Ian asked what affordable means and I realized I was less than clear about my wants where propulsion is concerned. So, let’s dig in…
Affordable is a scary word these days and pretty much useless without context. In my case, back when I first put together an electric drive for “So It Goes” I spent just a kiss over $1000 all up (motor, controller, misc electrics, charger, and batteries). At the time, a new diesel would have cost $7-8K providing I did the install. Today, a similar set up would be about $8K if I went with a 400 AH battery bank which is about $4,000. More than I’d like to spend but it gives you an idea what I consider to be affordable.
Out of curiosity I checked what a Beta 30 would cost ($13K+). They now list electric propulsion as well ($23.5K without batteries) which stopped me in my tracks with a WTF moment. Most other EV options I’ve skimmed seem to be 10% higher than a reasonable facsimile diesel.
Truth be told, I don’t make passages under power. For me, an engine is simply a tool to get into and out of tight spaces. The one exception is transiting the Panama canal where you are required to motor fifty-one miles in a ten-hour window. Plus, on the canal you are saddled with an “advisor” who can abort your transit if you are not able to make the required speed. Hence my Panama canal bullet point.
Simple is obvious. I’m a simple kind of guy.
Then there’s solar. It makes electric propulsion doable and the more solar you can cram aboard, the further you will go and the faster you will recharge. Sadly, too many people are using so many solar panels in their installation that they no longer look like boat. Worse, all that windage is an accident waiting to happen, as well as getting in the way of sailing the boat. I currently have 600 watts of solar and I expect to add a couple of hundred more watts to the equation but where am I going to add enough 48-volt panels to keep the propulsion battery bank topped up?
Which leaves me with a 44-year old Yanmar that works well but could use some work and takes up a lot more room on the boat than it earns. I could really use a lot of that space for something that pays its way better. Which is pretty much the source of my current re-interest in electric propulsion.
The fact that we don’t need to transit the Panama canal (yes Dear Reader there are other ways to cruise towards the Pacific) would open up a much simpler installation not too much different than that first cheap seats electric drive that got me started on “So It Goes”. All I’d need would be a motor, controller, a 100 amp, 48 volt battery which is really all I need to get into a marina (a very rare thing) or crowded anchorage.
You know, something like this…
What about the idea of a yawl boat or tender with outboard, maybe an electric outboard, tied alongside. I spent some time on a small freighter on the Amazon that had a similar sized boat as a barge tied alongside to double the tonnage. Maneuvered great.
Tom Colvins last boat (cargo schooner Antelope) was engineless with yawlboat and small outboard. Doing 5.5 knots for 10 hours might be a stretch though. I’ve driven the 150 road miles across the isthmus ofTehuantepec twice and it’s pretty benign. Too bad you don’t have your AS39 as so easy to do the flatbed truck routine. Plus a new train running that route and maybe freight on that.
That set-up in the photo is similar to what i would envisage as a DIY, especially that tensioner. The last full electric i priced up for a potential client was far more expensive than the little 14hp Beta. (This was around a decade ago). In the end, he pulled his little 1GM10 Yanmar, and fitted a Swedish 6hp electric motor. He got caught out on a narrow channel with a headwind, and his batteries depleted far sooner than he expected ( or was led to believe by the sales person) he didnt carry a back up generator and only minimal solar, as his boat was usually charged at his dock. I specced him up a package with a Beta 10, with a hybrid electric motor/alternator piggy backed and 1kw of battery capacity. He got to cruise in silence when he wished, or slow motorsailing at night so he could sleep, and re-gen the batteries during the day via the prop, or the little diesel, which was always there as a back up. It was expensive, but his peace of mind was more important when he almost lost his boat on the rocks because of a flat battery. I have since seen some people running a diesel generator that kicks in when the battery voltage gets low. Every system has its inefficiency.
If you can get a system up and running for a thousand bucks and it suits your needs, great. The beauty of the hybrid was redundancy.
Not owned a boat with a diesel bigger than 15hp, and i could live with the space it takes up for what it does. My next project might have a 6hp Faryman as part of a hybrid set up, but probably no more than 0.5Kw battery bank.
Do you have a recommendation for a budget controller?
I wanted to add about “affordable”. It not only means “how much money can i spend” on XXXXXX it also means “how much money do I WANT to spend” on XXXXX……
My example above showed the initial response was “too expensive” (for a hybrid), so an all electric system was fitted (at more cost than a replacement diesel), which when the performance was found lacking in safety regards ( for his use), it was all replaced with the “too expensive” hybrid unit.
No doubt this gentleman saved money by non essential purchases in the past, but clearly he COULD afford the costs, but was reluctant to do so.
I usually run my own algo of cost-benefit analysis, but that only works “for me”. So for me affordable is either I do not have the money at all, or, do i want to spend it.
Most of us have a “It’s just too freeling expensive” gauge built in unless the cancer of consumerism has taken hold. For me, the appeal of electric propulsion is it’s simple and simple should be less expensive than complicated.
Over-complication is what busts most budgets with the answer to all problems is to add and spend more. My bare bones propulsion system on “So It Goes” worked just fine and if I go the electric route on the Islander it will just consist of motor, controller, battery, and the bare bones of control ( a switch and a pot).
Thad said, I’m still of a cheapseats bent and I take a lot of satisfaction of squeezing the pennies till they cry.