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Low power sailing, was inexpensive diesel engines
Gawlea!
Shore sounds like a job for two or even three trolling motors in wells, two aft and one foreward. Azipods! Hanging propellors off the ends of the boat is a sure way to whip up the air while props are out of the water in waves. I would use the one foreward, mostly, for easy days marina docking, etc. Should be able to steer it from the v berth in the sun or rain, or remotely, or lock it and and raise it and plug the hole when ready to sail. A fishguard bottom plate could be affixed beneath the prop for maximum convenience and trouble free transformations. A one foot lift might retract the prop and smooth the bottom. If located foreward in the cockpit, it might sit next to the bridge deck step and be innocuous raised or lowered. With two after azipods, crabwise docking could become an exercise in balance, pushing a keel sideways and providing some redundancy. Using all three might permit all sorts. No tranny saves weight for batteries. The generator you will need anyway, if it is a little larger. Spatial accommodations could benefit, if range might suffer, as if fuel economy were most important on a sail boat. With wind no motor is needed, if tradition tells anything. With no wind, auxiliary drive is just that. 3/4 hull speed is very economical. Sailing is an adventure, fun, not many of our livings nor sustenance nor work, but joy and pleasure only. As with golf (I am told) the longer time spent at it the better. Now, if one azipod could charge batteries under sail, you might subsist with solar cells... The windage design of the topsides must accommodate low power manouvering under power or in a breeze. A well balanced low drag topsides plan should be utilized. A comparatively low elevation would be best, as it is in any sailing vessel. I kind of like the idea of raised deck and hull side portlights (a glass bottom?) as opposed to a dog house. Will you ever want for air conditioning? Possibly using one of the wells, a stovepipe heat exchanger with only a small automotive heater radiator underwater and ducted air tubes could provide basic survival cooling. It would stow for sailing, being plugged in and deployed overboard for overnight comfort at anchor. A sump dip tube for the bottom of the stovepipe overboard would evacuate condensed humidity scavenged from the recirculated cabin air. An air to air heat exchanger would provide fresh ventilation. It won't make ice, but such a system could defend your sweaty sanity and restlessness on a muggy night with little weight or energy penalty, requiring only a small fan for air circulation. I can almost envision such an air conditioner in a bag, like a kayak. As well, using an azipod well for a "stick in the mud" anchor, as used on the junks of the Yangtze, might be an additional bonus. Ain't it wonderful, the way one small decision regarding an auxiliary powerplant can affect so many options? Terry K |
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