CoastGuardChief: I'll check out the thread posted. Thank you.
SD: I'm comemplating the set-up on a heavy displacement bluewater boat something like a Bristol 40 or an Ingrid. I just have to sell my Cal first!
How big or what are the requirements of the generator? I used to be a charter skipper on Tortola and sailed the Lagoon that the Cat Company had which was diesel-electric. On the northern
lights genset (I forget the size or output, this was already 3 years ago) we powered AC and two 144 volt electric motors, plus we could run for about 1/2 an hour on batteries. There were some other high powered electricity hogs... i think a
stove and a microwave, but I've sailed a lot of boats since then so it's hard to remember.
A friend of mine delivered the boat and the generator broke down 2 days out from the east coast. They were able to power the house system including all the nav gear by sailing and generating the needed power through the spinning props, even manuevering to the dock at Nanny Cay. Although I did notice the Lagoon seemed to sail slightly slower than the other charter Lagoons I drove around the BVI.
That was a while back and surely battery technology and the electric motor/generator has improved. Has anyone on this forum tried this or a related set-up yet (I mean anything, the batts, the electric motor or an appropriate genset)? It really seems like with some development to hold some promise for our application.
That Lagoon was wild to drive... really precise, immediate torque, leaving the dock with the only sound being the swish of the wash and a slight high-pitched hum from the port shaft.
1) Any more options for non lead-acid, non-gel cell batteries? (particularly NiCad or Li-Ion or those derivatives)
2) How big does the genset need to be?
Thanks for your input and thoughts, everyone.
Tom