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
Hmmm chock up and 20K plus installation, that little fisher is looking more expensive. Would be pretty nice though, no fumes, no noise..
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).
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. ]
A 20-ft daysailer using an electric outboard to get in and out of the marina. But only 6-miles range at 3-knots.
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. ]
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.
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
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…
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,
We’re all dreamers Euan why else would we watching Dylan, he is one to fulfil his dreams
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.
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
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.