A few recent thoughts on electric propulsion...

 Well this is scary/interesting, but this ruined my whole day, and something of a palate cleanser in the "Rich men behaving badly" department...

The other day, someone I know was complaining about the high cost of electric propulsion systems for sailboats and it got me thinking.

Since I've had three different electric propulsion systems aboard "So It Goes" I actually understand what what works and what doesn't as well as what stuff actually costs.

Obviously, the real issue, where electric propulsion costs are concerned, is not so much that the various parts are expensive but that the marine trades tend to inflate those costs because it's all about making money.

For my first system I used an Etek motor ($200), a replacement controller for a golf cart  ($100), an aluminum mounting bracket($30) for thirty bucks and an assortment of sprockets and chain for the actual power transmission ($100). The electrical control bits were bought at Radio Shack ($15) and worked just fine. The actual motor mount was cobbled together with some scrap plywood I had on the boat.

Hardly an expensive installation.

As far as the battery bank went I used six-volt golf cart batteries in a 48-volt 200 AH bank.which, admittedly, was far too expensive and heavy in my opinion.

That said, the system worked extremely well once I'd sorted out some overheating issues with the Etek motor. As to the reason why the motor was overheating it was that at extreme low speeds (most of how I actually used the motor) the combination of cooling optimized for high speed use combined with the higher amp loads at lower voltages. The fix was fairly simple and just involved a change in gearing to let the motor run at a higher speed.

The other day I saw a very interesting Chinese EV which costs all of $2000. with lithium batteries included. Now, at $2000 you'd have just about all the bits needful to make an electric propulsion rig for a sailboat. I'd certainly consider buying one of these pickup/dump trucks, taking it apart, and adapting the drive train to turn the prop shaft aboard "So It Goes" for about the same cost of a 6HP outboard or about 10% of what a Marine grade system would cost you...

So maybe we should not be complaining about the high cost of marine EV systems but instead looking at adapting more reality based costing of commercial EV systems that are already out there.

Listening to the Isley Brothers

So it goes...

cheap horsepower...

A visual aid to the madness, another threat to democracy, and the question I ask myself everyday...

I was persusing AliBaba the other day and came across a bunch of dirt cheap diesel engines .

Seriously cheap like this one.

What's not to like about a new water-cooled 10HP diesel engine for $400?

That's cheaper than what Volvo gets for some gaskets...

Sure it's old tech but old tech diesel engines tend to be work horses that run forever and are easy to fix when they do have problems. The fact is that an engine like this would make a whole lot of sense for a variety of boat designs if one had some basic mechanical licks and an open mind...

Hey, it even a hand starter!

Admittedly, 10HP is small by current standards. Of course, me being an old fart who still thinks that that Colvin's "One HP per ton" advice continues to make sense I'd be all over this if I were building a sharpie or VolksCruiser design.

Listening to birthday boy Southside Johnny (and the Jukes of course!) who just hit the big 70

So it goes...

a clean white sheet of paper...

About that report on environmental impact, BP guilty of eleven felonies but no jail time, and in the we-are-so-screwed-when-guys-like-this-are-running-the-show department...

There's an observation in the film "Longitude" (or the book) where the man set the task of repairing the clock notes that the designer never ever went back and changed anything but simply beavered forward with fixes on top of fixes on top of fixes...

Well, I'll admit I'm not so sure how common this state of affairs is in clock design, but it is a standard operating procedure where boats are concerned!

I'm well aware of this because, while I strive for a simpler boat, I find myself battling the cancer of over-complication on a daily basis and most of this is caused by simply wanting to keep forward momentum and not wanting to backtrack on problems.

Or, as Joe Pike would say, "The only direction I know is forward"...

Now, I'm sure, where Joe Pike is concerned, forward really is the only way to go but as far as boat design, systems, and suchlike, not so much.

Take our electric propulsion system for instance...

We chose to go with electric propulsion because it was simple, reliable, and affordable. For as much as we used an engine it made sense and once we set down that path there was no looking back.

Over the years as things changed and the EP system evolved, it started getting a bit more complicated in terms of related systems (chargers, solar, genset, etc) because I kept adding things. Hardly surprising that half a dozen years later we are now looking at a much more complicated and admittedly kludgey system than what we used to have.

That said, while currently over-complicated and kludgey, it is still, in my opinion,  simpler and superior to a diesel for our needs...

But, while researching more and more stuff related to the VolksCruiser concept I found myself looking at electric propulsion in a different light and found it wanting (for those anti-EP folks I should point out that for the VolksCruiser, diesel sucks as well).

The fact is, I was only able to do this because the VolksCruiser is pretty much a blank sheet of paper with no preconceptions and, as such, very different from the problem solving I deal with on "So It Goes" where almost all of the systems are in place and I have those Joe Pike tattoos pointing me ever forward.

Time to get out a clean white sheet of paper...

Listening to the Youngbloods

So it goes...

Sail or flail...

Bad timing, Colbert gets it right, and a guitar of note...

Having a blog related to boat stuff of the sailing variety leads to various interesting, as well as, surprising conversations...

For instance, whenever I post something related to electric propulsion it's a given that I will get at least a few folks writing in to explain to me the error of my ways.

"The technology is simply not there yet..."

