Welcome to the C&C fraternity, Chandler.
If you want to explore an electric conversion, look up a company called Solomon's Wheel. They are using AC motors and sophisticated electronic controllers to do some interesting things. I've seen a fairly large, hybrid, sport fisherman (about 40' or so) that uses four of their pancake motors (28 HP mounted as 2 tandem installations on 2 prop shafts) and can get the boat up on plane. Unfortunately the battery bank was 2 fairly good size forklift batteries and a 7 KW diesel genset for recharging/surge power as I recall. I have a very nice young lady in my marina who (rather naively, I think) converted her Cal 29-2 to electric power. She has 4 golf cart batteries as a combined 12v motive power-house bank. And gets about 45 minutes of run time out of the system - basically enough time to leave the slip and put up sails. She has had to sail into the slip a few times with dead batteries from running the instruments, VHF, and stereo while sailing. She now carries a 2000W Honda generator on deck so she can recharge batteries and have lights and entertainment when she anchors out. She really needs 4 4d or 8d batteries instead of 4 golf cart batteries, but where the heck could you put them on a 30 foot boat (or a 36)? BTW, electric motors work a lot better at higher voltages. I came from the forklift business, and DC powered trucks are customarily 36 or 48 volts, with the more sophisticated and efficient AC power truck are usually 72 or 80 volt. Conversion of a boat is not just a matter of dropping in an small forklift motor. Get a competent mechanic to look at your existing engine. You said it need a head gasket - no biggie. If you need a new engine get a price for a Beta or a Universal, both are marineized Kubota industrial diesels and probably accommodate the same pattern of motor mounts as your 3 cylinder Yanmar. Feed your diesel clean fuel and clean air and it will outlive you. Rick Brass Washington, NC From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Fitteral Mindspring via CnC-List Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 4:54 PM To: [email protected] Cc: Fitteral Mindspring <[email protected]> Subject: Stus-List Repowering a C&C 36 to Electric? Hello all, I am on the precipice of being C&C owner and already have a question (actually several). I am purchasing a 1981 C&C 36 which has a sound hull, deck, sails but has the original Yanmar 3GM30 which is overheating and, at a very minimum, needs a new head gasket. Additionally the transmission is a little suspect so I am pursuing my options, one of which is an electric repower/conversion. The quiet, green, instant start and low/no maintenance aspects are all enticing to me. Additionally, the thought of investing a chunk of change on a rebuild of a 40 yr old engine and transmission isn't terribly appealing to me. Another aspect of this is, that while I know a bit about engines, don't have any experience working with marine diesels. While I am always interested in learning, I feel that marine diesels is perhaps a learning rabbit-hole I could avoid. I currently have a smaller (Chrysler 22') boat and am purchasing this boat with the anticipation to take longer day sails, weekend cruises and an occasional longer close-ish to shore trip (no plans for open ocean passages at this time). I do intend to stay under sail whenever possible. I currently have a slip so will have access to shore power when at home, however this may not always be the case on longer trips. I am exploring solar, regen & a portable supplemental generator for re-charging while underway. The C&C 36 currently has navigation, radar, miscellaneous electronics which we need powered. No A/C or heat on the boat nor anticipation of installing them. There is a hot water heater which is currently heated by the diesel engine so would need to convert that to keep the Admiral happy. Looking to see if anyone out there has considered and/or attempted this conversion and would like to get your thoughts and experiences. One of the primary questions (beyond whether I should attempt it at all) is whether to go with a SailDrive or simply drive the existing shaft/prop with the electric. Also, if anyone recommendations for installers in the CT/NY area. The boat is in CT and I am based in NY. I could potentially do it myself since my season is likely shot but wanted to get some configurations/estimates from installers from which I could potentially use to derive configuration ideas. Apologies for the long-winded, multi-part, question but it's a relatively big decision. Thank you in advance, Chandler Rohal TBD C&C 36 Rockaway Park, NY
_______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
