Joy before disapointment

[Mary Mac]

Excellent news! What a relief. Nice work.

I have been researching electric motors for many years.. since I had an Ericson 35 with an Atomic 4. I haven't looked into it in a year or so (since my transmission has been working), and I'm sure there have been advancements. I would love to have one. Nice and quiet, smooth, instant power, no smell. To me, it's not worth it to replace a working diesel, though... (yet!)

You can pay all kinds of money for them, but the concept is quite simple. I think in the SF Bay, it would work great if you had the right battery bank.. lithium is best but people do it with AGM. In my boat, I would distribute the batteries so that they replaced the weight in the same places that I removed weight: the engine and the fuel tank.

This company is interesting to me and they are in California. I have talked to them and they provided me with a lot of information and photos/specs from others who have done it in the same boat I have. https://electricyacht.com/

I talked to these guys many years ago, too. They are in Santa Rosa, I believe. https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/

When I was looking, Oceanvolt was the best one you could get: https://oceanvolt.com/configurator/

The matter of charging is the challenge. Can you recharge at the dock and have enough power for the mission? Regen and solar take time to recharge batteries. Do you want to have a backup generator? These companies can provide you with the numbers.

Would also enjoy hearing from someone who has done the conversion.

[Kurt]

I have ben running an electric motor in my Cal 2 29 for 13 years with 0 problems. Mary is correct about electric being a good choice for San Francisco Bay and the Delta I would add. This is an old SolidNav, been out of production for a long time. I'm using 4 VMXA MR137-120 12v agms. This was an easy installation (you can do it your self, I did). It's a sailboat not a motor yacht, although some users are reporting impressive range.

Kurt
1974 Cal 2 29 Grand Marina Alameda CA

[allen]

I was sure I posted a reply regarding the research I did on electric conversion but I can't find it. Probably the only thing worth repeating is this excellent YouTube video. I also talked to Thunderstruck and narrowed it down to one of their water cooled motors given they are waterproof and my install would be subject so a risk of getting wet. My engine is under a simple hatch in the cockpit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJW1I1iwR_c&t=13s

Kurt, I had decided on a diesel if my engine dies but your glowing review has put me back to neutral. There are a lot of emotions. Hopefully the engine will be reliable enough to last. But if it doesn't, I am going to have to consider electric again.