Electric Yacht System

bblakesley

bblakesley

Junior Member
So I just finished installing and then doing a Bellingham to Olympia shakedown cruise with the Electric Yacht motor and controller. I am not a representative of this company, but I have to say it was a real good experience and the motor has been amazing.

I have posted a lot of pictures at electricsailing.blogspot.com

If anyone has questions I may actually have answers. Thanks to those that have helped me on this message board.
 
Last edited:
Mark F

Mark F

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Very cool Barrett.

What kind of numbers are you getting, amp draw/boat speed? What did you end up with battery wise? Which unit did you get?

The Electric Yacht units look good and their customer service is wonderful. They even talk to me with my SolidNav unit :).
 
bblakesley

bblakesley

Junior Member
The total cost of the project including everything: batteries, system, new three blade prop, cables, 48V charger, misc hardware, shipping was $7,200.

I put in one bank of 100 amp Lifeline AGM batteries. I am drawing 20 amps at 4.5 knots of boat speed. I have a 2000W gas generator that we use when we have to "motor" a long distance. I did Seattle to Olympia with batteries and generator alone. I burned a total of 4 gallons of gas for the entire trip from Bellingham to Olympia (about 150NM). When we are sailing at 4 knots the motor is charging the batteries. On one three hour 5 knot sail we had brought the batteries from a 60% charge (48V) to a 100% charge (51.9V).

When these batteries die they will be replaced with Lithium and I will triple the amps in order to eliminate the generator all together.

Mark you know how nice it is to pull away from the dock or pick up a mooring with no noise. I would never think of replacing an A4 with another A4 I would only do this again.

I hope people will consider this if they are looking at replacing their powerplant. My bilge is clean, my wallet is happy not spending $5 a gallon for gas and my ears are happy too.

Oh Mark I got the 180 unit from Electric Yacht. Their customer service was outstanding.
 
Last edited:
steven

steven

Sustaining Member
Barrett,

This is great to hear . Have been considering it. I'm assuming your 2kW gas gen is a portable - is that right?
 
bblakesley

bblakesley

Junior Member
Steven,
It is a All Power portable $200 generator purchased from Amazon. It would sit right behind the tiller. I would not recommend it for everyday. I just got it to make this trip. If I were planning on doing a lot of long distance sailing where I thought I would need to use the motor more. I would get a 48 VDC generator and mount it below the cockpit seat.
 
steven

steven

Sustaining Member
I am now looking seriously at adding an electric drive (for local) while keeping the A4 (for long haul; and maybe for charging).

Does anyone know if there a way to couple a belt drive to the shaft behind the A4 without pulling the shaft? A split-clamp pulley?

thanks

--Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top