Electric tool boat

[Voltron]

I was pulling some pics for some other posts and found this one.. worked as a rigger for sailboats.. and thats our solar charged floating electric toolbox down there with the panels on it. Twin electric trolling motors at the bow and stern, with remote control fobs for steering and power. You can drive it straight, or spin around by pointing them opposite directions, and dock it sideways with both pointed to the same side. Theres literally a ton of screws, nuts, wire (spools up to 0 gauge), tools, sanders, grinders, inverter to run all the corded tools.... and you can drive it from the dock and make it do circles and then come back..

 

[LockH]

OK... Bookmarked! (By a half-dead old white sailor guy.) But in the pic (I recognize the angle) it appears your vehicle ("vessel") only has one hull??? Kinda quaint (or an old catamaran/trimaran sailor). Sorta like the antique pedal-only food "burning" bi/tri-cycle? Anyway... Fair winds and following seas... Plus in port (any port) remember, an ebiker swaggers or staggers. None of the "mincing" business, please.

 

[Voltron]

It was originally an open monohull.. then had sponsons added (it looks the same on the other side) and the top built up, with flip open top doors as long as those blue side rails are... and the solar panel rails of course. It was never plugged in to shore power in three years....

 

[Voltron]

Using that to go around the harbor on the way to pull out a diesel engine and replace it with a dual stator liquid cooled Mars motor with a Sevcon controller is pretty satifying... :wink:

 

[LockH]

HEY! (I'm jealous...) SEVCON? Wayyy too fattening.

 

[Voltron]

On a 12,000 lb boat you don't notice it much..

 

[liveforphysics]

That is so awesome!!! The only type of boats I've got any interest in are the solar and/or wind powered varieties.

Very cool setup!!! Reminds me a bit of the VW rabbit with solar panels fitted to the roof in my home town. The old guy who owns it claims he hasn't needed to plug it in for years as well, because he only has to drive a couple miles a day.

 

[LockH]

Yah... Butt I suspect a lead keel. Some of us may have "moved on".

 

[Voltron]

Yes, it usually doesn't have to go far. It's REALLY heavy, and a fun coordination challenge to do the left hand/right hand/front motor back motor thing while you do the Blues Brothers parking job with it, (or the Captain Ron, if you prefer)

 

[LockH]

Both my daughters (the two that I know of... hehe) used to get a "kick" out of "flying" from wave top to wave top. Or "flying" only one hull of two. Or pulling up on various beaches (harder to get to via "land"). Trust me, two/three hulls WAYYY better than one "lead swinger"/monomaran hull.

Hint: I used to "carry" a paddle onboard, (as required by local laws) but that thing was only a "nuisance" almost all of the time. (Handy though, I will admit, sometimes for "fending off".)