Living on an ALL ELECTRIC sailboat for 3 years | Beau and Brandy Sailing


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If you’ve been following our sailing journey since the beginning you’ll know that we’ve been living on an all electric sailboat for 3 years, Saoirse. Meaning, she …

49 replies
  1. Beau and Brandy Sailing
    Beau and Brandy Sailing says:

    Hey ALL! Thanks so much for watching! We hope this was informative for you, we put some links in the description of the video of the things we covered. If you have questions, drop them here or tune into the live next Sunday (link is in the description too) Also, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications!!
    xoxo, B+B

    Reply
  2. sean d'epagnier
    sean d'epagnier says:

    I want to encourage you: you so close! Please get ride of your dingy motor. After, you can join us as engine free sailors! A sailing dingy maybe in your future, the inflatable type is just not efficient despite being popular by high-energy consumers.

    Reply
  3. k 1
    k 1 says:

    Excellent.
    I sea one chap was using his solar panels to catch fresh water he had a hole drilled in the corner with a hose pipe going in to containers. Easy to give a quick clean and run the brackish water off before collecting.

    Reply
  4. Mel's World
    Mel's World says:

    Whhooooooooaaaaaaa The T-shirt . I actually DO love that shirt . I’m gonna get one for sure . Can you guys sign it😱? I can wait love it. Big hugs. If ya can’t sign it that’s okay ? Are there other styles?

    Reply
  5. Brendan White
    Brendan White says:

    Hi I see you follow Sailing uma they have the same make of boat you have and have Coverted to electric with a sail drive prop they use less power and have a alcoholic two burn stove. Plus they revamp the area of the boat. Take a look again at how there work would fit in your boat. Brendan IRL

    Reply
  6. J Forsman
    J Forsman says:

    Love this episode. I bought a 1971 Pearson 35 last November and am refitting as we speak; been watching you guys for over a year and only just realized a few weeks ago that Saoirse is a 1971 Pearson 35 too! LOL Want more serendipity? My vessel is currently parked at Riverside Marina in Fort Pierce, FL! She had the Yanmar 30 diesel, but it was sold as non-functional and I am looking to replace with the Thunderstruck 18kw, wired at 48v (so 12kw actual). I'm thinking I can run the glycol coolant through the batteries and the motor into a heat exchanger…possibly the one from the Yanmar 30…I got a decent price on some used EV batteries so I've been rewatching the episode where Beau installs Saoirse's battery bank for ideas about configuration. I am super interested in what you guys are thinking for a hardtop bimini constructed from panels, having basically had the same idea. Will you start from scratch or is it feasible to bolster your current bimini? Would love to hear what you think along those lines since you guys have a practical understanding of the boom movement and other considerations. Thanks for all you guys do!

    Reply
  7. Mike Banks
    Mike Banks says:

    Have a look at the rear shade solar-power system on the 30 foot boat belonging to the couple on "Free Range Sailing" It is extremely strong and laterally adjustable, and the next vessel I have I will build a system similar to this. My last vessel I had the solar panels drop into angle-aluminium frames bolted to the coach house roof. I would never do that again–the sails shaded them some of the time. The firther aft they are the better–and the more shelter one has the better as far as I am concerned.

    Reply
  8. Michael Hicks
    Michael Hicks says:

    Sorry to want to pick your brains but i keep hearing people talking about range limitations on electric motors in boats (seems like nonsense to me) …

    Assuming that you had a little more powerful motor that could push the boat at hull speed against some (but not monstrous) resistance (current, breeze) at low revs. Apart from overheating (which could be managed with some sort of heat exchange system i suppose) is there any reason why it could not cruise endlessly in the Caribbean with adequate solar panels (with a moderate chunk of batteries for night and heavy cloud days) ?
    Signed: A Country Bumpkin looking for education 😁

    Reply
  9. christy hanlon
    christy hanlon says:

    Impressive!! Electric motor is the way to go. Your friends on Una, have managed to cross the Atlantic and even sailed to Norway with shorter daylight hours and rough seas using only sail and electric motor. I am convinced it can be done. I think as solar power with regeneration on the motor you can achieve this. Great video guys
    Love your channel. Stay safe and looking forward to seeing you soon 👍👍👍

    Reply
  10. californiakayaker N6GRG
    californiakayaker N6GRG says:

    Wasn't me . I was gifted an Insa Pot from my daughter. Takes 110 but it is care free. Completely automatic so if its your time to sleep that can happen., A relay for your inverter would give you a way to shut it off. I thought your Tesla batteries were a cool way. There is a guy who makes them available for not much comparatively. One guy had something similar to a group buy where large numbers brought the price down for everyone.

