First I'd like to apologize for my recent silence, there's been a lot on here and we've moved house and <INSERT=EXCUSES> and <INSERT=MORE EXCUSES> so...</(MORE) EXCUSES>
So anyway, I have spent some months building something between a raft and a boat. It's a 5 meters long and 3 meters wide catamaran. The hulls are made from polystyrene foam which I've cut/glued/shaped and painted with a special protective coating. The deck is made from the same kind of wood you would normally use to build a veranda. It will eventually have a home-made mast and sails and I'd like to put a motor on it.
I'd really love that motor to be electric, they're so lovely and quiet and, being a boat, I suppose I don't have the same weight concerns as a car builder would have. I know there are a few electric outboards on the market but I've not seen one powerflul enough to shift anything bigger than a canoe, and they are very expensive (cost is a big thing in this project.)
So, I'd like to build one myself. Here's where the fun starts. The most advanced thing I've ever built that's electric powered is a radio control car from a kit. I don't know aything about what motor to choose, what kind of battery is the best option for a boat, etc etc. Can anyone help me here? Here are some things I've noted that I need to think about when choosing equipment:
1) The boat is heavy and it will be in a slow moving river - I need something with a bit of oomph, I want to feel like I'm really getting somewhere, but this is not a speed boat. I suppose something like 5-10 horsepower would be fine.
2) I want to be able to travel for hours on a single charge, running out of power would be a bad thing since the way home is upstream.
3) I can charge the batteries from it's mooring since I can just run an extention lead down there from the shed, so they don't have to be super light and portable...as long as the boat floats...
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
4) It doesn't have to be an outboard, it's probably easier to build an inboard motor I imagine.
5) I do have a friend who's an electrician if expertise is needed in the installation.
6) The winter can be as low as -20 degrees celcius here (but not likely to go that low these days, although below zero is very common). I don't know how much of an impact that makes on my options.
Any help would be very much appreciated! As I said, I'm totally new to EV building so...
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Ed