Ocean Strider as you may already know, has renewable energy sources, a 7-kilowatt, Lynch Marlin 48v DC electric, direct drive, propulsion system. I installed the renewable energy sources and propulsion system. It’s been 100% reliable so far. I have no reason to doubt the system will be reliable in the future.
The electric propulsion system regenerates power to charge the batteries, by using the propeller to turn the motor when Ocean Strider is sailing at 5 knots water speed or more. I don’t have charge figures for this but it’s very good.
We have safely sailed (Jeanette and I) from Maryport in the UK to Grenada in the Caribbean. Visiting many places on our travels. Using no diesel fuel for propulsion.
One of the many Gafiti paintings in Guadeloupe. Travel the world on FREE energy and look after the planet at the same time. It makes you feel good!
Her fuel tank is 8 x 200-amp Lucas VRLA batteries. Making 1600 amp at 12v DC or on Ocean Strider 400 amp at 48v DC.
There are renewable energy sources feeding the batteries. They are 400 watts of solar power and a Rutland 1200 / 48v wind generator that makes a maximum of 493 watts. Neither give maximum charge at any time but they work well together.
The Rutland wind generator has its own controller, I’m very impressed with the whole Rutland systems performance.
The solar power is controlled through a 3000watt inverter charger, which has a MPPT charge controller built in. This piece of equipment works really well.
I have a 48v DC to 12v DC converter connected directly to the 48v battery bank. Which converts the 48v DC battery bank output to 12 v DC for leisure use. Which also works very well, I always have maximum voltage 13.4v DC supplied to my leisure equipment.
I have a 240v AC cool box fridge, which is always turned on, and kept full for maximum efficiency. Ocean strider has 240v AC and 12v DC throughout and has only basic equipment, no air con or luxuries.
The whole boat, including the mast uses LED bulbs, to keep power usage to a minimum.
I use a Torqeedo Travel 1103 to power the dinghy, which I use daily when at anchor. I charge the battery on the boat using the renewable power we have installed on Ocean Strider. No fossil fuel for the dinghy.
For battery information:
For battery information, I use a Victron BMV700 battery monitor. Which simply displays very important and useful information. Without this monitor it would be almost impossible to anticipate the systems range and look after the batteries.
I doubted VRLA batteries would be good enough to sustain our needs, but those doubts have happily been proven wrong. As with all new things, adapting through experience is the key.
I have no doubt that good quality lithium batteries would perform better and last longer, but we didn’t have the budget. The VRLA, lead acid battery bank we have, has been performing well for more than 2 years and is showing no signs of failure.
I may be wrong, but the limitations of propulsion equipment and batteries would at the moment lead to lots of sail yacht users having to become better sailers, and to not depend so much on their auxiliary engines. You could say that this idea is moving in the wrong direction, but I believe the opposite. We have sail boats to sail!
This is just my opinion, after miles of sailing. Sailing has moved in the wrong direction and is catering for users that no longer have time to sail. Many now motor from A to B, sails are almost a fashion accessory.
I’m in the Caribbean the perfect place to harvest renewable energy. Big catamarans are the dominant sailing yacht and have so much room for solar and wind generation. Most who own them are very wealthy, shouldn’t they be showing us the way in the Caribbean.
Is the sailing boat the perfect vehicle to use and show what electric drives are capable of achieving?
