Conversion to Electric Engine Almost Complete!

I have to take my hat off to my partners Arnie and Murray as they have almost completed the conversion of our sail boat to an electric engine.  The 20 year diesel has been removed, 8 batteries have been placed and secured, the engine has been mounted, and after a few more tweaks, we will be sailing in August.

Here is what Murray says about our power plant:
"We have eight 12 volt 100 amp-hour batteries installed.  We will hook pairs of those together in parallel to form four 'super' 12 volt 200aH batteries.  Those four super batteries will be connected in series to produce 48 volts at 200 aH".  I believe they are about 75 lbs each.

I am not sure what the heck that means, but I think it's good.  Bottomline: we hope to have a cruising range, under motor, of 19 nautical miles at 4 knots.  In an average day sail on the bay, we used our trusty diesel about .5 to 1 mile a day.  Mostly to get in and out of the marina and motoring to a lunch spot for instance.  Our hope is that we will still be able to to enjoy 5-6 day trips up the Napa River (we will have charging available at our destinations), the Delta and beyond. 

They say it costs about .15 cents to charge the batteries after a day sail.  We shall see.  My partners and I are very excited about our decision to go green.  There will be very little sound from the motor, no maintenance, and no more fuel or oil on board.  The final cost will be about $9k.  Split between 5 partners helps a bunch.

Here is a picture of the newly mounted engine:

If you are interested in finding out more about our power plant provider, click
here.

Here is our old diesel being carted off.  This engine brought a ton of good times into our lives!  After my partners pulled it, an ad was placed on Craigslist for a free engine.   The next day, two engine less sailors came and took her away.  I wish them luck in repairing her and placing her on their boat.  We chose to replace our engine with an electric motor after this engine developed oil leaks due to saltwater corrosion ( the salt water is drawn from the bay to cool the engine).  Thanks for all the great times and getting us on the bay!!