![Sailing Electra](/img/default-banner.jpg)
- 153
- 281 254
Sailing Electra
Registrace 7. 11. 2006
We're a South African couple who sold up everything and moved to the Med after buying a near wreck of a catamaran. We removed the dead diesels and rebuilt it completely turning it into the fully off-grid solar electric yacht we now live on.
Arriving in Croatia we see something we've never seen before
After a couple of months in northern Italy we finally get to the beautiful Croatia coastline, and at our first anchorage there's something really special in the water...
_______________
Our DIY electric catamaran has the following specs:
-3200W of solar
-14.4kWh 48V battery bank
-2 X 6kW ePropulsion electric outboard motors
#boatlife #electricsailboat #liveaboard #electriccatamaran
_______________
Our DIY electric catamaran has the following specs:
-3200W of solar
-14.4kWh 48V battery bank
-2 X 6kW ePropulsion electric outboard motors
#boatlife #electricsailboat #liveaboard #electriccatamaran
zhlédnutí: 2 014
Video
Haircuts on a boat, and our last stop before leaving Italy
zhlédnutí 1,2KPřed 21 dnem
In this episode we head to Lazaretto for a few days where everyone gets their hair cut onboard!
Leaving the marina for the season, first stop, Grado
zhlédnutí 1,1KPřed měsícem
After waiting for a long time for our new mainsail we finally leave Aprilia Marittima for the last time. Our first stop is the beautiful town of Grado where you get to dock right in the middle of the city for free! #boatlife #electricsailboat #liveaboardlife We live on a 1976 Catalac 9M that's been converted to a fully electric boat. All our energy comes from our solar panels and we use it for ...
Anchoring with nobody around is our favourite!
zhlédnutí 753Před měsícem
We spent a weekend in a beautiful and very quiet anchorage. Had to travel through the Marano Lagoon to get there, motoring through almost no water and got trapped in the grass. When we tried to head back via the sea route we ran into terrible waves so had to turn back for another night. The next day was better and we even got to do some high speed runs in flat water. #electricsailboat #boatlife...
I cut pieces off my boat to make it easier to dock
zhlédnutí 371Před 2 měsíci
Launch day! Finishing a few last minute jobs before splashing the boat. One of those had me cutting pieces off my boat to make it easier to dock... #boatlife #liveaboard #electricsailboat #whathaveidone
A good surprise, a bad surprise and a lot of work!
zhlédnutí 356Před 3 měsíci
Getting closer to splashing meant it was time for sanding and painting the bottom, which lead to the bad surprise. While I was away Candice was busy and I came home to a really good surprise. And finally there's a rush of small jobs to get a boat ready for the water again. Thanks for watching #boatlife #electricsailboat #whathaveidone #liveaboard
The ultimate luxury install on my boat...
zhlédnutí 274Před 4 měsíci
Can you have a dishwasher on a small boat? Definitely! For a small amount of money can get rid of one of our least favourite chores, and save water while doing it then I'm happy to give it a try 🙂 #boatlife #liveaboard #whathaveidone
Replacing the belt on an Autohelm 4000/ST4000 MK1
zhlédnutí 430Před 5 měsíci
Replacing the belt on an Autohelm 4000/ST4000 MK1
Converting a boat to electric: What it costs
zhlédnutí 1,8KPřed 6 měsíci
Converting a boat to electric: What it costs
Help me figure out where my main sheet should go🙏
zhlédnutí 575Před 6 měsíci
Help me figure out where my main sheet should go🙏
Making my anchor light "smart" and a way to find my boat in the dark
zhlédnutí 205Před 6 měsíci
Making my anchor light "smart" and a way to find my boat in the dark
Our last trip of the year was also the bumpiest
zhlédnutí 442Před 8 měsíci
Our last trip of the year was also the bumpiest
What parts I used to build my solar powered yacht
zhlédnutí 3,1KPřed 9 měsíci
What parts I used to build my solar powered yacht
A new crew member, and we finally find the dolphins!
zhlédnutí 1,4KPřed 10 měsíci
A new crew member, and we finally find the dolphins!
A day in the life of a stay at boat dog mom...
zhlédnutí 138Před 10 měsíci
A day in the life of a stay at boat dog mom...
Trapped on our boat because Grado flooded over!
zhlédnutí 295Před 10 měsíci
Trapped on our boat because Grado flooded over!
Arriving to Venice on my solar powered boat!
zhlédnutí 819Před 10 měsíci
Arriving to Venice on my solar powered boat!
How fast can our electric catamaran motor... forever!?!
zhlédnutí 2,8KPřed 11 měsíci
How fast can our electric catamaran motor... forever!?!