Is the most common argument. I won't go in to why the technology IS there for some of us but, suffice to say that this sort of discussion is a staple of the mailbag.

There are any number of other thoughts/rants/opinions on the subject as well but they pale when compared to this one...

"An electric drive might work for you, but, where I live, I have to have an engine because I have to be able to motor against wind and tide on a regular basis..."

Is it just me or is there something wrong with that last statement?

Now, since I'm currently in the Caribbean where tides are tiny, I'll be the first to admit that I don't often find myself fighting to windward against a seven knot tide. Then again, when I sailed places where extreme tides were a regular part of the equation I never sailed against extreme tides either...

Why not, you ask?

Well, just maybe, because that would be a seriously dumb pastime and, while I'll admit to being less than bright from time to time, sailing (or motoring) against wind and tide is akin to beating your head against a wall and where is the fun factor in that?

The thing is, tides are a known factor so they are a big part of the navigation matrix and if you don't use them to your advantage you're not so much navigating as you are flailing (which is sort of the sailing version of fishing with a club).

Which is why the whole "I need a big engine because I regularly do stupid stuff" is not an argument that gets taken too seriously around here.

Listening to King Tuff

So it goes...

A quick test of sorts...

Roger Ebert making sense, worth a read/look, and talk about some batshit frelling madness...

I'm pretty sure, being a firm believer in Colvin's 1HP per ton rule, I've mentioned before how I think most sailboat engines are larger than needful and too frelling expensive.

So, which of these motors for sale make sense?

This...

Volvo Penta Model 2002 Diesel engine. 18hp for small sailboat. All new parts- bearings, head, valves etc. Injectors and injector pumps serviced, but won't run. Get it running or buy it for parts. Sold as is. $2500

Or this...

Listening to the Tedeschi Trucks Band

So it goes...

More tools and a couple of books...

Except for the odd mast falling down and going boom, we don't have much of a problem with things breaking on "So It Goes" and it has always been my contention that most breakage on boats is crew induced and we pretty much don't break stuff...

Not having an internal combustion beast driving the boat also goes a long way towards keeping the repair list and expenses down as electric propulsion systems by their very nature are about three steps less than IC engines in hassle and expense factor. Throw in that the cost of components are low enough that when we head off to the boonies we can easily have a spare motor and controller tucked away in a locker for that WTF moment. The fact that a spare electric motor costs less than most basic IC repairs,  means that you can color me (Mr Cheapseats) a very happy camper!

That said, other electrical devices on boats are not so user friendly and we face a constant uphill battle to keep all of the various electric and electronic goodies on "So It Goes" working and Radio Shack level tools are simply not up to the task. A really great basic electrical tool set up is available from Adafruit (who does one of my favorite geeky blogs... remember the Bedazzler?) and is just the thing needful for modern day electrical repairs. They also sell a bunch of neat kits which the building of would give you the skills to deal with what ails your chart plotter or loose connection in a running light. Of course, you will also need what I consider the bibles of marine power knowledge from the Ample Power folks "Wiring 12 Volts for Ample Power" and "Living on 12 Volts With Ample Power" as compared to what else is out there, they are simply the best.

Electric Propulsion

Way back when my dad built a submarine...Well calling it a submarine might be stretching it a little bit more of an underwater motorcycle made from an old wing tip tank from a Phantom jet, a half dozen electric motors, some pumps and a couple of saddles ( you know the kind that you put on horses!) Maybe that was the seed that made me want an electric propulsion system for my Sailboat...Maybe simply a need to tinker and be shunned by polite society.

That as it may be some four years or so ago I ripped out the old Atomic four and replaced it with the So It Goes mark one electric drive which was nothing more than a ETEK 48V motor, a Golf cart motor controller and a couple of belts to drive the prop shaft...It worked. It also overheated like a trooper and made neat patterns of solder on the interior of the engine compartment!

The overheating made needful the upgrade to the So It Goes Mark two system which replaced the ETEK motor with an Advanced Electric motor less prone to boiling water for coffee and throwing molten metal about the engine compartment...While I was at it, I got rid of the constant headache that the belt drive system caused and replaced it with a simple chain drive which also made experimenting with gearing easy as pie. The mark two system works quite well...

Not everyone of course likes to tinker and until recently the only available systems were silly and expensive ( anyone who thinks 144 volts DC is sensible on a boat may be interested in the tower I have for sale in Paris...) and the price tags for the so called systems available well I'm sure that they must give KY Jelly with the system because for sure someone is getting shafted!

Enter someone of like mind with some smarts...Electric Yacht has a very nice drop in Regen Electric Propulsion solution at a real world price that makes sense for folks who need to repower a classic plastic boat where a $20,000 electric propulsion system seems a bit silly in a boat that costs less than the motor. They currently have an all up price for the system as an introductory price of $3000...YOWZA!

For those in the serious cheap seats must not part with pennies camp or who just love to tinker...Thunderstruck EV makes a nice little kit that includes almost all of the needed stuff for $1150 for a non regen solution and $1450 for a Regen system both using the Mars motor which is quite the bees knees.

Electric propulsion makes a lot of sense and now that all the bits are easily found and purchased it is down right easy... makes for interesting beer can racing as well!