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Thank you so much and blessings from Australia! I really appreciate your comment, you make my day!

@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr Thanks for your reply. I have to say, great teamwork and relationships with your daughters. Having myself two teenage daughters, I just can hope that we develope something similiar when they grow older. I try to interest them to sail with little holiday courses, as I want to buy an sailboot and restart my hobby after a 20 years break. Please keep up with the electric motor stuff, that will be the first thing I will do if the diesel develops a hickup.

@@mauersegler9894 yes, having adventures together made us really close. It's not always easy to get your children to love sailing but making it fun and nurturing their roles aboard can help. Yes, the electric motor is proving so good and I definitely want to show more of my simple, economical system.

Sorry Scott, I did rather get carried away with the background music. I'm going to greatly reduce it for part 2.

OK, thank you for the input Tony, I will endeavour to improve.

That's all one could ask, mate.

Mick that is such a lovely story! So impressive that your daughter is helping you with the boat building and learning such practical skills! Such a good thing to encourage and nurture!

Haha, you nailed it James! That'd be cool!

Yes, we had those for ages! Nice rope Turks heads made from the same rope as the netting. They are pretty cool hey!

We really loved having you aboard Tess! Thank you for all those video making tips, I still have so much to learn!

Thank you Brett! RUclips is such a great platform for expression! We really appreciate your interest and support.

Thank you Petrea! Good point about the music being a bit over-whelming. I shall definitely tune that up in part 2!

Thank you Paul, we so appreciate your encouragement!

Thanks Clive! Yes she never ceases to amaze me. I'll check out Sailing Kiwis. Yes the first 3 days of racing in 20-30 knots is very testing!

Agreed , but ZERO music please , I enjoy hearing what you are saying about sailing that faaaast boat !

Haha, thank for this very helpful input, I much appreciate this and will certainly tone down the music as my accent is renowned for being different.

Yes, your right, I'll work on having the onboard conversations tell the story. Thank you for your input.

It does seem this type of technology has a way to go yet. We've always just tried to use less power and sail more, but we love the fruits of technology.

@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr justin from grin techknowlegies in canada has made one of the best solar sail boat diy conversions,he runs one of the biggest ebike equipment companies,his videos are on here ,worth checking out

Thank you! It is pretty light at 7500kg for a 50 foot cat. That's with no water in the tanks but with general cruising equipment.

Thank you Fredrica! When we launched Fantasia we had 2 x 30hp diesels and never had a problem in any wind condition. At times we have had to do with only one motor and while it is possible 2 motors is definitely the way to go. So now we 1 diesel and the one 10kw electric. The 10kw electric certainly seems very much an equal to the 30hp diesel as you have perhaps seen in my other videos.

Thank you! Well next video will be Fantasia taking on Airlie Beach Raceweek, so you'll see a more complete picture of her during this adventure.

Thank you Tess! I'm really enjoying putting together my next video, with some of your expert tips on producing a viral story! I really appreciate your input and encouragemeñt!

Thank you James! Our hot water heater was actually on the side of the motor we removed. We have been using the tanks 240v element to make hot water but when its overcast we do fall short of power. I don't have the coolant running through the tank yet but have heard others saying it is a good idea so may have to plumb that in although I'd thought it was a good weight saving not having that extra pipe, fittings and coolant , haha!

Yes, I'm always intrigued by this point. The actual specification sheet from EVE says if these cells are charged to 3.65 v and discharged to 2.5v then after 6000 cycles the cells will be at 80%. Being less close to the very peak seems to be a good trade-off to a very small capacity gain.

@@mickskinner3493 Thank you for appreciating them! Woohoo, you make my day purchasing my book,you will surely be captivated!

Thank you Graham, much appreciated!

Yes, I suppose a bit like one of those water pick up thru-hulls would be ideal. We must be content with getting our water through the saildrive though as we are so guarded against any drag. At least now we don't have to run the engine while sailing to make power like we used to.

