Hi Mike,
Happy to share a few thoughts on the system and, more importantly, how it has affected my sailing "habits." Below is something I am writing to submit and get publish to help push along the "green" revolution. Please feel free to add a few words if you would like. First, I couldn't be more pleased with the overall results, as, with anything new, there has been a learning curve, of course, but the system has performed, not only as quoted but in some cases better than expected.

Read The Whole Story

Hey Mike,
Things are good. The trip is over now. We made it down to Puerto Vallarta. All told, it took me 25 days to get back. Seventeen days of that were underway. I was going to try the clipper route back from Cabo, but after almost 200 miles, my heading started to dip more south, so I decided to head back in, stopping at Scorpion, Turtle Bay, and Ensenada. On the last trip, we motored home in fairly calm seas. This time I got to experience the Baja Bash. The boat took a couple of hits, but it got me back. The electric motor worked great.

It was the perfect day, sailing with some friends on my yacht, ‘Pleione,’ a 1976 Beneteau Evasion 32. We had departed my home port of Votsi, on the Aegean island of Alonissos for a day’s sailing, mixed with swimming and snorkeling around the adjacent islands. The first stop was the islands called ‘The Two Brothers’, after a slow sail in light winds and, of course, wall-to-wall sunshine, we anchored in a small bay with crystal clear water, everyone dived in to explore the underwater surroundings.

When I took possession of my 20-foot wood sailboat, Sigi, the vintage Kenmare Sea Twin (aka Atomic 2) inboard had been removed from the boat. I suspect that my uncle, the designer, and the owner would fit it with an alternator and electric starter (instead, he bought a Flicka). My aunt told me that the motor was temperamental and a hassle to rope start.

As noted, in a previous post, on July 28th, our Perkins 4-108 diesel engine completely failed and could not be rebuilt. Dan and I were devastated, but we put our heads together, decided to go the electric/hybrid route, we then furiously began researching companies that could re-power Minke with an electric/hybrid system. Luckily we found a person that had the drive and the will to help us reach our goal. Nancy Frainetti, the owner of The Electric Marina and a dealer for ElectricYacht, began sending emails with the possibilities of what we could do to get Minke up and running again.

Salome is a 1974 C&C 35 Mk II. C&C was a Canadian company that leads the racer-cruiser market during the 1970s. It's an identical sister-ship to Initram, a boat that underwent a similar re-power four years ago http://sunchallenge.blogspot.com). We bought it in 2006 with its functioning, but unreliable Atomic 4. At one point, it ingested water after an early winter sail and seized before I could get back to the marina to take care of it.