Bought a Never splashed Colvic Countess 33 on eBay, Looking for infos

[GregOddity]

You might want to do a few calculations to back that idea up. Think about how much usuable power you're really going to get out of 4 AGM batteries (not what the salesman says is in there). What sort of motor that will drive and for how long. How much power you'll actually transfer to the water and how fast that will actually drive a heavy 33' boat with an inefficient hull form. Then think about the effect headwind and sea state will have. Then think where you're going to fit the oars.

The Oars will be in two levels, the top being for the nay Sayers and the bottom for the “you have to do what you told “
The calcs are indeed a TAD tricky. The hull form indeed helps the complication and sea state adds the salt and pepper. Batteries is an even more interesting subject that has MANY threads in MANY forums and there is only one thing that everyone agrees, NEVER trust the manufacturers stated output or cycle.
It just adds more FUN factor to the exercise. Can I make it? will it work? Is it worth it?
You do you have a VERY good point on the calcs. and were doing them and redoing them and Im guessing we will be making them for some time more.

 

[solent clown]

In our 24ft er we decided on a 5kw motor running a chain drive to the propshaft via a dog clutch would be the best way as an auxiliary. That way the engine and gearbox would remain standard. It would be a simple matter to charge the battery bank via the engine itself, or a donkey generator. There is absolutely no doubt it could be made to work after a few minor issues are ironed out.
Problem is it would be cheaper by far to buy not one, but two outboards as emergency propulsion. That is where the interest in the technical exercise ended for us, as much as I would have liked to go ahead. One day though I will build an electric boat just for river fun. The future IS electric. It is just a long time coming. Cheapest viable way now would be to buy a dead smart car and use the drivetrain!

 

[pvb]

Get's worse does it not?

Its all so simple, then - I just wonder why nobody has come up with such an idea before.

Still, more interesting than anchor threads!

You know, if we hadn't seen the YouTube video, this thread might have been consigned to the "troll" bin long ago. But it seems that the OP is determined to resist advice, logic and reality and just plod on dumping thousands of pounds into a lump of fibreglass which might, one day, be a hole in the water. I wish I had so much time and money to waste. At least we're guaranteed at least 5 years of entertainment.

 

[stevie69p]

There is a young couple in the States posting regular youtube vlogs as they cruise on their 45'er powered by a 48v DC motor. Goes under the user name "The Rigging Doctor". Interesting stuff, and perhaps one day maybe even a viable option, but I'm not drinking the Kool Aid just yet...

Seems in order to actually get any distance using it, they need lots of solar to keep the batteries topped up, and then under any kind of longer passage, they are running a petrol generator to provide mains power to apair of mains to 48v DC transformers. It all seems a bit of a nonsense really, although the thought of greener sailing certainly appeals... but in that case just do as the Pardey's do and go engineless and a big sculling oar.

Maybe some day the battery technology will become advanced enough to give both the power and range needed?

 

[RichardS]

Funnily enough there are electric speedboats at Stratford-on-Avon and we've hired one a few times over the years to tootle up and down the river on a summers day for half an hour. However, they are rather slow, probably 5 knots max, they are of course small light boats, they can be put back on charge overnight and the river conditions are benign.

it's rather strange pushing the little lever and silently whooshing forward.

Richard

 

[lpdsn]

You do you have a VERY good point on the calcs. and were doing them and redoing them and Im guessing we will be making them for some time more.

Out of curiosity what range and speed do you get? If you've not got that far, what EHP do you get? I'm sure that some other Colvic owner can get the power curves for their engine and make a stab at the prop efficiency to give you speeds in flat and rough water for a certain EHP.

 

[DownWest]

Funnily enough there are electric speedboats at Stratford-on-Avon and we've hired one a few times over the years to tootle up and down the river on a summers day for half an hour. However, they are rather slow, probably 5 knots max, they are of course small light boats, they can be put back on charge overnight and the river conditions are benign.

it's rather strange pushing the little lever and silently whooshing forward.

Richard

Speed boats and 5 kts are not in the same pond..