Unfortunately you cannot rely on predictable air temperatures given climate shifts. So you may have to duct blown air over your motor or controller. If that fails model boats have used DIY contact coils wrapped round your motor case. See how it goes.👍🏻🧙🏻‍♂️🇬🇧

The video is very helpful with operating limits. If you can feel the air moving in the motor bay, estimate 15-30C colder air than motor limit required. Besides in and out fans, plan for engine bay fan. Use the video info ~1.5kW of waste heat to estimate air flow necessary. 0.25 BTU/lb-F, 28.8 lbs/359 standard cubic feet. Then delta T with 25-40F approach temperature. Maybe more air than you can move, I didn't do the calculation yet. Sorry about mixed units....those are the ones I know :-) Edit: I did quick calc, shoot for 100-200 cfm through engine bay plus circulation in the engine bay.

@@MoseLaura Lots of good advice for you Mose. Yes, I think you'll be OK with short runs for hoisting sail etc and for extended running you may need to blow air over it equivalent to the wind a motorbike would produce. Am keen to see your install!

@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr Yes cool! I ordered some fans so I'll install them in the motor compartment. At least to get fresh air through. I mostly sail but of course the motor is good for safety some times so then it's good to be able to somewhat rely a bit on it. :)

Thank you Art for your compliments and input, great food for thought! I will certainly look into these key words you have given me in an effort to improve the cooling, especially with the 3kw air-cooled motor I am striving to cool. Definitely using a fan to blow air out of the engine housing for the 10kw set-up would help.

Thank you Dean! Yes, at high speed it does have a high pitch, but this is mostly the saildrive gears, which are not now being drowned out by the loud low bass of the diesel. Now we also hear the prop noise a lot more as well. At more moderate speeds it is relatively quiet. Maybe a shaft drive would be a lot quieter, but I did trawl through a great many utube videos and could not find anyone actually airing their engine noise. There was always some music playing or they were going very slowly etc. I did see one running a shaft drive and it had a fair bit of sound, so yes, I wanted to put it out there with its honest sound. Pod drives would be very silent as its all underwater and I'm sure many other installs are more quiet.

Yes, it is simply the original Volvo dual throttle. So I kept the Morse cable system for the electric motor, leaving the saildrive gear change and connecting the accelerator cable to the electric foot throttle. You will see details of this in my other video's Kathryn. It has worked remarkably well with the throttles virtually in the same place at equal revs. With no load on an electric motor its very hard to control revs, but when the load is on there is much more travel of the throttle. Wishing you the best of luck.

So true! You can certainly feel that early torque compared to the diesel.

Even more so, a diesel requires about 900 rpm so it doesn’t die when the clutch is kicked in. This results in quickly kicking the clutch on and out to not move to fast in close quarters. Electric allows you to keep the power on with very low rpm going to the prop. This gives much better control in tight quarters such as docking with a cross current.

@@salamathari oh yes, great point. It is very nice being able to drop the rpm down to 200 when doing a slow approach or the like. It is also easier on the folding propeller in that it doesn't have to clunk open at 900rpm!

Yes, I have 16.5 inch diameter and 13 inch pitch. 2 blade folding Gori prop. We did originally have a 17 x13 and this may well have offered a bit more thrust.

Luckily we can also power up a whole lot faster to push a tide, beat bad weather and reach a closing marina. Your right though, one does not want to build a system that cannot do theses things.

Fighting the tide you will be going backwards.

It's pretty much the same as fuel consumption.

Good question. It's weighed racing weight is 7500kg with its water and fuel tanks empty. They would have been a least half full in this video. Onboard supplies, books, Laser dinghy, bike etc are also not counted in that figure. So probably around 8200kg in this video.

Thank you. Haha, well, that was the part I was most pleased with, but each to his own way of doing things for sure. Definitely if one is happy with flat panels they are very easy to instal.

@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr the kerf bending is a clever way of doing it. I really like how you took the ends off for better air flow.

@@kchortu thank you. Yes, a small weight saving and you don't need the strength they offer when the panels have that curve.

I'm pleased to see it looks like I've learnt something over the years! Enjoy your wool fetching kitty!

Thank you very much, that is quite the honour!

We do actually still have a hybrid system, so could hold into a storm all night. I have lived aboard a boat most of my life, sailed twice around the world and have never needed to do this though. Several times for less than an hour holding into a Sumartra and afternoon thunder-squalls. All night would be hellish and I would head to sea or set a second anchor, or even better ensure I was in a appropriate anchorage with good holding and ensure my anchor tackle was top notch. Thank you for raising this point though. All the best.

