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Food for thought: Diesel or Electric outboard run off generator?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Quinn
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Bob Quinn

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  1. OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
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53' MOTOR YACHT (1969 - 1988)
Just bored, wondering if anyone has ever put either a diesel outboard on a Hatteras or an electric motor outboard to get trawler efficiency?

Getting my popcorn :cool::cool:
 
I looked at a Hatteras rpm fuel use curve for 8v71 ti's and 5gph per motor at around 1400 rpm gets you about 100 hp. So I looked at a yamaha 200hp gas outboard and it uses 9.5 gph at 4000 rpm and 14.4 at 5000 rpm. I'm guessing that 200 hp mark is somewhere in that rpm range. If 2 8v71's use 5 gph each when at about the 100hp rpm point then that's a win for the diesels.

While these are not exact numbers it really makes me think the dd's are more efficient than I previously "felt" they were. I figured they were burning a lot of extra fuel and not efficient when running slow. This makes me think otherwise.

Someone out there has to have tried it. Maybe they won't admit it LOL!
or maybe the fact that the prop would only be halfway to the bottom of the hull would prevent it from working efficiently at all.
 
SKYCHENEY said:
I happen to have a 350hp electric motor on a rock crusher. It weighs over 1 ton so I doubt that is actually a 350hp electric motor.
Click to expand...

I just looked at used Tesla motors that I think are 350 hp, they didn't look like anything larger than what I would call a traditional lets say 20 or 30 hp electric motor.
So I don't know how they do that.

Doing some quick conversions, with the largest car battery out there, it could run at 200hp for meah about an hour. LOL Better fire up that generator or have some really kick ass solar panels! The good new is you only need about 8800 sq ft of solar panels to generate 150kw i.e. the equivalent of about 200hp. LOL

But the motors were cheap! Like 1800 bucks or something like that.
I don't know much about them, maybe they have one on each wheel to achieve the 350 hp. The torque is good though, so maybe that would help with a boat.

It's coming. battery density is improving and will improve fast. Motor power density is improving fast too. I remember seeing a 1 or maybe 3/4 hp motor from way back probably from the 60's that today would be 5 or 10 hp. I have recently seen servo motors that are 1 or 2 hp that are half the size they were 5 years ago. tick tock what will time bring?
 
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Diesel/electric has always proven to offer the best in MPG. From trains to boats, when you need more power to go faster or move more weight, just fire up another generator.
For small boats, this also applies.

I remember a conversion with twin inboards, 3 Siemens motors per shaft, 2 gen sets.
The faster you wanted to go, you enabled more motors, went to the larger gen-set, or for all out speed, Both gen-sets and all 6 motors. Boat went faster than the original gas (LBC) boat and consumed < 1/3 the fuel at speed. This also out preformed the factory diesel option MPG numbers.
The smaller gen-set and one motor per shaft resulted in trawler hull speed and a sip of fuel.
This was done near 30 years ago. So the gripe would better be,, Whisky Tango Foxtrot., What happened to further develop this?
IDK.

Remember, electric motors deliver more torque and properly loaded diesel gen-sets have less emissions per KW.

Now trying to compare any small diameter propped outboards to pushing anything like a displacement trawler,,,, I question well. Traction (minimum slip) is always required when moving at hull speed for economy.

Now, before some get bent, I'm not talking about canoes or prams..

Anybody have a clue how much energy or environmental waist is involved in manufacturing the cheapest solar panel and battery sets? No green here but the money spent.
 
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Captain Ralph said:
Diesel/electric has always proven to offer the best in MPG. From trains to boats, when you need more power to go faster or move more weight, just fire up another generator.
For small boats, this also applies.
I remember a conversion with twin inboards, 3 Siemens motors per shaft, 2 gen sets.

The faster you wanted to go, you emabled more motors, went to the larger gen-set, or for all out speed, Both gen-sets amd all 6 motors. Boat went faster than the original gas (LBC) boat and consumed 1/3 the fuel at speed.
The smaller gen-set and one motor resulted in trawler hull speed and a sip of fuel.

Remember, electric motors deliver more torque and properly loaded diesel gen-sets have less emissions per KW.

Now trying to compare any small diameter propped outboards to pushing anything like a displacement trawler,,,, I question well. Traction (minimum slip) is always required when moving at hull speed for economy.

Now, before some get bent, I'm not talking about canoes or prams..
Click to expand...


What was the size of this converted ship?
Interesting as I have also seen large earth movers set up the same way...Hmmmmm

Is this info on this conversion on line anywhere? sounds like an interesting read!
 
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Bob Quinn said:
What was the size of this converted ship?
Interesting as I have also seen large earth movers set up the same way...Hmmmmm

Is this info on this conversion on line anywhere? sounds like an interesting read!
Click to expand...
Mid 30 foot sport cabin cruiser. Boating magazine had it 30+ years ago. I have read it in other places,, not recently.
It was buried with electric city buses.

My great friend pushes a research ship. 6 electric pods, 6 gen-sets.
189 x 32.2 m and out preforms rigs half his displacement. Oh, never drops anchor.
Same theory of operation.
 
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