"In 2-3 years time, we won't fit another Diesel engine"

[capnsensible]

 

[doug748]

Easy targets are what politicians and campaign groups tilt at. And ‘a bunch of rich bastards swanning about in their yachts’ is low hanging fruit. I expect almost all of us know how untrue and unfair that is.

It got me wondering how much auxiliary yachts actually contribute to the problem. Here is a an interesting page:








So 1% of total CO2. Jet Skis alone produce 15 times more:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/...31031_IP_Task_25_Inland_Waterways_Issue_1.pdf


.

 

[dunedin]

But they bought a Honda genny when they were up north!

Told you ..... a serial hybrid

 

[Supertramp]

It got me wondering how much auxiliary yachts actually contribute to the problem. Here is a an interesting page:



View attachment 143434




So 1% of total CO2. Jet Skis alone produce 15 times more:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/...31031_IP_Task_25_Inland_Waterways_Issue_1.pdf


.

Good input and puts it all in perspective. Don't replace (or ban) something that's working OK and let the rich blaze a moral trail we might all follow (in future generations!).

 

[Ink]

I'm sure the shift to electric power will continue. Geem and Chiara’s slave represent two alternative ways of sailing. 55 miles is a bit restrictive but plenty long term cruisers manage with much less than 1000 miles. I think the key will be in battery technology. Lots of boats are already festooned with solar panels, windmills, generators which provide part of the puzzle. Next is affordable storage to allow several hundred miles of range. As is usual with new technology, it will be adopted by a few at high cost and then trickle down to the rest of us and probably encompass retro fitting. I could fit a full tonne of batteries in the space where my fuel tanks and engine are. Maybe less 150kg for an electric engine.... An inventive mind needs to make it possible and affordable. If its not Elon, someone will appear with an answer (at a reasonable price).

I fully agree. I just can't see "run-of-the-mill" Spirit yacht owners signing up for this as "mainstream".

Also with of 55 miles a day, where do Spirit owners recharge to go anywhere the next day?

I have 160w of solar. Without gantries and bits hanging over the side I'm not going to manage much more - at peak sunlight in June I'll get 460Wh per day. That runs my fridge...

 

[Ink]

Spirit Yachts are basically toys for the very rich..; not that there's anything wrong with building toys for the very rich...

They are for the most part not used as cruising yachts in the way most of us think of cruising.

It's a little bit hypocritical. Most Spirit owners probably live lives with enormous carbon footprints; large houses, multiple houses, multiple cars, lot's of travel, all the latest gadgets, etc...

But hey.., at the club they can tell everyone how green they are, with their low carbon yacht!

Actually, I'm sure most of them are probably nice people.., and electric drive probably does make sense for their type of sailing

These are the people who accepted the Prius first in California. It gets them column inches.

Ink

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Aaaaargh! Prius, wash your mouth out.

 

[Ink]

Illustrates my point perfectly!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Illustrates my point perfectly!

Yes. Pathetic tokenism for the rich, painted green by a knowing big business. Way too much of that in the world.

 

[TLouth7]

I can see racing boats going electric/lithium because the weight saving is huge and they do just motor in and out of the marina. It will mean that if you have a racing boat a mid-river mooring or a buoy is not a realistic preposition.

I don't quite follow this part of your comment? Are you suggesting that electric drive on a buoy is a problem?

 

[geem]

I don't quite follow this part of your comment? Are you suggesting that electric drive on a buoy is a problem?

For charging maybe unless your racing boat is covered in solar

 

[boomerangben]

IMO The interesting point made on that video was the solar panels in sails. I think that is the technology which will become scalable and have economies of scale and would be most likely to enter the mainstream. Think of all that area available….

mid my numbers came in, I would love to go electric.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Or can be fitted instead of the otherwise useless weight of a lead keel?

Ive been promoting this idea for years but it never gets a positive response.

 

[Beneteau381]

Ive been promoting this idea for years but it never gets a positive response.

Lithium isnt that heavy

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Lithium isnt that heavy

Yes but a couple of tonnes of lead acid isn't that expensive!

 

[mjcoon]

View attachment 143432

What no earth? ;-)

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Lithium isnt that heavy

Exactly. Li batteries aren’t heavy enough for ballast, nor light enough for multihulls and serious race monos.

 

[geem]

Yes but a couple of tonnes of lead acid isn't that expensive!

I would need six tonnes. Don't fancy all those batteries right where the bilge water ends up either?

 

[Thornley Barnett]

electric motors have huge potential but don't forget the environmental costs sometimes poor working conditions and carbon footprint of the mining needed to get the materials to make the battery's these motors use

electric drive is not emission free

 

[Stemar]

We can argue all we want - you do, you do... and 55 miles doesn't sound like much range under power, but it's worth remembering that it's 55 miles further than most of the boats available to normal people a century ago and they managed.

Sure, there were far fewer people sailing as a hobby, we're spoiled rotten, with many of our boats providing a better standard of living than probably most people's homes back then. Inside toilets (two of them sometimes), hot & cold running water, electric lighting, central heating - you lot don't know you're alive! Yes I know you don't all have everything on the list, neither do I, but you know very well what I mean. First world problems, eh?

My Mum used to say you cut your coat according to your cloth. If you haven't got an engine, you sail towards your destination, not drive to it like a mobo and, if the wind's in the wrong direction, you go somewhere else or tack. It's a different way of doing things, not necessarily a worse one.

It's also worth mentioning that most customers of Spirit yachts can just call their office and say they'll be working remotely - or take a private plane helicopter back - or just not care!