    Reply
  11. kevin gardei
    kevin gardei says:

    Cool beans…
    I too use Midnight & Magnum equipment. Now I was running an off grid ranch in Northern California (Mendocino) and liked that I could just jump up to Seattle whenever needed, but for you guys, thats a bit of a haul… only needed to once to rebuild the inverter.. I also had them design a complete large J-Box that "ALL" circuits ran into and were fused. Not sure what your doing as I didn't see one in your system. Trust me, its a god send. I love that at anytime I can just refer all situations through that box. My controller fits right on the door. Everything is positive side fused its so clean and neat.
    They worked with me my desires and space. My batteries are AGM. and weight a ton as that was not an issue. But I loved them. This was before lithium research was that big. I also ran 10 panels…
    You can read your manual to get your vampire draw, but I never turned my stuff off. The recvory was less an hour the next day, I was fine. The inverter goes into sleep mode anyway.
    Good job not going below the 70% on the batteries…

    Reply
  12. californiakayaker N6GRG
    californiakayaker N6GRG says:

    Building that extra steel equipment with Stainless would have been pricey but it would last. Its pricey because stainless is so hard, and that makes it hard to drill. Its also a little hard to cut although not nearly as hard as it is to drill. I'd say to those who have working or easily fixed up (top and valve work) engines , use them till they are gone. Then, it sounds like electric would be the way to go because your not tied to getting diesel everywhere and can be self sustaining for longer periods. It would have been good for those who were told to quarantine on remote islands in the pacific, as long as they had extra parts for things like water makers ect.

    Reply
  13. Kurt Tosczak
    Kurt Tosczak says:

    I like the tilt on the solar panels. If it were me I would be adding a solar tracker to adjust the angle of the panels when at anchor and therefore you wouldn't have to constantly adjust it manually. I personally dislike having to constantly do something if I can automate the process.

    Reply
  14. Phil and Lynda Christieson
    Phil and Lynda Christieson says:

    This is not a criticism only an observation based on 30 years of cruising about the planet. Being an engineer with a sailing background I'm always looking for improved systems at sea. Going back over our logbook, the most anchoring in one year was 90 times . Our average is under 40, if you use two litres of fuel every time you anchor, 2 x 40 = 80 liters x10 years = 800 litres x $2 per litre = $1600 dollars in 10 years. Based on the maintenance cost of a diesel engine being equal to electric motor and battery replacement. Electric drives certainly give cruisers a feel good thing as they move about the planet. Our cruising background has been in the more remote areas around the world hence a lot more anchoring. Great video. ⛵🌍🤔
    Phil and Lynda

    Reply
  15. William Grimberg
    William Grimberg says:

    Maybe add layered slide out or fold out panels where as when in calm or semi calm conditions these can be folded or slide out to double or triple the power output. These maybe could be incorporated or designed into being part of a hard top and then being used more of the time .

    Reply
  16. S/V Pame
    S/V Pame says:

    I purchased some stainless steel zip ties awhile back for use with my mast. That's what you need for the solar panels instead of the regular zip ties that you said won't last got them from Amazon on line for $12-$13 a package or for $35.00 you can get a tool to use with them plus 100 pcs of stainless zip ties.

    Reply
  17. donnakruse61
    donnakruse61 says:

    Hi Beau and Brandy we too have a all electric sailboat(cat) and loved sailing her and loved being offgrid and away. unfortunately my RA has made it impossible for me to pull ropes and winch and we are having to sell her. If ya"ll get anyone asking you if you know of another electric sailboat for sale tell them there is one in Stuart! You guys inspired us!

    Reply
  18. Bart Ptaszynski
    Bart Ptaszynski says:

    Just wondering about your engine corrosion issue. You could check if it's properly bonded to an anode and if the anode is has not completely corroded yet 🙂 If it doesn't corrode over time at all that's a sign of problem with bonding cables.

    Reply
  19. Sailing Foxy Lady
    Sailing Foxy Lady says:

    Hey guys, not sure if will help you but I'm building a hard top from scratch. A huge one for my project cat, but same progress could be used. I don't like sharing links on others videos but if interested it's my latest video😁

    Reply
  20. Donna Kawana
    Donna Kawana says:

    Great episode an I so love you guys so much!! Cuz I learn so much an love to see what beautiful place your going an just enjoy you guys so very much ✌🏻💗😊❣️

    Reply
  21. Lars Hansen
    Lars Hansen says:

    Hi Beau and Brandy,
    You can save a lot of money by buying individual LiFePO4 cells, wire those cells together and put a BMS between them and power producers and consumers.

    Moreover, some clever guys had figured out that using supercapacitors to reduce spike-currents from the batteries will extend the lives of LiFePO4 battery cells by around 4 times. I have yet to figure out how to do that, but I know it starts with voltage balancing.

    For those who don't know it : Electric current is measured in ampere, also called "A.", or "amps".

    A spike current is a very large amount of current used in a very short amount of time. One can detect that by looking for a short voltage drop. The tool used to see that is called an oscilloscope.

    The problem with spike currents, is that a spike current can exceed the 5C LiFePO4 threshold, Exceeding the 5C threshold significantly reduces the lifetime of a battery.
    5C from a battery means that if the battery is a 100 Ah battery, 5C is a 500 A current.

    Using a supercapacitor, most of the current come from the capacitor during the spike.

    Using a supercapacitor : In normal operation the current drawn from the battery are averanged to a certain amount of current from continuously changing current drawn from the battery. By writing that I mean that, if you can read that a device will use, let's say 5 ampere, it's only 5 ampere on averange during 1 second. That is especially true for digital electronics like computers, chartplotters, and the likes

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