Apropos of nothing

As you may know, I am planning on buying one of these

Recently I have been using one of these

The company also makes inboards

Deep Blue 40i with One Battery

Speed in km/h (knots)* Range in km (nm)* Running time in hours: minutes
Slow 7.5 (4.0) 37-60 (20-32) 05:00 - 08:00
Full throttle 32-44 (17-24) 16-22 (9-12) 00:30

This is about Dylan Winter's Blog, Sailing around Britain.

23 Responses to “Apropos of nothing”

  1. 15 August, 2017 at 11:57 pmEd Bourgoine says:

    Hmmm chock up and 20K plus installation, that little fisher is looking more expensive. Would be pretty nice though, no fumes, no noise..

  2. 16 August, 2017 at 1:27 amDave Robinson says:

    I’ve been using one of the outboards for several years on our dinghy. We have two batteries. The problem is the need for charging (time and location). I am now looking for a propane or gas outboard as we will be relocating to Lake Superior next year and there are very few places to plug in a boat up there (which really adds to the attraction actually).

  3. 16 August, 2017 at 6:40 amTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    Electric outboards make a great deal of sense if you…
    a) Have a marina-slip, dock or land-base where you can easily recharge, and you primarily day-sail or day-race and return nightly.
    b) Have a LOT of solar panels like Drake Roberts’ Paragon and a massive battery-bank. Drake says he hasn’t plugged into shore power in years and he runs tons of refrigeration and electronics, recharging an outboard-battery wouldn’t add much to his overall on-board demand.

    For a dinghy, tender or even a small day-sailer they eliminate a lot of the maintenance and worry that gas-powered outboards present. “…Will it start, won’t it start?” And they’re typically lighter so they’re easier to lift up and down into the dinghy for a shore-run.

    For a larger boat like the KatieL, an electric outboard would be good for filming up a shallow creek or on the Broads where you don’t need the power or endurance of a gasoline outboard.

    […Just was watching a YouTube about Seagull’s. A 10-1 gas-oil mix!!, no wonder they smoke so much. Now they have a kit to convert to 25-1. Most modern American 2-cycle outboards are 50-1, though a lot of people still mix 25-1 out of caution. ]

  4. 16 August, 2017 at 6:56 amTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    A 20-ft daysailer using an electric outboard to get in and out of the marina. But only 6-miles range at 3-knots.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xROgPQlFzK0

  5. 16 August, 2017 at 7:43 amdylan winter says:

    It would be wildly expensive…. unless Torqueedo were interested enough in the project

  6. 16 August, 2017 at 7:57 amdylan winter says:

    you are right….

    I reckon that I can get around Britain in a series of 40 mile hops…..
    and that is within the range of a gentle electric boat owner – almost

    however, there is the wind and the willingness to take longer to do the 40 miles. In additioon, there is lots of flat space on the top of the Fisher for panels – plus an aero generator.

    Each time I left the boat it would be charged by scottish wind when I got back to the boat again. I would also have onboard…. a gen-set and the tohatsu ready for action on a bracket on the back.

    I think that it would be an interesting experiment.

    I shall think on it further.

    D

  7. 16 August, 2017 at 10:24 amTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    I was looking at some vertical-shaft wind-driven generators a few months ago. The typical installation is a balanced counter-rotating pair fore-mounted on the mizzen clear of the sails and lines, similar to a mizzen radar-mount. They were omnidirectional and unlike propeller-type elec. generators they don’t over-speed so they generate in all wind conditions rather than a narrow velocity-band.

    On a Fisher 25 sloop/ketch or Fisher 30 ketch, there’s plenty of displacement for a generous battery-bank to recharge the dinghy/tender’s outboard’s batteries once you get aboard, but I’m wary about relying on batteries for main propulsion. [ I may be totally-wrong… One of my clients has a Tesla for over a year now, and claims to have no battery charge-anxiety. ]

  8. 16 August, 2017 at 1:01 pmDave Barker says:

    20k euros for the motor, shaft, prop etc. + 15.5k euros for the smallest battery pack + installation cost + cost of removing old engine. Some of it may be recoverable by selling old engine… Personally, I can’t see that this makes any sense on an old, heavy displacement boat. I look forward to the day that it does, though.
    I’d love to have a Torqeedo “cruise” outboard on my day-sailer, the battery would replace some of the ballast and recharging isn’t a problem when you can take it home. It’s just too damn expensive for me to contemplate. Shame.

  9. 16 August, 2017 at 1:37 pmJohn Whitehead says:

    Lovely kit but a lot of money. This is and interesting commentary from folk to have time and technical competence.

