Silent running: Going electric on the water

Silently, with just the breeze, is how Charles Wright likes to move around our bays while he is sailing his beautiful yacht. It’s a 28-foot double-ended canoe yawl, a 1955 Herreshoff design, built in Knoxville, Arkansas, 1965. It is powered by a clean, quiet and powerful enough electric motor.

Charlie is an early adopter as he’s been experimenting with electric boating for the past 20 years. Like for many innovators, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. A German Torqeedo motor came first, then a Chinese ePropulsion system; both proved problematic, so Charlie’s electrification journey came with its share of false starts and disappointments. What kept him going was his vison of clean boating and with the unwavering support of Steven Mullie at Eco Boats Australia, Charlie found a system that suited his yacht and his performance expectations.

Charlie describes his system like this:

• 6kW ePropulsion POD motor
• EVO side mount throttle & display
• Flexofold 2-blade folding propeller
• ePropulsion E-163 LiFePo4 battery / 48V / 8,345Wh capacity
• ePropulsion battery charger 48V / 25A (for charging from 240V / 10A standard shore power)
• ePropulsion Solar charger 1600W connected to 6 x Sunman 100W panels
• ePropulsion eBattery external controller (solar switch box)

The journey of trial-and-error Charlie says, has been worth it. “Electric motors have evolved over the last decade to deliver efficient, clean power in a compact, manageable size,” he says. “Best of all, it’s almost completely silent.”

At 4 knots which is the boat’s most efficient speed the motor is barely audible. “I really don’t like the oily smell and heavy rattling sounds of a bulky diesel engine. Going electric was a no-brainer. Why would I put a stinky bit of machinery on my new clean little boat? There are other advantages as well. No warm-up is needed; the motor is instant-on.  Press the button and it goes. There are no oil charges to be done, no fan belts to change.” Another plus Charlie says is that the system makes it fantastic for tight manoeuvring.

On full charge at 4 knots, the e-propulsion system gives him 8 hours of runtime. Push it to 6 knots though and the efficiency drops dramatically to just 1.5 hours. “But for what I do, it’s more than adequate,” he says. “I can get into Pittwater and back from Pretty Beach at 4–5 knots, motor-sailing both ways, and still have 55% capacity left in the battery when I get home. I feel very comfortable with that and I’m navigating a three-ton boat in some pretty tricky water.”

The solar power is stored in two 30kg batteries stashed below decks. They are charged by six flexible 100-watt solar panels that zip onto the boat covers and so they stow away easily when not needed. These panels are available from good camping stores.

Charlie keeps the yacht on a swing mooring in the bay, so solar is doing most of the work: in summer, a sunny run of days is enough to fully recharge; in winter, after a return trip to Pittwater, it takes about a week to top back up. An app lets him check panel performance from shore, so he knows if they’ve been fouled by birds and need a clean before he heads out. If he’s ever caught short, the boat can also recharge at Killcare Marina.

His advice for anyone considering the switch: if your boat sits on a marina berth with shore power, a simple plug-and-play e-propulsion system will do the job. As for cost, there’s an upfront outlay, but with diesel prices climbing, Charlie sees the electric system as a straightforward saving over time.

While we can expect to see more fully electric yachts in the future, there aren’t any in the local bays yet that Charlie knows of. He sees a few local fishermen run small, quiet electric engines for drifting, but nothing at his scale. One notable exception he says is former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who runs the same system on his Etchell on a Sydney Harbour marina using shore power. Someone should remind him about solar.