Electric Power

[idlerboat 116]

[chic014 0]

Interested to hear about repowering old Keeler with electric.

 

How much are we talking?

[Guest]

might just buy myself a shotgun. The thought of those damn things flying about suburbia brings out the hunter in me and , thankfully, no killing involved. Now that's great sport!

[wheels 543]

Interested to hear about repowering old Keeler with electric.

Just like with anything, the reply is, it depends.

So the questions are, size of boat, what you are wanting to actually do with motor (i.e. just in out of marina or motor for extended periods) Ability to recharge. And the list goes on.

[wheels 543]

IB, I think our "thinking" has to get away from a chemical process of producing power, as in a battery type process. It uses to many expensive materials and it has a limited life span. Plus the power produced this way tends to be slow in production and for driving high current demand devices like Electric motors, it needs to be more instant demand. Instead we need to look at perhaps a catylitic type process, like the Hydrogen fuel cell process but greatly improved, or something that has not even been thought of yet. There is a lot of very cool stuff being played around with. A more instant on demand power producing device means no battery bank needs to be carried. The current is produced when and only to meet demand.

The problem with present fuel cell technology is that it produces power all the time and that power is wasted unless you can store it or use it, which means a battery again.

 

One idea I have had is a combined Power producing device coupled with the electric motor. So it is one small compact unit. The power producing device is mounted on the front and the electric motor on the back all in one unit not that much bigger than say a small genset. Mount the lot where you would normally mount the engine. Just needs the generation process to be invented.

[Guest]

I've looked int re powering a 32 foot keeler Chic014. Off the shelf to quality system are bit more than a 28 hp diesel. If you do it yourself 90 mile range at 4 or 5 knots, sealed lead acid batteries, roughly $4000. Plus motor around $2000. It was a while ago for these prices so take them with a grain of salt. If motoring slower of course the range increases. With enough solar panels you could motor slowly say 1or 2 knots added to your sailing speed, for zero loss from the batteries. This would be the greatest benefit of going electric in my opinion. Light air sailing on sunny days.

[Guest]

Interested to hear about repowering old Keeler with electric.

 

How much are we talking?

 

Why not a new build?

 

I just think there's a weight saving to be had with a small diesel generator and an electric motor. Also weight distribution advantages. The new flash batteries are quarter of the weight. Seems like a no brainer if you're going mad with carbon fibre.

[Guest]

One advantage is having heaps of power for house loads.

[Guest]

And I can see that it might be easier to arrange a flush fitting retractable leg/prop while sailing.

[Guest]

I Don't see electricity taking off, It's too Dangerous, Those new fangled light bulbs blow and can cause fires. What is wrong with the good old gas light its been around for years and has proven it's reliability.

 

Now I don't know if that is an exact quote or even who said it at the turn of the century but it may have been wheels

[wheels 543]

When the Paris Exhibition closes electric light will close with it and no more be heard of.

- Erasmus Wilson (1878) Professor at Oxford University

What use could this company make of an electrical toy?

- Western Union president William Orton, responding to an offer from Alexander Graham Bell to sell his telephone company to Western Union for $100,000.

Radio has no future.

- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), British mathematician and physicist, ca. 1897.

Well informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value.

- Editorial in the Boston Post (1865)

[Guest]

yeh it was definitely Wheels.

[idlerboat 116]

Agree wheels..but I still think that there is technology that will allow a much greater "storage' that is yet to come.

As you say, not a battery but more like a fuel cell.

I honestly believe, and many may think I am a nut bag...

Will come from cellular engineering.

That is not a simple chemical reaction like a basic battery , but more like a "biological" system.

Now before people go crazy and bring out their pitchforks...methane from sh*t is a biological system.

 

Now just to be blunt. This is what I think will happen.

I dont think that it is with out fault. In fact I think it is down right dangerous.

But I think that this is the technology that will steer the future.

 

Again dont think that I am being nutty...NZ has done some most amazing research with organic solar panels.

 

That is they are "living cells" not just a chemical reaction....(ok the debate is that all things are just a chemical reaction)...

but sigh....

[rigger 47]

What has happened to hydro anyway - are there any plans for new capacity?

 

The greens / environmentalists are protesting them

[wheels 543]

The greens / environmentalists are protesting them

The greens are Amish in disguise, I'm sure of it, because they seem to want us to revert back to the Horse and Cart. But even then, they want modified Horses that don't fart Greenhouse gases.

One issue we do have with Hydro in NZ is that it is all at the farthest end of the Country from where most of the Juice is needed. We have reduced the need of power generation in NZ lately, but the demand would be far in excess of current generation ability if we ended up with a solely Electric powered Vehicle fleet. That is one area of concern that many trying to sell the "electric Vehicle" (Including Train)seem to be ignoring. Imagine the Peak Electrical load on the Grid when everyone comes home from work each evening and Parks their car over their wire free charging device.

[Steve Pope 243]

I would have thought the solution would be to move all power hungry businessess to where most of the the power is generated!! (Te Wai Pounamu ) after all there is going to be even more excess available once the smelter goes!!

Rather like Aucklands traffic jams, why don't central city businesses decentralise and go to where the workers live, Am I missing something here?

Of course the ACC wouldn't have liked that pre amalgamation but now they are running everything, whats not to like??

[Guest]

Show me the figures to back that statement Wheels. Greenies are true heroes. trying to save the planet from evil corporate madness that used to run unchecked. If not for greenies I'd hate to see where we would be now, at least some are out there speaking up for crittures that don't have a voice. As usual Wheels, your trying to be popular by sucking up to certain people.

[Guest]

Define what you think is a greenie Bbay.

[Guest]

I mean the little people who protest to stop dams in wilderness areas, fishing excessively, fish farms in recreational and wildnerness areas. Anti nuclear protesters. People who go out planting native fauna in their spare time, also plant endemic species at home. People who go solar as much as possible. Vegetarians who do so because its kinder to the environment. The list goes on, all truly heroic stuff, going against the trend and standing up for a healthy environment that we cannot live without.

These are the people who stopped DDT. Nuclear in NZ, slaughter of dolphins, the bald eagle from dying out of existence, the list goes on and on. Talking about Greenies in a derogatory fashion is simply idiotic. We owe them a lot.

[Guest]

So you mean most people Bbay.

 

How do you classify a billionaire that owns a massive oil pipeline that spent moonbeams putting in a few 100sq/mts of solar panels, a on-site treatment plant for 95% of the wastes produced and also planted a few 100 acres of forest when building his new house. A hero or another earth destroying corporate tosser?

 

What about a company who has managed to stop many tonnes of never die plastic from being just dumped to live on for centuries in some landfill. A hero or still just another earth destroying corporate?

 

What about New World (and I'd guess the same applies to the other supermarkets) who give the option of paper bags and recyclable bags to their punters of which many still chose to use the plastic bags? Heros or corporate tossers?

 

The days are changing and changing fast. You need to narrow your focus, stop using namby pamby nothing words like 'greenie' and be more respective of those who are actually trying to make the world a cleaner place, be they an individual or a company. To generalise as you do helps no one nor the planet.