Interesting (if a little over exuberant) promo on yacht with dual electric motors.
As a gadget fanatic I loved the idea of the dual props recharging the batteries when sailing.
As they said “allows you to be a sailor again and not a diesel mechanic”
What do you think? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jpAnGJpcnQU
Maybe fit a couple on the investigator in each cockpit locker.
I’ve already got my wine cellar in the bow locker.
Battery technology is still needing to go a loooog way for batteries to replace fossil fuel. Son in law has just put roof solar on , enough panels to make 50 kw at day , hardly drawing off the grid at all. He is a wiz with such stuff and crunched all the numbers and home battery was still not the way to go. Why we didn’t get one when we installed last year. The charging set up on the yacht looks good but I wonder how well it works and what the replacement cost of the battery is. Remember your outlay and ultimate outlay for replacement batteries in all these systems is the true cost per km of travel.
Other point is of course, if the whole world could suddenly afford to skip fossil fuel and go electric it would create its own environmental disaster producing solar generation and batteries for a trillion vehicles. It would be great to save the planet, don’t get me wrong but you can’t do it by by creating a different problem.
Covid has ironically done more for the atmosphere than a trainload of environment ministers, mainly by stopping planes, trains, automobiles and cruise ships that were just moving people who wanted nothing more than a change of scenery and I put myself on the top of that list of villains
Rant over
Ozzie
Investigator #143 "SPRITZIG II"
The Mariner - “It’s too strange here. It doesn’t move right." ...
Enola - “Helen said that it’s only land sickness."
Waterworld (1995)
Yes Ozzie, the situation here in Tassie is pathetic as far as the govt is concerned. I have the maximin allowed number of solar panels on my shed roof. 32 in total of the latest and greatest. Only if I was a business, would they allow me to put on more. I have two systems which totals 20 kW. Because I built my shed before I built the house, the solar went on as soon as the shed was build, so we generated quite a deal of power selling back to the grid and gaining credits on my account for around 10 to 12 months without using much at all to build the house. I have been living in the house now for just on 12 months and we are still in credit of around $450 and have not had to pay a power bil. My credit is slowly getting eaten up though. In the mean time, the govt decided to cut back the feed in Tariff they pay from 16 cents to 8. So, at 8 cents per KW generated, and still $450 credit as well as what we have used, I have generated quite a lot of power. They want you to have solar, but they won't let you have enough to make it really worth while generating power for them. Mind you,we don't use a lot, we have heat pump hot water which is that efficient that they don't even come with a heating element. They are brilliant and all LED lighting. Installed under floor heating in most of the house but with the central heat pump and all the insulation and double glazing, it's pretty energy efficient. I don't have batteries as yet which would make it better, but the Redback system I have is battery ready, so I could add them at any time. Will probably do that when we have to start paying a bill.
Rant Over, as you say
Regards Peter T
Regards PeterT
" Sail-La-Vie," # 114
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
Actually [Name deleted as user no longer registered] I have scavenged all the bits for a scull/yuloh setup for Spritzig but never put it all together. There are lots of links to this stuff online and when in Hong Kong we occasionally observed quite large vessels being moved. Many of the solo micro cruisers use sculls . Here’s a good vid.....31 footer
Thanks for the interesting yuloh vids and info about electric propulsion,
I followed this stuff online for a few years, there are some good channels/blogs dealing with electric auxillaries. They need a mindset of going slower than a fossil motor, and also far less range too. For my needs on the Investigator the fossil outboard was the best option, at $1.20 per 5 nautical miles at 5 knots, not a bad outlay for the result. Strong tidal currents aren't a problem and can reliably get home on time. I think the Co2 produced is negligble (miles more in just towing the boat there) and we do sail much of the time, so its still a renewable energy (wind) powered boat from the green angle.
Electric/batteries will never get that performance, it would be ok if you had reliable winds and not too much current/tides and unlimited time/lack of shore commitments. Then there's re-charging..I followed "electric boats and ships" on FB for awhile. The successful vessels tend to be ferries, tug boats that can dock at a powerful rapid charging station, or large multihulls that can put up an acre of solar panels like a shade roof. A few yachts just cut it..eg with Torqueedo's or Thoosa's. One on a mooring was a weekender, so could recharge mon-fri. Others sit in marina's on shore power and just go out for day-sails, twilight races etc. A few young cruisers have them eg "sailing uma" on utube. The costs to install these systems is usually allot more (2-3x) more than a fossil donk. If anyone wants to experiment with electric on an Investigator, i would be keen to find out how it goes.(eg a watersnake? or Torqueedo?)
As for batteries, read so many things about the next battery breakthrough etc etc but years later you never hear of it again. Why is that? Do the fossil companies just buy the tech up and just sit on it? so they can keep selling hydrocarbons, or is the Lithium Industry just trying to stay on top , and buying up the startup ideas?
Interested in Yullohs, but where to store them? (two part?) The straight shaft ones may not be as efficient/easy as the bent shaft ones. The bent shaft helps rotate the blade without wrist effort. It is amazing how they can propel large boats around calm harbours with their very fit crew.
Knew I’d talked about it sometime on an earlier thread. Because I’m a cheap old basket I’m going to try to adapt an old gal gate clamp to emulate this. I have old oars, one for blade, one will be sacrificed to provide the handle. Have one old gal rowlock and a clamp off an old hand wringer ( laundry tub style) to clamp to the transom To pivot the rowlock.
Now you know why my wife doesn’t want me storing any more stuff.......
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This of course comes apart helping the storage issue. Due to the design it does the rocking motion for you. You let the handle rotate in your hands. A limiting rope could still be used but not sure how it would limit your steering.
Ozzie
Investigator #143 "SPRITZIG II"
The Mariner - “It’s too strange here. It doesn’t move right." ...
Enola - “Helen said that it’s only land sickness."
Waterworld (1995)
