Members' Online Book: How To Buy a Cruising Boat, Chapter 15 of 27

Electric or Diesel-Electric Drives for Voyaging Boats

Published Apr 23, 2013 103 comments Updated April 4, 2018

Solar Panels charging batteries aboard sail boat

I myself, up to a few years ago, thought that diesel electric would become a viable alternative for voyaging sailboats that would solve the age old problem of matching the output of an engine to the power requirements of a propeller across a wide range of RPM settings.

But it turns out that this is a more complex subject than it appears at first look.

Let’s examine the viability of electric and diesel/electric drives for voyaging sailboats.

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Meet the Author

John

John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 12 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

Online Books (Members)

About Online Books

Alternative Energy For Voyaging

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Solar, wind and hydro generation, it’s all here—real practical advice from an experienced voyager who has walked the walk, not just talked the talk.

Anchoring Made Easy—Gear

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Information you need to put together a bullet-poof anchoring system—solid gear recommendations that have been tested in the real world.

Anchoring Made Easy—Technique

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There are few activities in the voyaging life that cause more anxiety and stress than anchoring, so here are the techniques you need to get anchored and stay anchored every time.

Better Offshore Motorboats

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Most sailors have thought about transitioning to a power boat, even if only as a way to stay on the water as we age. Here are the issues and options for a sailor’s power boat.

Boat Design & Selection—Ovni 435

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A sailor with decades of experience as a research boat skipper in demanding conditions builds his dream voyaging boat—we can all learn a lot.

Coming Alongside (Docking) Made Easy

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Online Book on docking (coming alongside) that will truly take the drama out of this every day activity for cruisers both power and sail.

Cruising Boat Electrical Systems

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Here’s how to get the very best from a cruising boat electrical system—real information that works based on 25 years of live-aboard experience.

Cruising Notes—Canada's East Coast

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There are literally thousands of snug harbours on the east coast of Canada—these cruising notes, collected over twenty-five years sailing this coast, will make planning your voyage easier.

Dealing With Seasickness

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Seasickness is the great spoiler of offshore voyaging—tips and wisdom for fighting off the dreaded mal-de-mer and what to do once it strikes.

Engines For Cruising Boats

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An analysis of what makes an ideal cruising boat engine, together with a step-by-step account of a highly successful repower.

Getting Along With Your Crew

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If you can’t get along with your crew, your cruise will not be a success. Chock full of practical tips on crew management.

Getting Out There Cruising

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John, Phyllis, Christopher and Colin write about what you need to do to get out cruising and have fun when you do.

Heavy Weather Tactics

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The options for storm survival from heaving-to to drogue deployment with a step-by-step guide to putting together an easy to deploy and retrieve system.

How To Buy a Cruising Boat

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The critical issues that you need to understand before you buy a cruising boat. Time-tested tips to help you determine what really matters.

Lessons from Losses at Sea

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A look at the loss of several yachts and what we can learn from each—reading this book could save your boat…and maybe your life.

Living The Dream

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Do you dream of sailing in turquoise waters? Join “Pélerin” on a voyage in the Caribbean. Colin weaves a travel tale like only he can.

Maintaining a Cruising Boat

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Often what will really govern how much fun and how safe your cruise will be is how good you are at maintaining your boat.

Navigation and Marine Electronics

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The fruits of a combined century of navigation, much of it before electronic gadgets, and then we relate that experience to modern electronic navigation.

Offshore Sailboat Design

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Knowing the difference between a boat that will work inshore and one that can go to sea could save you from making a terrible and expensive boat-buying mistake.

Person Overboard Prevention & Recovery

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If you fall overboard from a short-handed boat, you are probably not going to be rescued. Tips and procedures that will help keep you and your loved ones on the boat.

And now, notwithstanding the above, includes chapters on recovery.

Sail Handling and Rigging Made Easy

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Setting, reefing and striking sails and doing it in challenging conditions—tips, techniques, gear, sail selection and rigging.

Seamanship

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We all aspire to be competent mariners. This book will point you in the right direction.

Transatlantic On "Pèlerin"

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A different and much more interesting transatlantic than the classic milk run, with valuable voyage planning and execution information.

Voyaging Boats from Boréal

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In the market for a boat to take you to out-of-the-way places in safety? Even if you don’t buy a Boréal, you will learn a huge amount about what makes a good expedition boat.

Watertight Integrity

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There is nothing more important to an offshore boat than keeping the water out. Here are real practical tips.

Weather Reception and Analysis

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Step-by-step methods to receive weather information while offshore and in remote places.

Z-Adventure 40

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A voyaging sailboat that would be ready to take you around the world in safety and comfort for US$200,000.

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© 2002 – 2019 Attainable Adventure Cruising Ltd and the authors, all rights are reserved.

Nothing on this website or in direct communications received from us, or in our articles in the media, should be construed to mean or imply that offshore voyaging is anything other than potentially hazardous. Dangers such as, but not limited to, extreme weather, cold, ice, lack of help or assistance, gear failure, grounding, and falling overboard could injure or kill you and wreck your boat.

Decisions such as, but not limited to, heading offshore, where you go, and how you equip your boat, are yours and yours alone. The information on this web site is based on what has worked for the authors in the past, but that does not mean it will work for you, or that it is the best, or even a good way for you to do things.