Diesel to Electric

Don is converting the Cool Change from a diesel powered sailboat to an electric powered vessel. This page will cover the experience for anyone interested in such matters.

Why convert? Don has owned many cruising boats over the decades, and the one issue that keeps coming up is the diesel engine.

They overheat, they break down, they are smelly, they are noisy, they vibrate, they are hot. In sort, they suck.

The last time the Cool Change had a malfunction was the last. Don put the Cool Change on the hard and began planning to replace the diesel motor with an electric motor.

When the boat arrived in Colonial Beach in 2021, the first thing to do was to have the Volvo diesel engine pulled, setting Don up for a Spring of 2022 conversion.

With the engine removed, an Electric Yacht motor (purchased Feb. 6th, 2021) was carefully put into place and aligned with the propeller shaft in the Spring of 2022. The motor fit perfectly on the stringers that previously held the diesel motor.

To power the motor, 4 12 volt no-maintenance batteries would be put into a series to create a 48 volt battery bank. The 24″ x 24″ x 3/4″ PVC base would provide the foundation. This would be bolted to two Uni-Struts attached to the stringers (the horizontal lines indicate the position of the struts) and the battery tie-down bolts would be drilled out.

This project is a work in progress (updated May 26, 2022)

Eventually a PVC box will be built up around the batteries. But the next step is to put in the Plus and Negative bus bars, as well as a controlling switch.

Project Update June 2024

The project is complete! The Cool Change quietly slips in and out of Monroe Bay. No noise, no smell. No vibration. No heat. She can run about 2 hours at half speed, more than enough to get out of the harbor and set sail. But lately at 1/4 speed she can get out and back with 80% of the battery remaining. Which is perfect for our sunset sails, no rush. Huge success!!!