Elco is located here on the east coast, NY I think, and
is one of the oldest companies dedicated to electric
boating. However, they have gone through many ownership
changes and challenges with one very recently. I tried
contacting them this past year for my project and after
several phone calls and the total lack of information, I
gave up. I do hope they have figured it out and got beyond
their troubles.
--- In electricboats@...,
David Goldsmith wrote:
>
> I don't have any more info than is available from
Hunter or from a brief
> article in Sail:
>
>
>
> I know I gave that last boat a hard time, so let me
make it up by saying
> this is a pretty sweet little set up. Elco is a very
good name in electric
> boats, I'd love to have their systems and expertise
designing my set up. The
> batteries are six 210amp/hr AGMs (4d?), which is a
good compromise on cost
> and easy of maintenance. This is just the right sized
boat to have a system
> like this, small enough that the motor and battery
requirements are
> reasonable, but big enough it can handle the weight
and room. Their claimed
> 20 miles at 6 knots sounds reasonable and not like an
'ideal conditions at 2
> knots' type of situation.
>
> I'll note that the motor looks to be a very good
system, completely
> enclosed, and possibly direct drive, its not clear if
there is any gear
> reduction done in the case. Anyone familiar with Elco
systems? The only
> concern I'd have is that it runs on 72V which is
beyond the nominal 48V at
> which more safety concerns have to be addressed. I'm
more comfortable with
> 48V but a professionally designed and installed
system should be fine since
> they know what they're doing and I'm just tinkering.
>
> I didn't see any estimate on cost, I would assume it
costs more than the
> standard diesel, but it really shouldn't be that much
more.
>
> Sometimes Hunter is given a hard time for being one
of the big-three of
> sailboats and producing a sort of mainstream product
where price and quality
> have an inverse relationship. I owned a 1977 Hunter
27, the really tubby one
> designed by John Cherubini, and it was really a
pretty good boat for what it
> was, built like a tank too. They've changed a lot
since then of course. I
> took a tour of the factory a few years ago and was
pretty impressed. They
> weren't quite the modern marvel the new Beneteau
factories are but it was
> clean and well organized and there was still a lot of
hand work going into
> assembling the interior components and installing the
systems.
>
> This is the type of electric propulsion I think will
be first to go
> mainstream, in boats that are really a little on the
small side for a diesel
> and a little on the big size for an outboard, where
low maintenance is more
> important than range under power. I really hope the
other builders follow
> suit. As for the hobbyist, this is exactly the type
of system that many of
> us are trying to build for our own boats of about
this size and the more
> Hunter, Catalina, and Beneteau start offering these
as options the better
> available and easier they will be for us to implement
too.
>
> Very cool, thumbs up!
>
> David
>
> On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Todd
wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I just saw that the Hunter 27 has an electric
drive option from a company
> > named Elco. Anyone have more info on this?
> >
> >
> >
>
