Ericson 27 1976 "Lotus Flower"
Well, three and half years into life with electric propulsion (EP) on Lotus Flower a 1976 E27 I think it's time to log some thoughts on the web. I will start with a timeline of the process.
Phase one;
5/22/07 – Bought 1976 Ericson 27 “Lotus Flower”
5/22/07 – 11/07 docked in Sausalito CA, sailed SF Bay with 6hp outboard
11/07 - Sailed from Sausalito to Santa Cruz (6hp outboard)
4/18/08 - $2000 Down payment for SolidNav Explorer electric auxiliary
6/1/08 - $1995 final payment for Explorer unit and delivery
6/5 – 6/10 Initial install (drive unit, batteries, switches, charger)
Before I bought Lotus Flower a previous owner had removed the Atomic 4 to do a rebuild. They added an outboard mount and 6hp outboard for an auxiliary while the A4 was out of service. The story was that the rebuild was complete and ready to reinstall. I was not interested in the A4 as I knew I was going to repower with EP. I bought the E27 without the A4. I did find out later that the gas engine was never rebuilt and is sitting seized up in someone's basement.
For the most part the 6hp outboard was fine for my sailing use. I'm sure some would not be satisfied with the amount of power the 6hp outboard provided. There were times with wind and steep chop that the motor spent as much time out of the water as it did in. That wasn't so fine.
A little background; I came to sailing through hang gliding where reading the wind and air currents is what keeps you in the air. You have no secondary propulsion. I like the exercise of using what nature dishes up to keep in motion, so I tend to err on a lower power auxiliary requirement. More on this and an interesting affect of going electric later.
The EP conversion. Coaster (my previous sailboat) a 1968 E23 came with a 9hp outboard (I think I had a top speed of 40 knots with that motor ;-) I wanted to try EP and thought the E23 would make good platform for EP. I bought a MotorGuide 109 Great White, 36 volt motor rated at 105 pounds of thrust. Three group 27 deep cycle lead acid batteries, charger, fuse, a basic state of charge gauge and I was set. It worked great for me. After living with the positive aspects of EP I couldn't imagine owning a sailboat without it.
My number came up on the waiting list for a 25' slip in the Santa Cruz North Harbor. Knowing that the next step on the list was a 24' South Harbor slip (no bridge to navigate!) and that the max size boat in a 24' slip was 27' the hunt was on for a 27' sailboat. Ok... the search was on for an E27
. Enter Lotus Flower.
I plan to go into detail on the various parts later but the initial install was a SolidNav Explorer a 4kw brushless permanent magnet motor with a Sevcon controller and a 2 to 1 reduction. Next, 4 group 27 AGM batteries, a 48 volt 20 amp Kipoint charger and necessary switches. I used the existing A4 11x10 fixed two blade prop. With that configuration I got a top speed of 4.5 knots and a boat speed of 3 knots at a 20 amp draw. The max motoring I did with those batteries and prop was 7 hrs at 3 knots.
Next; new prop, more batteries, another charger, battery monitor, regeneration.... (see phase two below)
Phase one;
5/22/07 – Bought 1976 Ericson 27 “Lotus Flower”
5/22/07 – 11/07 docked in Sausalito CA, sailed SF Bay with 6hp outboard
11/07 - Sailed from Sausalito to Santa Cruz (6hp outboard)
4/18/08 - $2000 Down payment for SolidNav Explorer electric auxiliary
6/1/08 - $1995 final payment for Explorer unit and delivery
6/5 – 6/10 Initial install (drive unit, batteries, switches, charger)
Before I bought Lotus Flower a previous owner had removed the Atomic 4 to do a rebuild. They added an outboard mount and 6hp outboard for an auxiliary while the A4 was out of service. The story was that the rebuild was complete and ready to reinstall. I was not interested in the A4 as I knew I was going to repower with EP. I bought the E27 without the A4. I did find out later that the gas engine was never rebuilt and is sitting seized up in someone's basement.
For the most part the 6hp outboard was fine for my sailing use. I'm sure some would not be satisfied with the amount of power the 6hp outboard provided. There were times with wind and steep chop that the motor spent as much time out of the water as it did in. That wasn't so fine.
A little background; I came to sailing through hang gliding where reading the wind and air currents is what keeps you in the air. You have no secondary propulsion. I like the exercise of using what nature dishes up to keep in motion, so I tend to err on a lower power auxiliary requirement. More on this and an interesting affect of going electric later.
The EP conversion. Coaster (my previous sailboat) a 1968 E23 came with a 9hp outboard (I think I had a top speed of 40 knots with that motor ;-) I wanted to try EP and thought the E23 would make good platform for EP. I bought a MotorGuide 109 Great White, 36 volt motor rated at 105 pounds of thrust. Three group 27 deep cycle lead acid batteries, charger, fuse, a basic state of charge gauge and I was set. It worked great for me. After living with the positive aspects of EP I couldn't imagine owning a sailboat without it.
My number came up on the waiting list for a 25' slip in the Santa Cruz North Harbor. Knowing that the next step on the list was a 24' South Harbor slip (no bridge to navigate!) and that the max size boat in a 24' slip was 27' the hunt was on for a 27' sailboat. Ok... the search was on for an E27
. Enter Lotus Flower.I plan to go into detail on the various parts later but the initial install was a SolidNav Explorer a 4kw brushless permanent magnet motor with a Sevcon controller and a 2 to 1 reduction. Next, 4 group 27 AGM batteries, a 48 volt 20 amp Kipoint charger and necessary switches. I used the existing A4 11x10 fixed two blade prop. With that configuration I got a top speed of 4.5 knots and a boat speed of 3 knots at a 20 amp draw. The max motoring I did with those batteries and prop was 7 hrs at 3 knots.
Next; new prop, more batteries, another charger, battery monitor, regeneration.... (see phase two below)
