Electric Pod Drive

[pvb]

Exactly, what is the point? And the Broads, no charging points there according to a reader who wrote in on exactly this subject.

There are quite a few charging points on the Broads, operated either by the Broads Authority or private suppliers. The Broads Authority describes them as "electric boat charging points", but seems to give no details on what their charges are for electricity, merely that you pay using a £1 pre-paid card which you have to buy locally. I suspect that recharging an electric boat might be rather expensive.

http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/boating/facilities/electric-boat-charging-points

 

[HunterWanderer]

The charging points are here:
http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/boating/facilities/electric-boat-charging-points
About 5 to 10 miles apart.
Range with my 600ah about 20 miles at full speed
Broads sailing is about sailing and short distances. Pubs every 5 miles!

 

[Javelin]

Thinking about my motoring,
Short ten minute bursts in and out of harbour at maybe 5knts, until sails are up.
The only significant motoring is usually motor sailing when the wind dies or I'm in danger of missing a tidal gate.
This is usually just to get our speed up to our normal cruising speed of 6 to 6.5knts.
Unless on the nose or dead downwind I find that the apparent wind generated by just a few engine revs is enough to get up to 75% hull speed so very rarely would I be using anywhere near full revs.

Of course the exception was last year when we did the mast up route from Amsterdam to the Southern delta which would have been very difficult.

 

[Tranona]

Thinking about my motoring,
Short ten minute bursts in and out of harbour at maybe 5knts, until sails are up.
The only significant motoring is usually motor sailing when the wind dies or I'm in danger of missing a tidal gate.
This is usually just to get our speed up to our normal cruising speed of 6 to 6.5knts.
Unless on the nose or dead downwind I find that the apparent wind generated by just a few engine revs is enough to get up to 75% hull speed so very rarely would I be using anywhere near full revs.

Of course the exception was last year when we did the mast up route from Amsterdam to the Southern delta which would have been very difficult.

To achieve that with electricity would need a huge battery bank and large motor but still have a range in single hours. Suggest you keep a log of your actual engine usage - and BTW you are doing your engine no favours by using it in this way. 5 minutes running is not enough to get it up to operating temperature and motor sailing in the way you describe does not put enough load on the engine. Running at 60-70% engine output with regular bursts to near maximum is what they like - and what Yanmar for example recommend.

 

[Neeves]

But then this is what gen sets like - run at optimum engine speeds - charge batteries -= and switch off.



Jonathan

 

[Tranona]

But then this is what gen sets like - run at optimum engine speeds - charge batteries -= and switch off.



Jonathan

They may well like it, but that does not mean it is an efficient use of energy. also the systems that have been fitted rely on sophisticated electronics to adjust the source of power to suit the circumstances just as in a hybrid car. So if you put a heavy load on the electric propulsion units the generator will kick in or run at higher revs to deal with the extra load. If you then turn on your electric cooker it may change again!