John W. Bienko wrote:
New technology to replace the gas and diesel inboard engines.
Check out the Re-E-Power electric engine.
In use on the Queen Elizabeth II and many tugs in the world.

OK, I checked out

http://www.re-e-power.com/

is there any other more detailed info short of bugging them on the
phone? It may be attractive to put in a 24V battery bank & power
system on a 30 footer, provided you can get a good charge regulator
for 120VAC, solar, and wind charge sources. You can run various loads
at 24V much more efficiently, and have a step-down for littler stuff
such as lighting.

It would be most efficient if they could match their propulsion unit
to a controllable-pitch prop too; but that may be a little complex for
many sailors to figure out.

There are a steerable ducted props which are electrically driven on
tugs, IIRC they are high voltage 3-phase AC and not anything likely to
be workable on a small to medium size sailboat. The 'efficient
hydrodynamic design' the Re-E-Power web site talks about is a little
primitive to my eye, but it does look pretty easy to install.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King