Very true and one day I will do the other engine, but for now am happy to be out cruising and pretty much 95% full electric. I'm as yet to sort out the regen side of things as have been doing well on just solar but will certainly look to sort regen for those dark days and long passages.

​​@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr Regen while motoring isn't going to be worth much. You're going to be an expert by the time you remove the diesel. Look into the smallest 2nd 48V battery bank that can safely deliver necessary amps to the 2nd motor and then a safe way to charge it via the primary 48V bank. I suspect a little more battery, less rpm with 2 motors, could lead to 24hr ~3 knot motoring via the solar until the wind comes back. If not, can look into Watt & Sea but I think you're past that. For instance, 2 motors powering at 3 knots needs how many kW and how much does your solar typically put out? And I can see where you have little motivation to remove the diesel.

@@artsmith103 I think the main reason I'm in no rush to remove the other diesel is that we so very rarely use it. We can already run for 20hrs at 3 knots (15amp draw),, but in a lifetime of sailing I have never needed to do this. We have our very best efficiencies built into our sailing systems so our main requirement from our motors is for good thrust while manoeuvring.

@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr I agree. Virtually no reason to remove the diesel. It's a better backup than a 2nd electric. It doesn't hurt anything. I suspect it's space including tankage isn't too valuable. Just have to be careful about old diesel fuel ;-) Funny comparison, Priuses have a monitoring system to burn gasoline regardless of need if the tank is getting too old.

@@artsmith103 Interesting about the Prius. We hardly ever carry much fuel, rarely more than 20/30l, but sure,it is still a concern it getting old.

Thank you for your support and thumbs up. I'm intrigued by what the No79 means though?

@@AndrewStransky-cc2dr The like number under your video. You have very good scientific and journalistic material.

@@СергейКири Ok, right, and thank you very much, I'm honoured!

🤝

Haha, yes fair comment!

Solar powered pontoon boats certainly have a lot of possibilities. Good luck.

Haha, yes have seen many people with theirs carefully bolted down for testing! This 10kw motor was remarkable stable and smooth running like this unsupported.

Wow, you have certainly gained a lot of solar electrical experience over time! Sounds like a well thought out power cat. The Solar assistant sounds interesting. I look forward to the videos of your project Alan.

Alan, you sound very solid in your designs. I like the 350v to minimize cable thickness.

I suppose sorting regen from my existing set-up is exactly this. I may well do this in the future, but I have yet to feel the need as yet. Good point though, this is actually getting power from the sails.

​@AndrewStransky-cc2dr I would approach this as when you think you need more batteries for more motoring, look into hydroelectric to charge the additional batteries.

@@artsmith103 it probably is the way to go, as I don't think I want to put more solar panels on.

Yes, unlike diesels which seem to need to build up their revs to generate the torque to get the prop going, the electric motor has its full available torque straight away. And that certainly can be felt when putting on the power. I 'd often heard about the full torque (for those rpms) but was impressed to feel it in action.

Thank you for your input Craig. I certainly don't claim to understand this completely. I do know that the performance of my 10kw motor has totally impressed me. It does everything my impressive 30hp diesel used to do and this seems rather remarkable, especially considering this is a 50 foot catamaran with considerable windage. According to the Volvo Penta specs, 2600rpm equates to 17kw of power, so there seems many ways to see things. Yes, no doubt a variable pitched propeller would offer advantages , but I am predominantly interested in my boats sailing ability and very happy with my sleek, Gori folding propeller. All the best and thank you again for offering the math to back up your point.

Thank you so much James! Your Electron is considerably more up-market than mine and together we are certainly making a good push forward into the solar electric future.

Haha, well, who wouldn't take such a great compliment! You made my day! Thank you so much!

Oh wow! I wonder if one is our original. We did have a pretty basic controller, the sealed little aluminium box type. I trust your going well with the Esychia work!

Thank you Tom! Yes, houses always do series wiring it seems as it brings the power back at such a high voltage to the controller and hugely cuts down loses in your wiring. Boats of course have all those things to shade panels. Good luck with your solar boat!

Hello James, yes, amazing how far it has come. We still have the port side diesel and I give it a run occasionally to keep it happy, and sometimes need it for close manoeuvring or motoring into a strong wind when we need both motors. It is a great hybrid combination. The fire risk is generally hyped up by the media. This generation of lithium is very safe, certainly much safer than petrol/diesel or gas.