Maybe just use a little less...

For going on decades, I've been an advocate for electric propulsion. While I'm enthused that electric propulsion is no longer a freak show, I do have some reservations about an all-electric boat.

I grew up at a time where if you were on a boat, electricity was hard to come by and something of a luxury. I still tend to think of electrics on boats being somewhat 'iffy'.

Sure, we can now throw money at a bunch of solar, install a shitload of lithium batteries, and have an electrical system that will support a medium-sized village but, the question remains do we really want to?

Take a look at this solar array...

Having had electric propulsion on a similar sized boat (34-feet) I grok that the array is just about big enough for someone's idea of what normal power consumption should be for a modern convenience based lifestyle. The problem arises by the simple fact that a 34-foot boat is just not designed to carry a thousand watt array. Sure, it's possible but I shudder to think about sitting out a hurricane or big squall with that kind of windage over my head.

Then there's the vicious consumption spiral of adding an air fryer or whatever is the current must-have-amp-hungry-appliance on the must have list which requires even more solar. Which, as we all know, is the gateway drug to a bigger boat.

Throw in my general distrust of anything electrical on a cruising boat and you can see why I seldom think the answer to any issue on a boat is more power of the electrical sort.

Which is all a roundabout way of saying I'm currently considering adding Starlink to the boat but jumping through all sorts of hoops to justify it in our energy budget. Since I really don't have room for another 200-watts of solar it would seem the most obvious solution is to use less amps elsewhere and tighten the belt energy wise.

I expect I'll be moaning more about the process in the not too distant future.

$0.29 a day...

What with the push for induction stoves for boats, the current news that gas stoves may be less than healthy, and the fact that I'd love to lessen the amount of fossil fuels aboard. So, hardly surprising I've found myself thinking about the various alternatives to propane lately.

The main issue with going electric is that , for someone who cooks a lot, the energy budget for induction is pretty hefty requiring a bigger battery bank and more solar panels than I have room for aboard "So It Goes". Sure I could add a genset but then I'd still be burning fossil fuels. By my calculations I'd really need to move up to a bigger boat if going with more solar. Something of a conundrum is it not?

Propane biggest selling point is that it's cheap. Our current cost per day for propane is $0.29 a day and we cook a lot. That's a whole lot less than alcohol, kerosene, or any sort of electric system that's available when all things are considered.

Granted propane gets a bad reputation regarding hassle factor and availability but sense we get between 75 to 90 days from a 20 pound tank (and we have two) so we can go close to six months with out having to refill. Off hand I can say that we've never been more that three months away from a place where we can top off our propane bottles.

I'm still open-minded but I'll have to see some serious improvements in electric before I jettison the propane in favor of some other source of cooking.

Some low-budget DIY wonderfullness...

A boat-worthy project worth checking out.

Avoiding the bigger/more expensive death spiral...

On, "So It Goes" we have  a 400-amp hour battery bank made up of lead acid golf cart batteries with 350-watts of solar panels being the prime charging input. I should also note that I have two 50-watt panels that I have not included as they currently need repair (so much for lifetime warranties) that I have not got around to fixing yet and the jury is still out on whether or not I can actually fix them.

I mention this because, like most cruising boats, "So It Goes" could use a kiss more power generation and storage. Now, the current group-think mindset where power is concerned is to simply throw out the existing system and replace it with new state-of-the-art components. Which would entail..

• Throwing out batteries that have at least two years of remaining life.
• Buying new batteries/charger of the Lithium sort.
• Buying new solar panels.

Now, I'll be the first person to admit that new batteries and solar panels have some real advantages. for starters, as solar tech continues to improve the size to power ratio, it would enable me to have more charging watts with a smaller footprint which is a big advantage in deploying panels on a 50-year old 34-foot boat. New batteries with a bit more capacity would be no bad thing and, while I'm impressed with the claims of Lithium performance, I can't quite get past the fact that I have to replace every six-months the lithium battery that powers the computer I'm currently typing this on. 

The fact is that replacing the current system would, at best, be a small improvement to the overall system that actually works pretty well. As it stands and as lithium, as a system, is still in flux with several alternative systems waiting in the wings I think waiting a bit since prices seem to be coming down on both solar and batteries are concerned makes some sense.

So, how do we improve the system in the meantime?

More on that soonish...