If it helps, I have a Ford 1.8 TD going spare. In good nick. Forget the hybrid drive and get out there. It is a bit like the steam launch anoracks. It is not the boat, just the greasy steam way of getting about.

 

[Norman_E]

Funnily enough there are electric speedboats at Stratford-on-Avon and we've hired one a few times over the years to tootle up and down the river on a summers day for half an hour. However, they are rather slow, probably 5 knots max, they are of course small light boats, they can be put back on charge overnight and the river conditions are benign.

it's rather strange pushing the little lever and silently whooshing forward.

Richard

When I was a boy there was a company that hired boats on the Thames from a pontoon near Richmond bridge on the Twickenham side. I am pretty sure that some if not all their boats were electric.

 

[solent clown]

Speed boats and 5 kts are not in the same pond..

If it helps, I have a Ford 1.8 TD going spare. In good nick. Forget the hybrid drive and get out there. It is a bit like the steam launch anoracks. It is not the boat, just the greasy steam way of getting about.

that's what you want, a steam engine driving a clockwork motor which unwinds to power a jet drive.
Just steam up, wind up ,and pucker up.

 

[zoidberg]

I wonder if G'Oddity has considered a small diesel plant driving a 48V system driving a air-pusher propeller.....

I seem to recall some stalwarts in the Amateur Yacht Research Society, some decades ago, proving entirely to their own satisfaction that could and should be far more efficient than the in-water alternative. A couple of prototypes were trialed on Portland Harbour AIR. Endless hours of fun arguing the sums and conclusions.

Then there's their 'downwind faster than the wind' long-running project. That also proved conclusively to be practicable....

Many sneered, year after year. Then someone built the Foiling Moths, the AC45s/75s - and we all saw the results on TV.....

Of course they're all crackpots. Aren't they?

 

[lpdsn]

I wonder if G'Oddity has considered a small diesel plant driving a 48V system driving a air-pusher propeller.....

I wonder if you mount the prop on the pulpit if you could get extra drive out of the sails.

 

[lpdsn]

Of course they're all crackpots. Aren't they?

Remember though that the OP only has a bare waterlogged hull with a few bits of rotten bulkheads. It's not as if he's buying a Westerley Centaur or something similar with a kaput engine as the starting point for his experiments with electric propulsion. He's got enough hurdles to overcome without going bleeding edge as well.

 

[GregOddity]

I wonder if G'Oddity has considered a small diesel plant driving a 48V system driving a air-pusher propeller.....

I seem to recall some stalwarts in the Amateur Yacht Research Society, some decades ago, proving entirely to their own satisfaction that could and should be far more efficient than the in-water alternative. A couple of prototypes were trialed on Portland Harbour AIR. Endless hours of fun arguing the sums and conclusions.

Then there's their 'downwind faster than the wind' long-running project. That also proved conclusively to be practicable....

Many sneered, year after year. Then someone built the Foiling Moths, the AC45s/75s - and we all saw the results on TV.....

Of course they're all crackpots. Aren't they?

A very beautifully made point if I may add. I’ve kinda had this problem before. If you don’t do what the common wisdom is… the world lands on you.
I sometimes try to imagine what the Wright Brothers heard as heartfelt advice from friends and family while trying to build the first ever plane in a Bicycle shop. Now THAT must have been fun to watch.
And this is just poor me saying something about using diesel to power an electric motor.

 

[seaangler23]

I think you may be underestimating the extent of the project on your hands, a small winter refit for even experienced boat tinkerers can get on top of you and you will loose the love for the thing. spend the money wisely or it will be another half finished project abandoned which is all too common.
If this is your first boat you need it to inspire confidence when you go out and you will be more reliant on an engine to get you out of trouble, not an experimental system which will run out of puff when you really need it.
Get stuck in, and get the boat built, by all means leave the engine to the last bit and hopefully a bargain will have come up but by then you will see the hidden costs in a build.

 

[lpdsn]

A very beautifully made point if I may add. I’ve kinda had this problem before. If you don’t do what the common wisdom is… the world lands on you.
I sometimes try to imagine what the Wright Brothers heard as heartfelt advice from friends and family while trying to build the first ever plane in a Bicycle shop. Now THAT must have been fun to watch.
And this is just poor me saying something about using diesel to power an electric motor.

