Electric Boat Association

Technical

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This site was last
updated on 04-05-2008

 


The Electric Boat Association provides technical information and support in a number of ways:

bulletThe Product Guide section of this website gives an extensive list of products and services provided by EBA Business Members together with address and contact details.  Click here
 
bulletRegular articles in our magazine Electric Boat News, received by all EBA members, include technical reports by EBA Technical Officer Paul Lynn covering a wide variety of topics. As an example, you may like to read his article on batteries and battery maintenance – one of the topics most requested by our membership.  Click here 
 
bulletIn addition members are welcome to contact Paul by e-mail for technical advice. - email:
If he cannot answer your query himself, he may be able to recommend an alternative contact.
 
bulletWe produce a series of Information Sheets covering a variety of technical subjects (see list below). These are free to members and may be obtained from EBA Secretary Barbara Penniall - e-mail:  
 
bulletThis section also includes information on books about electric boating, and two spreadsheets for calculating hull drag and power (see below).

List of Information Sheets Available

bulletSolar Photovoltaics  - Paul Lynn
 
bulletElectrifying Your Boat - Hawthorne & Wagstaffe
 
bulletHull Design for Electric Boats - Andrew N. Wolstenholme
 
bulletLead-Acid Batteries - Operation & Maintenance - CMP Batteries
 
bulletHigh Speed Electric Boats - Lorne Campbell
 
bulletHybrid Power - John Hustwick
 
bulletTrailers & Towing - Paul Lynn
 
bulletFitting Out & Laying Up - John Hustwick and Ian Rutter
(covers all aspects of trailing, launching and recovering your boat and tips for getting
your boat ready for the cruising season and laying up at the end of the season)
 

Books

Electric Boats on the Thames 1889-1914
by Edward Hawthorne

For the electric boat builder,  Edwardian era launches of the River Thames are pictured, mostly of the past but some of the present, restored or replicated. This thoroughly researched illustrated history describes the first electric motors, the boatyards, the variety of boats, and the economics of rental electric boat fleets.

ISBN No. 0750910151 (no longer in print but watch out
for it in libraries & second-hand bookshops)

Edward Hawthorne has also written about the history of electric boating in the History Section of this website

Electric Propulsion for Boats
by Charles Mathys (Paperback)

ISBN No. 1892216493
(see Paul Lynn's review
in the Winter 2004/2005 issue of EB News)

Hull drag and power – useful calculation spreadsheets
EBA member Theo Schmidt has provided two spreadsheets to quickly determine the "best case"  drag and power for a craft of any size with a smooth surface, no disturbances like immersed transoms, and traveling at a speed where the wave-making is negligible. All that is needed as input is the wetted surface area, the speed, and the approximate length.  The spreadsheet also allows setting the medium to "air" and thus gives the  drag and power of an equivalent optimal airship hull, e.g. an optimal fairing for reducing wind resistance.

Click to download Excel file: drag.xls

 

Theo Schmidt  has provided a second spreadsheet to do the same calculation but also allows inputting of various efficiencies, the battery voltage, and the dimensions of the boat's  wiring. It then gives the actual electrical motor power and the power  required form the battery. E.g. by using a propeller efficiency of 90%, a  transmission efficiency of 100% (no gearing), and a motor efficiency of 90%,  and very thick copper wiring, this then gives a "best case" for the  electrical values as well.  In practice one will want to use more conservative efficiency values and  perhaps degrade the hydrodynamic values somewhat by entering a higher value  of wetted surface, as few boats will be as clean as the rowing shells used  for the data.

Click to download Excel file: EBcalc.xls

 

 
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