Sailing in Italy all going well until we hit our first snag
zhlédnutí 1,5KPřed 11 měsíci
Sailing in Italy all going well until we hit our first snag
Heading north for our longest trip so far on our solar yacht
zhlédnutí 16KPřed rokem
Heading north for our longest trip so far on our solar yacht
The final step in going completely off grid
zhlédnutí 906Před rokem
The final step in going completely off grid
Yet another electric motor, and a big mess.
zhlédnutí 819Před rokem
Yet another electric motor, and a big mess.
Electric motors are running! And I'm running away from them...
zhlédnutí 1,4KPřed rokem
Electric motors are running! And I'm running away from them...
Hey great video Patrick. The solar cat that I'm completing has no rudders. Could you run your cat without the autopilot? What I mean is, have you tried steering the cat solely using the motors? The original builder did plan on using hydraulic steering of the twin outboards. I will probably plumb the hydraulic cables in place, but I've read so many accounts of people just using the motors in marinas for better control, that I'm puzzled why they don't use them for navigating greater distances? Surely you would just need to occasionally, fractionally adjust the power on say one motor to stay on course? Am I missing something?
@@fredflintstone1428 you could steer just with the motors, but they'd need to be mounted wider apart. When I angle my motors I can steer with them, but not with them aimed straight ahead. If they were under the hulls then I could, but not where they're mounted now. Also think about what you'd do if you had no rudder or steerable outboards and lost a motor. You need something that can steer, either the rudder or the motor.
@@SailingElectra My transoms, with the 15kW Aquamot Trend 15.0 outboards will be about 5 metres apart (the cat 's beam is 6m). I thought about an emergency situation, where I might lose one outboard and would carry a rudder (tiller) that could be lowered in a central position and manually controlled. Does that sound feasible?
I can relate so much to the early days of electric bikes. I built one right before they started being made. Ive been doing electric boats for 6 yrs now. People love my boat and ask me lots of questions. But what im building now is my boat one steroids. Bigger boat, bigger motor, more range and speed. If i got a lot of questions before i expect a lot more when this boat is done.
I'd love to see more about your boat, and the new one! Do you have the info posted somewhere?
@SailingElectra no, but I might post it up. I could probably scratch up enough pictures to do a sideshow on the little one. I'm documenting the big ones build, so I might have a good amount to post. CZcams is the only social media I have. I might get a Facebook soon just for the Facebook marketplace. I hate asking other people to use theirs for me.
Wow, you're lucky! I've been living in Croatia for 50 years now and have seen phosphorescence maybe 5 times. It's magical! Have you got a chance to swim in it?
It was dark and I'm from South Africa where swimming at night will get you eaten! I'll build up the courage for next time if it feels less sharky :) Croatia is really beautiful!
@@SailingElectra It is safe mate. Very safe. Both on land and in water. Just relax and enjoy.
I dont understand the science behind the motors being tilted in for docking. Can you enlighten me? Im curious.
@@adamtedder1012 I'm planning a whole video on that, but it's all about levers. Boats turn around the center of mass, more or less the center of the boat, so with my evolves straight ahead you need to imagine a line going straight forward to the middle of the boat which gives me a lever of 0.5m on each side. With the motors tilted at 25 degrees, the line to the center goes forward in that direction and is effectively much wider. By the time that line gets to the middle of the boat is as if the motors are actually 3.9m apart, so the increased leverage is huge. Another day to think of it is how motorboats turn. They don't have a rudder, they just tilt the motor giving a very wide virtual lever to turn the boat. It's kind of hard to picture, but the video will have diagrams to make things easier!
Think the bio is cool sober. Try it on psychedelics. It literally seems like your in the movie Avatar. Its something wild. We have it where I live in the summer. Just like that. I spend a lot of time on the water.
Haha sounds brilliant, I'll put it on my to do list 😁
As always it looks amazing☀🎉
Thanks Yogi. I'm happy to report that it got even more amazing once we got to Damlatia!
Have you changed your camera? The images in this film seemed clearer and with fuller colour? Maybe it was just the light? Great film as always.
Thanks Fred, no, no charge, maybe just lucky with the light. I am trying to use the wide angle lens more, maybe that helps.
I love this, out of all the new electric catamarans (i.e. Silent Yachts) this is only vlog I have found that does a decent breakdown of the speed and consumption in a real world setting, thanks.
@@junasmh thanks for the comment, glad you found it useful!
What is the model of these motors?
@@jonahcombs451 they're ePropulsion Navy 6 Evo's.
Did you have to custom make that frame or is that natural to the boat?
@@jonahcombs451 it's custom but it was on the boat when I bought it, I just had supports added for the solar.
what a nice electric conversion, those outboards angled in work well for docking.
Thanks! Yeah the motors angled make a huge difference. I'll do a video just on them, but the calculations show that it's the same as if they were mounted 3.9m apart. Even further than the inboards used to be apart! It's the difference between me being terrified going into marinas to now having it be almost no stress!