Maybe it'll help to be blunt. Speaking as someone who grossly underestimated the time, effort, money and frustration necessary to do up a seaworthy but neglected boat here's why you're going to fail.

1) You've bought a bare hull. It may not look like it but you have at best 10% of a boat there.
2) There are many man hours involved in turning that into something basic that can be put on the water. A thousand or two at least.
3) You only have a budget of £20K.
4) You're peeing that budget away to the yard at £3K p.a.
5) And on top of that you want to experiment with bleeding edge technology.

The yard is on a good thing. They get £3,000 p.a. for a couple of years and then when the payments stop they'll end up owning everything you can't carry off. Of course they'll have to dispose of the hull, but there's always eBay.

Even if you suceed you just end up with a home-built old boat.

Seriously, spend half your £20K on something that can already go to sea and the other half on the next couple of years' running costs, or for your electric propulsion experiments if that's really what you want to do. Use the Colvic hull as a pond at the bottom of the garden.

 

[PaulRainbow]

I have the answer !!!!!!!

I've found someone who will sell the OP an engine, some spars and sails, a complete interior and all of the deck gear, that will fit straight onto the OPs boat. In fact, this guy has every single part the OP will need, he will even have something leftover :encouragement:

Best of all, it's within the £20k budget :encouragement::encouragement:

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat.phtml?id=490433

See, every single part he needs, all in one place

 

[Tam Lin]

I have the answer !!!!!!!

I've found someone who will sell the OP an engine, some spars and sails, a complete interior and all of the deck gear, that will fit straight onto the OPs boat. In fact, this guy has every single part the OP will need, he will even have something leftover :encouragement:

Best of all, it's within the £20k budget :encouragement::encouragement:

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat.phtml?id=490433

See, every single part he needs, all in one place

Ooooo, you are awful!

 

[GregOddity]

I have the answer !!!!!!!

I've found someone who will sell the OP an engine, some spars and sails, a complete interior and all of the deck gear, that will fit straight onto the OPs boat. In fact, this guy has every single part the OP will need, he will even have something leftover :encouragement:

Best of all, it's within the £20k budget :encouragement::encouragement:

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat.phtml?id=490433

See, every single part he needs, all in one place

Ok that was mean. I literally had to clean my desk because I actually spilt my coffee laughing.
There is a problem tho… it’s a ketch and no raised saloon.

 

[Tranona]

I have the answer !!!!!!!

I've found someone who will sell the OP an engine, some spars and sails, a complete interior and all of the deck gear, that will fit straight onto the OPs boat. In fact, this guy has every single part the OP will need, he will even have something leftover :encouragement:

Best of all, it's within the £20k budget :encouragement::encouragement:

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat.phtml?id=490433

See, every single part he needs, all in one place

What a super boat! I guess you could turn an empty hull and deck into something like that for a modest expenditure of around £100k and 2 year's full time work.

 

[NormanB]

There is a young couple in the States posting regular youtube vlogs as they cruise on their 45'er powered by a 48v DC motor. Goes under the user name "The Rigging Doctor". Interesting stuff, and perhaps one day maybe even a viable option, but I'm not drinking the Kool Aid just yet...

Seems in order to actually get any distance using it, they need lots of solar to keep the batteries topped up, and then under any kind of longer passage, they are running a petrol generator to provide mains power to apair of mains to 48v DC transformers. It all seems a bit of a nonsense really, although the thought of greener sailing certainly appeals... but in that case just do as the Pardey's do and go engineless and a big sculling oar.

Maybe some day the battery technology will become advanced enough to give both the power and range needed?

The Rigging Doctor has had three total failures of the motor controller in less than 12 months.
As you mentioned anything over half an hour and they are running a wee generator on the upper to charge and motor.
Sailing Uma (with electric drive) in a smaller boat seem more prepared to wait for the wind but when push comes to shove it is their portaboat strapped to the side that shoves.