is compelled to spend 250K Euro on a small boat, but Candela has built a lightweight carbon fiber framed boat that with active hydrofoils and powered by a BMW i3 battery pack and Torquedo motor. Boat can hit speeds up to 30kts and has a range of up to 50 minutes while traveling at 22 kts.
You can start at the beginning but the 13:30 mark is where they demonstrate the hydrofoils. I wonder how much this will change boating since it's so much more efficient to reduce draft and displacement.
The Lowe 1240 jon boat can reach a 5.6 mph top speed with the Epropulsion Spirit 1.0 electric motor. This was verified by a Garmin GPS / fishfinder combo. At that speed my max range is 75-80 minutes. At a much slower speed the range goes up to 4-5 hours. The Spirit has a sophisticated computer and it gives accurate estimates.
I also purchased a Honda BF5 gas engine, 5 hp. The Spirit 1.0 supposed to offer the same power as a 3 hp gas engine. I don't think so, sorry EV fans. The 5 HP Honda gave me a top speed of 17.4 mph, verified by the Garmin. That is actually too fast for a newbie like me, but I had to try it. My comfort range is between 8-11 mph.
Bottom line: the Honda is much faster and with the 3 gallon external tank the range is almost unlimited. Sure, I'm not on the Great Lakes. But the Spirit 1.0 is lighter, no vibration, and whisper quiet.
Other: charging the Spirit battery from empty to full is approx. $ 0.80; I calculated with a "Kill-a-Watt" gadget. Not bad for a day of fishing on our small lake.
I purchased the jon boat because on the kayak my back hurts after 1 hour in the tight and hard seat. Also with the arthritis in my right shoulder the pleasure of paddling was fading quickly. Nevertheless, I miss the quick 5-minute launch of the kayak compared to towing and launching a 12-foot aluminum boat.
Last edited by mgforshort; 03-04-2022 at 12:08 PM..
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