Did everyone get a flea shot with their haircut😅? It looked like a lovely sail!
Yes, we're all flea-proof now. Next episode we'll get our rabies shots, and maybe some cones so we don't chew paws 😂 It was a good easy sail, the previous day was the complete opposite and we ran back to Grado for cover!
Today I’m finishing the aluminum frame on my catamaran. Soon I’ll be joining the electric boats. Thank you for inspiring me! Hope to meet you one day.
Sounds great, hopefully we see you on the water soon!
aluminium
magic
Great trip! Love the areal view of Grado. And you have a new dingy ! Nice !
Thanks Ralf, still the same dinghy as last year though, the one that came with the boat lasted exactly one trip. Got me 5km away from the boat and then split basically all the seams!
I love the humidity checks, brilliant. Your boat is such a nice conversion, well done
Thanks, Candice always makes me laugh!
Fantastic
Thanks
Good to see you back in Grado. Once I get my cat on the water it's a place I'd like to drop in, though my beam is 6m, so might be a bit tight?
Thanks! You should be fine, I saw a 6.5m wide trimaran come in without any issues.
@@SailingElectra Ah, that's good to know. Happy sailing.
Since there is not much space on a sailboat I wonder if you could but a thin flexible or standard panel under the existing panel? Bifacial down side is they are bigger so per SQ FT they are not much advantage. Im sure the sun reflect off the water and any free power would be a bonus. Wonder if anyone has tried this or tested the idea? I guess a way to test would be turn the existing panles upside down and see the power they produce from the sun reflection off the water.
That's a very good question actually! I've become very weight sensitive to adding things to my boat, so I won't be the one to try, but yeah I imagine it would work as well as the extra wattage you get on bifacials. I suspect we'll keep seeing more innovation in this area.
How do such boats manage without a keel ?
The v-shaped hulls were designed to provide the lateral resistance in place of the keels.
You are a Genius 😂
@@PieterOskam I am, but only because I followed your advice! It's working so well, thanks for that!
Nice docking timelapse and music. It would be helpful if the boat specs were in the video description, you could add them as a standard text in the CZcams studio, under settings, upload standards, and description. I tend to forget the model, weight, motor size, battery size, solar array, and so on 🙂 Enjoy the summer on the water
@@LostYogi thanks for the tip, I'll add them. It's a Catalac 9M, weighs 5 tons, has a 14.4kwh battery pack and 3200W of solar.
@@SailingElectra Thank you❤
Great video I’m hoping by next year I will boating around in the Bahamas with solar power boat
Thanks Rob, yeah I can highly recommend it, especially if you have room for a lot of solar!
After watching your vids I really want to do an electric catamaran too. I hate the water but you've changed my mind.
Good to hear. I really enjoy it. I wasn't much of a water person, but I always wanted to live on a boat. I've become much more of a water person though :)
Nice job
Thanks!
Nice, if you head down the Coast, visit Rab island lots of islands to visit and protected bays. Lots of us South African kids there over the summer
Ah great to hear, and yeah the plan is to head in that direction as soon as our new mainsail arrives.
We will be on Rab with our boat 15 july to 16 August. See how it goes, we can meet up for a lekker Braai and Beers
The Adriatic is Beautiful BUT those calm flat waters can quickly change with the Bora. Lightening and thunder and 200km winds. A good tip, chat to local fishermen they know the weather system well
Like your set up, all looks good and totally agree, more panels. One point I noted, you don't have any protection in the form of lightning arrester surge protection on your panels. You might want to look into this, just a suggestion. You have some expensive kit there
Thanks for that. And yeah lightning does worry me. I have no idea what would work to protect it. I've seen some things and then see some people saying they make things worse and that lightning is impossible to protect against. Any advice would be great, at the moment my strategy is simply to not have the tallest mast around :)
Thank you for sharing! Can you tell us how much your boat weighs approximately? I have a cat sailboat that is 6 tons & plan to use your same setup.
Hi David, we're 5 tons. I know a much heavier boat that does similar speeds with similar power levels, so in my opinion drag is far more important than weight.
I missed this one. Did you film the peel ply as I will have to do some for the first time in a couple of months.
No, but it's typically very simple, just treat it like a layer of regular fibreglass except you don't need to add any more resin. It's not even really required, but gives you a great smooth finish.
I am impressed. What’s the weight of this boat? What can you increase the motor speed to without draining the batteries? 8kn and no battery usage.
Thanks! With no wind around 5 knots. The power draw goes up exponentially, so you either need loads of batteries, or to be happy with 4-5 knots.
Interesting setup with the engines! I was wondering how to do that if I ever go for 2 outboards. Thanks
It seems to do the job, so much so that I'm no longer terrified of docking! I need to do some measurements of angles and proper calculations to see how it really compares to wider motor spacing. I'll get onto that soon.
