Electric yachts - the future?

[Peter T]

Ah Ozzie, love your storage solution , sime pull apart.
Nice
Peter T

[Ozzie]

Yulloh

34FFF7E8-BB50-45C5-A31B-F15328E58890.jpeg (32.07 KiB) Viewed 23495 times

Had a few of these left over from a rural rental property we owned years ago. Figured they would come in handy. They are $17 at Bunnies. Technically you can just tie the pivot with rope at the taffrail, offset to the centre line of the vessel is ok. But I prefer to remove as much friction from the system as possible. Also I have a rubber oar sleeve I will slide up to fit the rowlock. The purists only use a couple of upright timber’s to guide the yuloh. Or at base level just a notch.

I have been cooking up this idea since we took a gondola ride through Venice years ago. While my wife was sipping champagne and admiring the view I was madly quizzing the gondolier on his rowing technique They only have one wooden upright and the position of the oar changes to different sides of the post depending on the manoeuvre.

Also I didn’t know that gondolas are asymmetrical. But you don’t have to reprofile the port side of your Investigator to use a yuloh

I have talked myself into a corner and will have to build this bloody thing now.

[Peter T]

And then you will have to post on here written instructions on how to use it my friend. VERRY INTERESTING

Peter

[Greg]

I’ve used my cheap Chinese 45lbs trolling motor to push the investigator around a few years back just to see how it goes. Worked well in the calm water and boat speed got up to constant 2knts. Wouldn’t want to travel more than too and from the ramp on it though and the responsiveness was much less than a petrol outboard. If I decide to race in the winter series at my club this winter I’ll definitely be using it in place of the heavy outboard.

[Franklin]

I have a lightweight 18ft Ts, not an Investigator.
I usually have a 3.5hp petrol which pushes me along at 5.5-6kts in flat water.

I have also dabbled in converting to electric. I have a 120lbs thrust, 1500w electric outboard running off lithium batteries.
With this setup I get about 4.5kts drawing 55amps at 26v
I have just over 1.5hrs motoring at full throttle out of my battery capacity.

The simplicity is great and it is blood fantastic motoring silently, but it is expensive. My setup costs about $2000-3000 and ideally I’d still want to add another battery bank to extend my range, but that is another $1500.

Compared to a $600 petrol outboard it is very hard to justify the cost. It is also very easy to extend the range of a petrol outboard by chucking a 20L jerry can aboard.

It’s just not cost effective yet, although I think this will improve rapidly over the coming decade. China and the Uk have made big commitments to electric cars over the next 10-15 years and other countries will soon follow. There will be big investment in battery development.

Cheers
Franklin

[Geoff]

Hi Franklin,

Thanks for the ground-truthing, greatly appreciated by me. There is so much speculation everywhere, it's great to get such a valid side-by-side comparison.

On the strength of that, I will definitely be sticking with petrol for a while yet.

[Andrew]

Good to hear about your electric propulsion Franklin, if you reduced speed to 3.5 or 4 knots it should greatly extend the range and reduce the battery draw. any stats on those hulls speeds yet?

I read the electric sailors do alot more sailing and motor-sailing, making them better at sailing. (and weather watching, tides etc)

Im also hoping and waiting for the battery cost to come down, but been doing that for last 5 years already. It seems lithium power is feasible in small things like phones and is gradually working its way up through power tool sized stuff. Ive started a Ryobi 18v collection, theyre great especially the drill, bigger stuff like hedge trimmer and whip snip ok (with run time limitations) ..after 3 years may need 2 new 18v batteries ($100 each). 3 months into a 78v victa lawnmower ownership..so quiet and easy start for wife (but im the only operator in the end, lol) Runtime 30 mins, recharge 30 mins. Very easy to push. But reckon that's the feasibility/cost borderline today.(there are also garden tools with 78v , more cost and grunt than 18v.)

Still got petrol whip snip and mower to tackle heavier growth that the electrics struggle with..

Larger stuff like boat propulsion probably going to take awhile, still at enthusiasts stage in Australia, like electric cars. (maybe those reddit stockmarket Robinhoods should hit some battery tech stocks next..haha.) seems like investors are pouring cash into clean tech these days, just ask Elon..and with Biden now at the helm of the US economy..

[Andrew]

Interesting (if a little over exuberant) promo on yacht with dual electric motors.
As a gadget fanatic I loved the idea of the dual props recharging the batteries when sailing.
As they said “allows you to be a sailor again and not a diesel mechanic”
What do you think?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jpAnGJpcnQU

Maybe fit a couple on the investigator in each cockpit locker.
I’ve already got my wine cellar in the bow locker.

Great video Emrys, looks like that yacht is state of the art. Can sail at 8 knots and gets a fast regeneration. The twin motors give multihull like manoevering in tight marinas, and they could stay off grid at sea a long time.

Other advantages are quiet, no sickening diesel smell, need to be a basic electrician and sailor. No Co2 emissions (except the crew FIFO..) Sure that boat will be a hit at the boat show.

Also liked how the motors could fit under the side bunks, and the usual engine compartment becomes the battery bank area.

For Investigators..with sailing speed of 3 - 5.5 knots, i read regen at slow speeds like that rarely "cuts it", its more suited to faster vessells,, eg Cats, tris and big monos. On the upside, investigators can return to 240v power supplies after 1-7 days for recharge and or have a big solar canopy aft..

[Franklin]

Current draw at lower speeds is significantly less.
I can motor around at 2kts using only 5amps at 26v.
A mate and I have had a great day motoring around the lake at 2kts being steered by the auto helm.
The silence is wonderful.
A decent solar panel would keep you going forever.

All good in a calm lake, not so good if you need to push against 2-3kt current out on the bay though.

I’ve looked at using a battery out of a Tesla car. Seems a potentially cheaper option for the capacity and is relatively light. But that is all starting to get a bit too experimental for my liking and still a lot of money to experiment with.



Cheers
Franklin

[Andrew]

Thanks for update Franklin.

The 5amps draw at 2 knots, 10x less than 55amps at 4.5 knots ..(by inference you'd get about 15 hours at 2 knots)..with the autopilot on, you could have a dinner party or read a good book, and barley notice the time factor. Silently gliding along would be great.

May i ask, what amphour capacity battery is fitted? (or would be ideal)

Those electric car batteries would have huge capacities. or 2nd hand ex telstra tower ones, a genius mate of mine found enough for an off grid home, very cheaply, at the scrap metal yard, he checked them with a multimeter or some such device, and picked out the best ones.

Cheers
Andrew