Reuben, you are onto something now with your latest concept. Being able to be shipped in a 40' container would open up markets that already are more accepting of e-boats such as SA, NZ, Australia, France, and pretty much Europe in general. The retractable ama system like the Drangonfly high end trimaran allows using a normal slip at a marina. Costs of a single hull, single propulsion are reduced, allowing a new build to be sold in the $200K~$300K market which for a purpose designed boat that meets my needs is a deal closer. My needs would include ocean crossing capability even if a 24 hour run is only 65 nm, but more is better. All electric galley, all the way down to an electric BBQ on the railing which I am currently using. Being able to charge an electric dinghy from the mothership. I do not want propane or gasoline on board. A main berth and a quarter berth is all I require, but two regular size berths would be more marketable. And something that always seems to be missing on all smaller boats, a Nav station large enough to handle a chart, instruments, and HF SSB radio. On that subject, when the hull is laid include a good counterpoise for HF radio operations. Of course fridge, freezer (large for those slow ocean passages) and lighting should be all energy efficient, like LED lights. The propulsion bank at 48 volts should also serve the inverter so a heavy AC gen set is not required because the hybrid drive, solar and storage of the batteries will provide all the AC voltage you would need.
And your right, long and lean are the way to go. When one of our ships are stretched and kept the same beam, even though heavier in displacement, it would return a better fuel burn. My own little kayak requires only 32 w-hr per mile, so with (8) Winston 100 a-hr cells has a range of 80 nm, great for kayak camping.
Reuben, the above would be my dream boat. I have worked with companies in the past with sponsorship of my EV racing and I don't see why you couldn't do the same for the prototype that I would purchase from you to really wring out and show proof of concept. I have crossed oceans more times than I can remember and feel comfortable in that setting. Winston batteries is trying to find a market for their amazing cells, and as you mentioned, the baby boomers that represent the largest population bubble are coming into their retirement years with a bit less income than they had hoped for.
Reuben, keep your ideas flowing on this and other forums. Make life simple and copy and paste to other forums for feedback. I found this forum only because it is a sister forum to the Cruiser's Forum where I have 2900 posts.
