Has any one converted their Bayliner from petrol (gas) to electric?-gctid404163

[Guest]

Here in the UK we are paying $10.96 per gallon of petrol at our marina. A round trip last year of 44 miles cost us £190 ($298) at an average cruising speed of 22 knots. In 2 years time we could be paying double!

We have Mirage, a 1997 Bayliner 2855 with a Mercruiser 7.4 in very good clean condition that we use most week ends as a "second home", summer and winter. However, as fuel costs will continue to increase we are seriously considering converting her to electric power. Rather than attempting to "reinvent the wheel", we would like to hear from any one who has already carried out such a conversion. We look forward to hearing from you!

[706jim]

If you do this conversion, be prepared to be cruising sloooooooowly through the water.

The energy density is just not there yet for battery powered pleasure boats unless you don't mind travelling at 2mph. Gas is 6 bucks per gallon over here in Canada and we produce the stuff. Still a bargain when you see the energy it contains.

[2850Bounty]

Even if something like this was feasible, can you imagine how many batteries would be required, the weight of them, and the weight of an electric motor that was capable of the HP and Torque required?????

Now you'll need a switching mechanism also.

You'd also need to find a good method for re-charging.

.

[Guest]

I have a Prius. Some of the drive system is high voltage. That is very dangerous stuff to be playing with. You could find a wrecked Prius and use the batteries. But the controls, shifting, and wiring would not be something I want to get into. And as Rick said, it would be very slow with a very short range. A small European cruiser with a tiny Yanmar diesel would be what I would get. You can have the same amenities and cruise at 5 mph.

[Guest]

Electrify wrote:
.. A round trip last year of 44 miles cost us £190 ($298) at an average cruising speed of 22 knots...

Does that mean you want to use battery power only to move a 28 footer 22 miles before recharge? We would be talking about displacement speeds here then, correct? We have had a number folks convert to smaller diesel engines, but I can't think of any who have done electric.

[Guest]

I once knew a guy who installed an electric motor in a Rawson 30 sailboat and powered it with some sort of hydrogen setup - I don't recall the particulars. The boat could do about 5 knots but not for very long. It seemed like a waste of time to me but the owner enjoyed it.

[Alaskanmutt]

I have a dozen files on how to produce hydrox from water (not hydrogen but browns gas)

It would be cool to be able to say my boat floats on and runs on water. The theory is sound.

Unfortunatley most say you need stainless steel valves and ceramic coated cylinders and stainless exhaust.

This is due to the corrosiveness of the gas

Most require no modification (well except for the stainless steel and ceramic)

I was thinking on trying on my ATV one of these days.

[RinnyBeth]

706jim wrote:
If you do this conversion, be prepared to be cruising sloooooooowly through the water.

The energy density is just not there yet for battery powered pleasure boats unless you don't mind travelling at 2mph. Gas is 6 bucks per gallon over here in Canada and we produce the stuff. Still a bargain when you see the energy it contains.

here in Alaska home of the Trans Alaska Pipeline, we pay 4.49per gallon at the marina dock.... we produce the stuff, however we dont process it.. have to send south, then send back... screwed by the middle-man

[Rocky_Road]

I am shocked to think that anyone here thought that this was a serious question....

Happy (wind farm) boating!

[Guest]

Check the internet for electric kit car conversion. There are a lot of companies that sell all the parts to convert a car to electric. Also that technology has come so far and is advancing so fast it's amazing. Another source would to get the past years worth of Kitplane magazine. They now have a whole section dedicated to alternative engine sources. There was a contest like the X prize where a private firm just put the first man in space, only this was for an electric airplane. If I remember correctly the winner carried 4 people 200 miles at 200 MPH.

[Guest]

Rocky_Road wrote:
I am shocked to think that anyone here thought that this was a serious question....

Well, its a chance to think outside the box.

Today, it looks like a https://"http://www.fuelcellstore.co...watt fuel cell can be purchased for about $22,000 U.S. A quick calculation says that produces about 6.7 hp. I'm guessing that would be about 5 at the prop, after conversion through an electric motor.

So, if one waits for a 2-for-1 sale, then you could have 10 hp at the prop. Pack along some hydrogen tanks and, voila !! - you have your displacement propulsion.

[Rocky_Road]

wildman wrote:
Well, its a chance to think outside the box.

Today, it looks like a https://"http://www.fuelcellstore.co...watt fuel cell can be purchased for about $22,000 U.S. A quick calculation says that produces about 6.7 hp. I'm guessing that would be about 5 at the prop, after conversion through an electric motor.

So, if one waits for a 2-for-1 sale, then you could have 10 hp at the prop. Pack along some hydrogen tanks and, voila !! - you have your displacement propulsion.

You just earned a positive "rep reply" from me (lower star on the bottom left corner) for doing some serious research to this proposition.

The numbers are in: This is doable, if you are willing to cruise at wake speed for all of your outing...and willing to call for help about 2.5 hours into your planned event.

Then you will be calling upon a fossil fuelled boat to get you home.

Happy Al Gore boating!

[Guest]

I have a cabin.

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/708052=30103-Boat on the hard..jpg[/img]And I have a boat.

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/708052=30104-Dingy.jpg[/img]In our short season 6 months, the cabin does go out 4 to 6 times but we use the dingy as a way of gettting around. We can do 10 people and get there fairly fast.

[Guest]

I hear they still make sail boats that use the FREE wind if your really in need of an alternate source of power for your boating pleasure...... :drama:drama:drama:drama

[nw-cruising]

They make a prototype all electric ski boat.

http://www.ltsmarine.com/EN/watersport-pack/

Here's a chart of energy densitys

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Energy_density.svg

The big problem as mentioned above is even good batteries are about 20x less dense than diesel. So going at a planing speed is going to be very hard to do for long. If you want to do hull speed or less that's a different ballgame since boat length plays a latger part than weight. Know the US Navy is deploying electric hybrid harbor tugs designed to work largely off battery power but they keep a set of diesels in reserve to guarantee availability.

Short version is hull speed all electric is probablygoing to be doable in the next few years but planning seems to require a brake through in battery energy density.