Oceanvolt Hybrid Motor

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Is anyone interested in seeing the regen figures from the sea trials of a 57' mono recently built by McConaghy Yachts in Australia with OV Servoprop 15kW motor?

YES YES!

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

About a week ago I asked the question whether anyone wanted real world data on regen. I'll take the absense of any response as a "No".

Yes, would love to see actual data in real conditions with full performance specs (not just isolated data, cherry picked to look good).

[BigBeakie]

OK here goes. This data is from initial sea trials of a Frers 57, an absolutely gorgeous performance cruiser built by McConaghy Yachts just north of Sydney. I visited the boat during construction to examine the Oceanvolt installation in preparation for our build. Meticulous electrical installation, very impressive.

The boat is stunning and excedingly well equiped in every respect, a real credit to the owner and McConaghy. See her here:

https://www.mcconaghyboats.com/frers-57

The owner was very interested in regen for the cruising benefits it would deliver, and he is delighted with the results, as follows:

5 knots boatspeed gave average 400 watts regen
6 knots gave 500 watts
8 knots gave between 900 and 1,100 watts ( from 5 data points)
10 knots gave between 2kW and 2.4kW ( from 5 data points)

The readings on the OV control are not smoothed, so they fluctuate quickly around any value at a given boatspeed. But the exponential increase in power output can be seen from the graphed points. Once you get to 8 knots the power really shoots up.

This, in my opinion, makes the OV regen ideal for performance boats that can cruise at the 8 knot or above range in suitable wind conditions. For battery re-charging, night passages, cloudy cruising grounds where solar under performs, or where there is high household loads with many electrical niceties, or just as an alternative to a genset.

I am told there was no noticeable affect on boatspeed when regen was activated.

[jbinbi]

Fantastic numbers. Even if you said that you lost .5kt to it at 6kts, if you are a long distance cruiser, putting in 40A/hr is tremendous. You could be running air cond, refrig , electronics full time on these numbers. Would like to know what boatspeed loss there really was.

[BigBeakie]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Fantastic numbers. Even if you said that you lost .5kt to it at 6kts, if you are a long distance cruiser, putting in 40A/hr is tremendous. You could be running air cond, refrig , electronics full time on these numbers. Would like to know what boatspeed loss there really was.

Yes he runs alot of appliances, electronics, radar on full time, probably electric bakes a dozen muffins enroute as well.

The people hung up on OV regen robbing boatspeed are assuming, I think, that it is a fixed prop. It isn't. It is a variable pitch feathering prop. It takes hardly any energy to keep it "open" for regen, certainly a tiny fraction of the available wind energy to the sails. That's why any loss of boatspeed is barely noticeable.

[mglonnro]

Super exciting news! Oceanvolt will be supplying Sailing La Vagabonde the electric propulsion for their emissions free boat project! We are so proud to be a part of this project with little Lenny, Elayna & Riley!

https://oceanvolt.com/oceanvolt-blog...ic-propulsion/

[Yihang]

Originally Posted by mglonnro

https://oceanvolt.com/oceanvolt-blog...ic-propulsion/

I wonder who will win the bidding war for the boat.....

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by Yihang

I wonder who will win the bidding war for the boat.....

I didn't read that carefully but I sort of assumed that it is obviously Outremer and maybe just upgrades to the boat they have? Or are they changing to a Cornell version?

[Yihang]

Originally Posted by mglonnro

I didn't read that carefully but I sort of assumed that it is obviously Outremer and maybe just upgrades to the boat they have? Or are they changing to a Cornell version?

Nah, that wouldn't be big enough for these guys. They talk about a custom boat in a previous video. Go big or go home at this stage. I haven't followed them in a while but it seems they need something big to keep the buzz going.

[BigBeakie]

Some regen data from test sailing the Oceanvolt system on Jimmy Cornell's new electric Outremer:

https://cornellsailing.com/2020/10/a...os-first-sail/

Servoprop regen at 10 kts is 2kW and while ramping up to 14 kts boat speed the regen rose to 6.9kW!

"Honey, you could put a batch of muffins on in the new electric oven if you want..."

[Yihang]

Thats per prop right? So double for a cat. 600w at 6kn or 1200w for a cat is pretty interesting. Assuming you sail a lot. Should serve jimmy Cornell well.

[foamcows]

Was interesting to read the first ten pages and then the last ten pages, going from everyone arguing it will never work to being shown real world numbers indicating it actually can.

Currently starting out our planning process for purchasing a new 40-50 ft cat in the next year or two and trying to figure out what makes more sense... your traditional diesel or the OV servo prop hybrid configuration.

The number that really stands out to me is the distance you can motor on 100 liters of fuel... 325nm (https://oceanvolt.com/twin-saildrive-10/). What I am struggling to find is what is the expected distance one can cruise on a traditional diesel config with 100 liters of fuel?

At the end of the day, miles per liter is all that matters to me.

If I get more miles per liter with the hybrid system motoring versus a normal diesel system, the decision is made because it only gets better from there with electric anytime I am not motoring around.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by foamcows

The number that really stands out to me is the distance you can motor on 100 liters of fuel... 325nm (https://oceanvolt.com/twin-saildrive-10/). What I am struggling to find is what is the expected distance one can cruise on a traditional diesel config with 100 liters of fuel?

At the end of the day, miles per liter is all that matters to me.

If I get more miles per liter with the hybrid system motoring versus a normal diesel system, the decision is made because it only gets better from there with electric anytime I am not motoring around.

We can achieve that sort of mileage with a standard diesel engine. Yacht 31ft and 11,000 lbs and 28hp Volvo Penta. Motoring at 5-5.5 knots in calm seas because there is no wind, we use 1.5 litres per hour. We carry 90L in total, so about 300 NM in total.

[foamcows]

Originally Posted by Pete7

We can achieve that sort of mileage with a standard diesel engine. Yacht 31ft and 11,000 lbs and 28hp Volvo Penta. Motoring at 5-5.5 knots in calm seas because there is no wind, we use 1.5 litres per hour. We carry 90L in total, so about 300 NM in total.

Thanks for the feedback. Couple of questions, do single hull figures pair up well with multihull? Also, is this a standard datapoint captured for boats? Meaning is this similar to how cars are rated for mpg?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by foamcows

Thanks for the feedback. Couple of questions, do single hull figures pair up well with multihull? Also, is this a standard datapoint captured for boats? Meaning is this similar to how cars are rated for mpg?

Between mono hulls? possibly. A monohull of 44ft will have say 50hp and use 2 or 3x the fuel, but also have 3x the fuel tank. The distance travelled with be higher because the longer hull will achieve a higher speed. Something similar occurs with run arounds and ribs. Doesn't seem to matter if its a 60hp outboard or 200hp, they all do 1-1.5lpm in cruising mode, one just goes much faster.

Can't comment on cats, but lighter weight and less drag ought to work in their favour. If you are motor sailing a cat, then some folding propellers can use all all the power supplied at even low revs very efficiently. Worth looking at Bruntons propellers as an example.

However, be aware what can be calculated in flat calm water goes out the window when its blowing a hooley. Motoring into even small or medium waves will make a big difference to the amount fuel used and speed.

Oh and you will want to keep a reserve in that fuel tank too.

Pete