Welcome to the club Marvin. If it is 37 HP diesel
you will probably need 10 to 15 HP to emulate the
performance characteristics. Depends on the prop and if you
and the boat are willing to have a bigger prop. A 37
ft. wooden ketch could weigh as much as 30,000 lbs
and would require a big prop. If there is enough room
to size the prop up you could probably do fine with
a 10 hp brushless DC motor and a 20" three blade.
Range could be unlimited by using a FischerPanda diesel
gen set with 4 times the fuel economy and the
additional benefits of having a generator(the refrig.,
tv/vcr,mr.coffee, breadmaker,icemaker,blender,etc.).All the things
my wife has determined are essentials. I have a 1939
restored Casey, cutter rigged 28 ftAWL 31 ft on deck and
19,500 lb displacement that is using a 6 HP Brushless DC
motor to do hull speed of 5 1/4 knots. It also has a
4KW FP generator and it all fits in the same engine
bed as the old diesel which was 22 HP. You can see
the boat in the Photos section of this club in Club
Album.
