Power Cats for cruising

[IfItsWorthDoing]

FWIW, I am gradually moving forward with my own powercat cruiser commission in the UK - this will be an all-electric 34ft boat for 2 liveaboards (plus occasional guests).

As storage space is limited, I intend to employ 15kW outside pod engines and utilise the spare space in the engine compartments and fuel tank for lithium battery banks. Using composting or incinerating toilets in the heads also frees up the black water tank for further storage.

As this is meant to be a green technology demonstrator (in part as an income generating stream), the gen set will be based on a hydrogen fuel cell. Oceanvolt have run some preliminary displacement/resistance calculations for me and reckon that at a typical cruise speed of 6.7kn the power consumption will be 6.7kW/h. With a generous solar panel estate and multiple wind turbines the hotel & navi power consumption should take care of itself; that suggests that with a 70kW battery bank I can travel all daylight hours at cruising speed, or practically nonstop at 3-4kn. I will keep the forum posted on progress ...

 

[Benthic2]

IfIts: Have you considered supplemental propulsion by kite ?

 

[Mako]

Or a dilithium crystal?

 

[healhustler]

I can't help thinking that the entire marine leisure market is on the cusp of a major green revolution, and yet the main industry players are very slow off the starting blocks - so this might just be the right time for a smaller player to step up to the mark and make a modest fortune in the process?

A few years ago I’d have said “not yet”, but since the invention (and now active patent) of roll-to-roll processing of graphene, even the cells of the current battery tech are going to get thinner & lighter, producing more from less, leading to the increased density we need for just such a project. Samsung has their 1st generation graphene phone battery now on the market. Check out the specs.

The “nextgen” product will likely be integrating graphene for increased conductivity, insulation and even the case itself. Solar will change equally. Graphene paints or wraps will probably end scheduled bottom painting. The “cusp” is the entry into the graphene age. Your nextgen windbreaker could be bullet proof as could be your boat hull. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out.