Electric Yacht, electric motor, trial run

The smiles on our faces says it all. Lorne has done a wonderful job of completing the electric motor installation with the help of Electric Yacht who have supplied the motor, controller, and monitoring system. With the final throttle mechanism supplied by Electric Yachts installed and the monitor screen installed where the old ignition system controls were we were ready to head out for our first trial run.

Up and down Toronto Harbour we go at 4-5 knots, keeping pace with the other sailboats motoring out for race night. She handles beautifully and easily coming out of the slip. The throttle mechanism is responsive and easy to use. For our trial run I pull the release on the throttle and ease it back in reverse. Ian (Dad) and Lorne release the dock lines and off we go. Once we are out of the slip moving nicely backwards with full steerage I make the switch to forward. I first slow reverse and it then clicks into neutral. The boat is silent as we continue moving backwards. I then pull the release and easy the throttle forward. She responds quickly and powerfully forward with great steerage. We pull quickly out of the QCYC docks and out into the Toronto Harbour at a medium speed.

As a part of our trial run Lorne is checking the sounds and vibrations below in the motor room, reviewing the RPM/Volts/Amps/Hours Remaining/Charge Level as we go. All looks good. We make 4-5 knots at full power. Lorne thinks we will do better once we change the propellor (it is currently a small retractable one that is not correctly sized to give us optimal power nor charge when under sail). Quite astonishingly we are talking and discussing the wonderful experience without having to shout and yell above the engine noise. There is a whirring noise from the electric but it is certainly nowhere near as noisy as a gas or diesel engine...something we will no doubt now take for granted.

After a forty five minute cruise we are still with 95% charge. The monitor on the port side near the helm is amazing. It constantly updates us with the critical "hours" remaining so that we can determine how far we can go under the current battery state. Of course the number fluctuates as we increase and decrease speed. By slowing down we significantly increase the hours we can run the electric motor. Of course the slower speeds means we'll make less distance. The quick calculations we do then is to say how many knots are we doing and then with the battery monitor telling us remaining hours on the batteries we can determine how far we can go. We think the optimal speed with the current prop which needs to be changed is about 3-4 knots. We should be able to get around 3 hours of run time with our 4 AGM batteries with the current setup at that say 3 knots speed. That should take us around Toronto Island for instance.

All and all a great trial run. What a thrill to have worked through all the details and have this wonderful system working. Lorne from Genco as well as Bill and Scott from Electric Yacht have done a fantastic job. Actual hours to install the electric motor system, batteries and electronics looks to be about two or three days. According to Lorne installing the new electric motor system was far easier than rewiring the 40 year old boat.

Well, now it is time to go sailing. See you out on the lake this weekend folks...we'll be the quiet boat motoring out of QCYC. Thanks again to Lorne, Bill and Scott. Great work and a wonderful project. Well done. This is the future!