I wondered when you wee going to get out. Sounds like you've been busy. So, you've sorted your sailing situation out and will be under sail as well as electric this season. You've turned her into a HopYacht30
Thanks Fred, It's great to be back on the water. Have had a few day trips so far, but I'm anxiously waiting for the sails to arrive at month end. I'm a big fan of the hopyacht, but personally I wish they would add more solar. They could put an arch across the back with another 3 panels which would make it near perfect in my view. They have twice the battery I do, but I have twice the panels they do. Personally I think more panels wins but I guess it depends on the use. Hopping from port to port and plugging in when you're there is a good use case for more batteries. We don't plug in at all.
😅
Awesome hat. Nice boat too :) Bon voyage from a fellow Catalac sailor
Thanks Peter, i really love my Catalac. Hopefully my mainsail arrives soon and I can actually sail it!
This guy is so hot, he makes me want to live on a boat!
😂I can highly recommend it
Congratulations on the new giant hat!
She's just not allowed to wear it standing on the top deck or we'll lose all our solar!
@@SailingElectra 😅😂😂Good call!
You guys are AWESOME, what a massive achievement! Love your sense of adventure, living your dream, and seeing the world. To many happy and safe sailing adventures :)
Thanks Lisa!
Lovely
Thanks, I really enjoyed that trip too
Finally someone, thank you!
Glad you found it useful Petar
Hi, just a comment about solar panel in series and parallel, you are correct when saying if connected in Parallel and one is in the shade you lose only one panel , but it’s not correct to say, that in the case the two panels are in series and if one is shaded you lose both, and that is because all solar panels have internally the so called by pass Diode, if a panel gets shaded in a series the bypass diode will bypass that one and you keep one working, the same as in parallel 👍
Thanks for the comment Claudio, good to know!
Great video, this is what I want to do with a catamaran. Not sure why the YT algorithm took so long to show me this video, it’s what I am constantly searching for. Look forward to seeing more of your content
Thanks for that. Yeah it's been a fun project and I think electric propulsion makes a lot of sense for catamarans with the amount of space they have for solar. We're back in the water this Friday in fact, so I'll be posting more videos soon!
It's great how the solar, battery and motor technology is starting to make things like this possible. I'm sure we will see further efficiencies over the next few years that just keep improving things.
Yeah I think so too. My guess is that soon sailing will become a pure hobby like horse riding. To move a boat at sailboat speeds people will just use solar electric.
Is that Pula?
Yeah it's where the boat was when I bought it.
any concerns with wireless remote/control? things can go wrong, Bluetooth etc, in which case, can you overwrite with a wired control?
Yeah I've had it happen once that the one remote ran out of battery becausei kept it out of the sun too long. All I had to do was plug it into the cable from the motor again and it switched to wired control and wired charging.
Great video Patrick, but not one I will be replicating. I'm 61 this year and never had a dishwasher in the house. The most interesting thing was the minimal amount of water the unit used. As you say, hand washing would probably use more.
I wouldn't have one just for myself either, but the price was right, there's no effort needed and we definitely save water!
Great job 👍
Thanks!
I have a 78 Oceanic CAT in tampa, I want to find someone who wants to help refit to electric. ..following this video
That's a big boat, I imagine you can have a ton of solar panels! Unfortunately I don't know any experts on your side of the pond, though I'm sure there are a few. I do know an expert in Europe who is actually an American, if you want his details let me know.
Thank you (fellow Saffie) I have just bought a 9M Catalac which has 2 decent Beta 14s in, but some rather dodgy saildrives. I am hoping to convert to electric sooner rather than later. The old saildrives have no spares available, so at some point they will be a dead-end.
Wow another saffa with a 9M, who would have guessed! You're lucky you can sell the motors to get some money back. Mine were dead so I got almost nothing. One thing to consider is outboards vs pods. Doing it again I would seriously consider pods so they're deeper in the water and further apart. Costs are about the same. Where is your boat?
@@SailingElectra Hey I switched to my boat identity. I know, right? Coincidence or Great Minds or what? As soon as I started researching I found your channel. Tomorrow I am off to Lowestoft on the North Sea coast to take delivery. I will be heading for Cowes to 'borrow' a whole lot of gear off my old ferro Endurance 35 (SV Rolling Stone). Then off to the Med via French canals. Where are you? I would so love to see your lovely Catalac! No name for the Catalac yet.
'promosm' 😄
Have you seen the 3kg drawer washing machines? I think LG makes them Definitely another marriage saver..
I haven't seen those. I have a washer onboard but it weighs a ton. I'd love to switch it out with something lighter. And yeah a dishwasher is a luxury, but a washing machine is a must!