I took delivery of my 8 batteries last week. They weigh 76 lb/34.5 Kg apiece, for a total of 608 lbs./275.8 kg. I ignored the advice of two drive-by sidewalk superintendents to use a forklift. I hired a young man to carry them, one by one, up the stairs and locate them near their new homes down below. 20 minutes and a few dollars. Each battery weighs about as much as the motor.

They will be put into three double-battery boxes and two single-battery boxes. I made sure I had the right size boxes. The will be strapped to pieces of 3/4" plywood which are lag-screwed to the boat. There has been a lot of fiddling and re-discovering that in many cases, putting new equipment into this boat, there is just enough room.

I will do as much of the installation as I can, before bringing in my marine electrical technician to wire it all up. He will connect the batteries together in series using AWG 2/0 cable and the banks to the motor with AWG 4/0 cable.

The city is as quiet as Boxing Day with the not quite complete lockdown. I continue to go to my boat because I make no close encounter with people. When I'm done, I'll clean up and disinfect any surface areas likely to be contaminated around this job, Then, I'll get my techy in, but separately. We can communicate with Skype or something.

By the way, by the time I got the old diesel motor out, we were well into winter. This winter has proved to be fairly benign so I elected not to put on my custom made cover. We have the most freeze-thaw cycle winters in North America. I did a little shoveling but melting took care of the rest. Annie, you will be pleased to know that not a single seam has opened this year. Another revelation was the serendipitous discovery of two leaks. One between the after deck and the cabin bulkhead and another at the top of the rudder.

Here is a link to a recent demonstration of a previously discussed, electrically powered propulsion system called DeepSpeed.  Like something out of Star Trek. When you look into it, you see only an empty passageway, no blades.

FYI, the previous discussion was based on this:  https://plugboats.com/amazing-new-electric-boat-motor-based-on-fish-fins/

Hi Jim.
The fact that you are now planning for solar power, does that mean that all the bits needed for Stage 1; engine, engine box, batteries, cables, control box, shore power and Honda-generator, with a place to secure it, have been completed already?

If not, remember that the spring is just around the corner.

Tic-tac tic-tac...

Arne

Anonymous wrote:

 As a fellow Canadian, I'd like to take the opportunity to say sorry  :-)  For the first year you'll have enough to do already, so what follows below are just ideas to potentially help refine things subsequently should you find the noise problematic.

-You'd like to get the heat out of the enclosure, keep the sound in and keep the water out.  I'd put the air outlet at the top of the box, but then send it back down a double-walled side with a series of offset 45 degree baffles that redirect and absorb the sound.  This lets you draw the hottest air from the top of the enclosure, and put the outlet at the bottom where it is easier to direct overboard.  The air inlet would be the opposite, grab outside air at the top and then baffle it to the bottom of the enclosure, maybe with some drain holes to deal with any possible water incursion.  I'm sure there are tons of online resources for building a sound enclosure for a Honda 2000i.  Besides soundproofing and directing the exhaust overboard, such an arrangement might let you run the generator in conditions when it might not otherwise be content, such an enclosure could probably shrug off a wave, and should also reduce the spray the engine would otherwise ingest.

- I just finished installing some 120mm computer cooling fans for our fridge compressor.  Noctua makes some that move lots of air, use virtually no power, but importantly for this application are IP67 dust and waterproof.

-The Honda has a 12V DC output that could be used to run a fan or fans independent of the AC.  However, this output is unregulated and electrically noisy, so the electronic computer fan above might not like that.  Two solutions are, use a simple DC motor like a bilge fan (uses more power, but still within the limits of the 2000i DC system), or use a DC-DC converter to feed clean power to the computer fan. I haven't used this particular DC converter, but have used similar ones in the past to get clean 12V power from an outboard motor.

-line the box with the same soundproofing used for inboard engine compartments (foam, with a vinyl mass dampening layer and a shiny mylar outside).

Quiet Nova Scotia anchorages sound lovely.  In summer, the same cannot be said here in BC from Desolation Sound south.  Perhaps that's why the sound of a generator gives me an involuntary twitch.  Bonne chance mon ami.

Thanks for those ideas on box design. I'll keep them in mind. One of them is already included in the package I bought, a DC to DC converter. I have a 48V to 12V converter to keep the 12V house battery charged. That would power the fans underway.  BTW, when the system is not being charged, the house battery is isolated from the propulsion battery bank by a switch to prevent leakage. (I'm using a circuit breaker. 30A at 65V DC max.)

I'm thinking of having a business card made with my contact info and JRA member logo. On the back, I will have printed, "For any inconvenience, I have caused or will cause, I wish to say, "Excuse me. I'm sorry."

Hi Jim

If you are reliant on batteries for auxiliary propulsion then of course you should have a little charging plant for emergencies.

All of these suggested solutions apply to using your generator while in an anchorage. Like most everyone else, you shouldn't need to.

My theory is: if you keep an eye on your batteries while you are motoring, and charge your batteries then, if necessary - then you will never arrive at an anchorage with flat batteries. 

Your use (or not use) of a generating plant while in an anchorage is thus no different from anyone else - and you shouldn't need to.