Thoosa 12000 system

[Tor]

Dan,

 

What do you figure the entire conversion is going to cost?

 

Tor

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Silverheels, P-424 #17

http://www.silverheels.us

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[ewanoleary]

Mine is running at around $15,500 at present, with an electric yacht QT20, a more powerful unit than the thoosa. I’m also using Carbon foam batteries, so I should get much better discharge/recharge cycles than regular lead acid batteries.

It may go up as I’m keen on getting a 5-blade Maxprop, which is not exactly cheap.

I’ll be publishing a full set of project posts soon.

With humility and gratitude.

Ewan
—
Ewan O’Leary
Enterprise Agile Coach | Leadership Development | Integral Agile
Find Your Purpose
+1.617.300.0665

[kalinowski]

Aloha Ewan:  I have to ask what the benefit and cost of the 5 blade prop is.  I never really checked out differences in props as I recently put a new 18″LH12 3 blade on the boat.  

I’m projecting my conversion costs to run around $14k.  This includes the system, batteries, chargers, and yard fees.

I purchased 6 vertical Northstar AGM  thin plate batteries and 2 top drawer charger units.  Reason:  my son works at West so I got all that at half price.  I might add more batteries moving forward.  I’ll be interested in your experience with the carbon foam units.

One of the main reasons I selected Thoosa was the fact that they have a rep on Mau’i who will assist with installation and be along for the sea trial.  It’s a long way away out here!  They also offer a 7 year warranty.  

One question I never got an answer on about the QT 20 was whether the 20kw was continuous as it’s billed as “max”.

As so called “pioneers” by the group, it will be interesting to compare notes for the benefit of all.

Dan

Jolly Lama #135

Keehi Lagoon, O’ahu

[Earlaa]

Ive been thinking about this conversion, and see some very beneficial aspects.  The item which gets my attention, is the battery size, weight and placement.  I know you must have given this much consideration.  So, are the carbon foam batteries sealed, and where are you going to place them for best weight and moment consideration?

I really like this idea, just want more info and ideas for it.

Best from Bremerton WA.

Earl Stevens (who wishes he had a 424)

Sent from my iPad

[RichCarter]

Discussions in the past haven’t resolved questions about battery capacity problems. Perhaps there is a new technology for battery storage but if so I haven’t heard it. Has someone found something more cost effective than golf-cart batteries?

If we assume that an equivalent 25HP shaft rating is enough to move a 424 at a modest speed of about 6kts, we’d need about 70 golf-cart batteries to get just 10 hours of running time. These would weight about 5000 lbs. I’m not sure the batteries would last very long if you continually deep discharged them so you might want to reduce running time to 5 hrs unless absolutely necessary. I can’t imagine cruising with less capacity. I don’t know where you’d put them. They might fit where the engine and fuel tank were but then the weight would have a negative impact on trim. If you get them at a good price, you might pay $100 ea. This comes to about $7K.

I must be missing something.

Rich

—– Original Message —–

[kalinowski]

Aloha Rich:  I believe the missing parts of your analysis are how the boat will be used, and regeneration.

The electric system will work for us as we don’t envision long passages.  We will use the boat for day sailing as well as interisland excursions here in Hawai’i.  As the wind is almost always blowing here in the Sandwich Isles, our motor usage will be in and out of harbors.  Analysis shows that we can expect about 3 hours run time at 5.5 knots and around 4.5 at 4 knots before recharging.  This more than meets our needs.

Our present battery bank consists of six 180 ah Northstars.  I may add more.  The weight is roughly equivalent to the old W58, not counting fuel & tank.

The motor will generate juice from prop rotation.  I’m also exploring the new flexible solar panels from UK that are mounted in the sail material.  Of course,  a wind generator is perfect out here.  These regeneration options can be added anytime after the basic system is installed.

Dan

S/V Jolly Lama #135

Keehi Lagoon, O’ahu

[Author]

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