Pauls message is important. There are two very
distinct groups of people involved in this club: 1) the
technical people, who are interested in advancing the
capacities of electric boating and eradicating the
inefficiencies; and 2) the non-technical people who would like to
know enough to keep their systems operating (or
install them) but otherwise are mostly interested in
enjoying their boats. I am in the latter category. I dont
know how my TV works, how my stereo works or how my
computer worksand to be honest about it, I dont want
someone to try and explain them to me. I would just like
them to work, provide their benefits, and allow me to
call someone in (on a very rare basis) to make them
work again when they stop.<br><br>Electric boating is
sufficiently non-mainstream at this point that my desire for
"hands-free operation" is a bit too ambitious. I need to know
something about how all this works. But electric boat
propulsion has been around for a long time and there are
lots of DC electric propulsions systems in place right
now (golf carts are one example) that I dont need to
re-invent the wheel unless I insist on it. The more
"far-out" and esoteric the system I install, the less
likely Ill find someone who can troubleshoot and fix it
for me.<br><br>When I first decided that Amber should
be electric I had a hard time keeping amps and volts
straight in my mind. I calculated and recalculated what I
thought her power needs would be (she was designed for a
diesel) and what her range would be for various battery
bank configurations. But in the end, as I talked to
people, I realized that the variances in the discussions
were shrinking and I was definitely in the ballpark.
Finally I just decided to go for it and, happily, found
that my calculations had all been on the low side.
<br><br>So my advice (until companies are manufacturing
"packages" as Paul suggests) is to start with the hp
requirements of the existing designeither based on the engine
to be replaced or on the design. Divide that by 4 or
so to get the roughly equivalent electric hp rating
and then price out the system from a component
supplier. <br><br>Don is certainly right that the right
prop and reduction is the next step. The general idea
there is that bigger prop diameter, steeper pitch, and
slower shaft speed are all desirable in comparison to
the internal combustion engine you are replacing. But
the exact combo is subject, to some extent, to trial
and error and the swapping out of those components is
not an expensive proposition anyway.<br><br>Larry