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_mGFQfb39FXu_oCzggYfkeRKYkI6xpi

  10. 16 August, 2017 at 2:58 pmBart says:

    I have a Torqueedo 1003 S (incl a spare battery) on my Hawk20 that I sail in Zeeland, South-Netherlands. It has pros and cons, but I don’t want to go back on petrol. Good planning is required, as always with a boat…

  11. 16 August, 2017 at 3:53 pmNormanB says:

    I think an electric outboard makes a lot of sense. Not so sure that converting a Fisher’s propulsion system to full electric is the way to go, especially if you were pulling a serviceable diesel out of it. To make the most of full electrical propulsion you really have to move away from lead acid and their variants and move into the world of lithium and the capital cost of those alone is eye watering. Of course if you bought a Fisher with a duff donk for cheap cheap and you did the work yourself you could come out ahead of game. I was going to link to Sailing Uma, but that has already been done – their attitude and useage is if there is no wind – well we will sit here until the wind comes back,

  12. 16 August, 2017 at 9:28 pmEuan Mckenzie says:

    Dylan you are a dreamer!

    Fishers have rufty tufty diesel engines so they can bash to windward when its wet and cold outside

    isnt it more important to find one and get back to sailing again and use the outboard on the dinghy

  13. 16 August, 2017 at 10:12 pmBryanD says:

    We’re all dreamers Euan why else would we watching Dylan, he is one to fulfil his dreams

  14. 17 August, 2017 at 12:11 amdylan winter says:

    it was just a mind experiment…

    I think, money aside, it would be a runner.

    D

  15. 19 August, 2017 at 2:54 pmTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    I just was re-watching Dylan and Jill’s adventure crossing the Pentland in Harmony 3-years ago. How different that trip would have been in a heavier Pilothouse motorsailer. But I think that it also illustrates where the ability to run under diesel at low-power for hours is still desirable versus the short half-life of current batteries.

    I suspect the next evolution for sailboats will be hybrid propulsion for larger boats, just as they’re finding that adapting hybrid-technologies works better in larger pickup trucks and SUVs than in little commuter bubble-cars. Battery-power for marinas and estuaries, and diesel and solar panels/wind-generators for recharging and longer long-term use eliminating the transmission for a watercooled electric motor.

  16. 19 August, 2017 at 3:00 pmJohn Booth says:

    There is hybrid propulsion already, I think. I saw recently in a magazine a boat with a standard diesel engine and shaft, with an electric motor sort of “wrapped” round the shaft. If I find it I’ll pass it on. John B

  17. 20 August, 2017 at 2:12 pmEuan Mckenzie says:

    There are some electric boats out there but really you need a boat that sails like a witch to windward if you are going electric with the current technology available.

    How are the coffers?

    Is a return in 2018 looking readable yet?

  18. 20 August, 2017 at 9:56 pmdylan winter says:

    I have been thinking it through… and looking at the logs of my sailing days. When on board most are 20 mile days…. when there is wind I am sailing…. when there is no wind then I am using the tide and drifting along. I try to avoid motoring on calm days – but sometimes that is inevitable – but at four knots the electric boats will do 40 miles. Add to this I will have solar panels and a demountable wind generator. As a third level I will have genset I can run when under way.

    I could motor into a headwind at six knots for 20 miles – if the only shelter was 20 miles upwind then I am confident that good shelter could also be found 20 miles downwind.

    Of course the cost of an installation in a fisher would be around £16K

    I think to circumnavigate in an electric motorsailer would be quite a thing to do.

    Dylan

  19. 20 August, 2017 at 10:25 pmEuan Mckenzie says:

    I take it you have viewed sailing Uma on you tube! In between the click bait they have built an electric power plant in their yacht, not sure the solar will be as effective up West

  20. 20 August, 2017 at 10:32 pmdylan winter says:

    very long summer days though…. solar works even when the sun is covered in cloud. Scotland also has shed loads of wind.

    I think that the engine could also be used to motorsail…. add an extra two knots from the engine to the four from the wind…

    Running the Torqueedo has really made me change my mind set. Suddenly motoring is almost as pleasant as sailing.

    Imagine leaving the boat at the end of a week sailing and then returning a week later to find that the tanks have miraculously filled up again

  21. 24 August, 2017 at 7:42 pmkevin tisdall says:

    Just wondering what the electric replacement of the diesel in a Fisher would do to your source of heat on those cold Scottish days/nights? I’d guess you’d have a stove of some kind anyway?

    Best luck as always. I like the open mind/adventure of it.

    –Kevin

  22. 24 August, 2017 at 8:09 pmdylan winter says:

    I think you would still need a diesel heater on the boat for scotland in winter and for most of the summer

  23. 29 August, 2017 at 2:39 pmDaniel Serrano says:

    Saw an interesting clip from San Francisco area .People developing a “Hard wing” sail to help large vessels conserve fuel. I think the idea would work on boats like centaur and fishers. scaled down of course.

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