E-motors in a catamaran

[apaleo]

Hi, I am owner of a 2000 catamaran with old westerbeke engines and 42 hp each. For years I am looking for ideas to convert to e-motors.

Onboard are 1000W of solar panels installed, easy to increase.

Batteries are 3 AGMs of 600aH, easy to change to lithium.

Being a sailor I dont like to motor for hours and use power only or most times only for the anchoring process and leaving bays.

The power from the diesel is transmitted via shafts (no sail drives) which make a conversion much easier.

Im looking for advice and hopefully knowledgable partner to create a business for conversions.

My sailing aerea is the carribeans.

Thanks
Alex

 

[svetz]

Solar is good, but square footage on a boat is generally limited. You can also augment with wind and/or hydro.

For just getting in and out? It depends on watts, which will depend on winds, tides, bridge operators, distance, etc. If you had your emotors installed you could get a good idea as to how much power was needed just by measuring it and then calculate your power needs. But I'm guessing you'd prefer to plan it all out in advance to know if it'll work before you start... in which case you'll need to estimate power. That could be tough, perhaps some of the others here have some ideas? If you find you're only going out every other day or so, big enough batteries could get you in and out and smaller solar that has a few days to recharge them back up could work.

Hope to see photos and thoughts as you get your project gets underway.

 

[SenatorPerry]

Lagoon "Hybrid" Catamarans came with two 10KW motors.

Those can be replicated using these:
https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/electric-sailboat-kits-and-accessories-inboard-motor-ev/

Getting in or out of a harbor/slip/marina/mooring you will need only an hour or two of power or about 8 kWh of battery. I would recommend a full Nissan Leaf battery at 24 kWh rated repackaged for 48v. And 2400 watts of solar.

Hi, I am owner of a 2000 catamaran with old westerbeke engines and 42 hp each. For years I am looking for ideas to convert to e-motors.

Onboard are 1000W of solar panels installed, easy to increase.

Batteries are 3 AGMs of 600aH, easy to change to lithium.

Being a sailor I dont like to motor for hours and use power only or most times only for the anchoring process and leaving bays.

The power from the diesel is transmitted via shafts (no sail drives) which make a conversion much easier.

Im looking for advice and hopefully knowledgable partner to create a business for conversions.

My sailing aerea is the carribeans.

Thanks
Alex

 

[apaleo]

2400W of solar? Thats a lot. I would have space for panels of around 1600W.

 

[PHoganDive]

You might look into using the drivetrain of an electric car for the battery, drive and charging electronics, and drive motor(s). They are in the same horsepower range as what you have now. The speed auto wheels turn and boat propellers turn is similar enough you could probably just spin the prop direct from the cars electric motor with no gears involved.
Then treat the solar charging aspect of it as a separate project.

 

[WTFdude]

Hey folks, my trimarran is an electric powered sailboat with a 10kw motor and a 16S 48v 400amp lifepro4 battery bank. Its got six 100w solar panels. I have zero experience and i would like to know,
"What kind of run time can i get off of this setup just using the batteries as propulsion?"
I know it will charge when sailing due to the 3 blade 16" prop and 2 kw a day average from the solar panels.
But like I said, i am new to sailing and its my 1st boat.
I guess the question is...
What kind of run time can i get from the battery bank? I want to get a large charger and generator so i can charge overnight so i can troll the San Francisco Bay for fishing and learning to sail.

 

[roleo]

Also interested in this

 

[gnubie]

Seems to be a lot of people asking the exact same question, exactly the same. Is this some sort of a catalogue production boat? 10kW motor, 48v 400ah battery, 6 x 100 watt panels.