@@SolSeekerLiFe EUR22k. I never knew at the time that the motors were shot and that the sails, rigging and rollerfurler needed replacing, but I wanted the boat because it had the large hardtop and the sugar scoops added, would have cost me a fortune to do both of those.

@@SolSeekerLiFe I've got a stormy trip coming up in the videos. It wasn't a problem for the motors, more for the boat and me that really didn't enjoy going into 20-30 knots!

@@SailingElectra 😳Oh my! First, I'm so glad you lived to tell the tale. Second, I feel guilty for how eager I am to watch the video of how it all unfolded.

@@SolSeekerLiFe considering I've never needed more than 1500W the 3kW motors would have been plenty, but the price difference is small, and the 6kW motors and props are fractionally more efficient than the 3kW so I'm glad I went with them.

@@SolSeekerLiFe grey water goes overboard, the sink just using gravity, and in the shower there's a pump I set up with a sensor to get it out.

@@SolSeekerLiFe totally worth it! One if the bonuses of the electric setup is how low maintenance they are, and because you're not afraid to use them, you save wear and tear on the sailing components too. Also I love windless days unlike most other sailing boats!

@@SolSeekerLiFe we'll definitely be on the water, either in Greece or in Sicily. If you're around you're welcome to come for a sail.

@@SailingElectra Excellent! We will be in Athens 04-06 June and Santorini 06-07 June. I'll reach back out closer to time to see whether you might be near enough to connect.

With hindsight when I got the quote for the new rigging, sails and furler I should have just chucked the mast and upped the solar. I would have increased my average speed by a knot not having sails! As it is I motor 90% of the time, and motor sail 10%. I've only sailed exclusively twice in 2 years and that was because the wind was too strong for my liking!

@ Thank you so much for the real world perspective you so clearly present and willingly share. So many drown out the piece (peace?) I’m looking for in their videos about solar cruising with unnecessary soundtracks, background music and whatnot. Others never get past the technical minutia to the actual point. You provide a very meaningful insight into exactly what I’ve envisioned and paint a picture of possibilities.

@ As a follow up question, what do you think would be the optimum balance, given your pair of motors, between solar and battery capacity for a strictly electric catamaran around that size? I am strongly leaning toward an older Gemini or Fountaine Pajot in the mid 30’ range as my own conversion hull.

@SolSeekerLiFe I'm going to do a full video on this. Personally I think go for as much solar as you can fit without being too ridiculous. Your battery size then only needs to be enough to carry you through the night or on a cloudy day. I use the solar panels as my fuel source and the batteries as my reserve tank and cloud buffer. If I had far less panels then I'd go for fast more battery. The Hopyacht 30 is designed like that, half the solar and twice the batteries, but I think my way is better. In a perfect world I'd have twice the batteries so my overnight speed could be 5 knots, but I barely ever do overnights. Only had two this year.

@ Thank you for the experienced perspective. I think I would far rather avoid overnights where possible as I just prefer to go slow and wait until morning. I can imagine eventually building up to a desire to ocean cross but that would require a much bigger hull for increased safety, I think.

It's not great, but I think that's more the boat than the system. Small catamarans are notoriously bad into weather. I still make progress, but my shoes is limited not by the amount of power I can put down, but by the bouncing off the boat on waves. I'm always amazed at how much better it feels to turn around and go with the weather!

Looking forward to seeing you on the water! I'd love to see some pictures of your boat, is it up in social media somewhere? This video was set in late August, it was very hot at the time!

It's been great, I can really recommend boat life!

@@pironiero not at all, Candice has won so many hair awards that she now gets asked to fly around the world to do training and hair shoots. It's a world I didn't even know existed 😂

@@SailingElectra huh, understood, thank you

They were on the boat when I bought it. Part of the reason I wanted this Catalac! They're both great additions, though the scoops do slam when it's bumpy at anchor. I'll do a video showing more about how that and the hardtop/doghouse were both built, I have some old photos from the previous owner.

@@alanbutterworth4219 we kept cruising until early November. We're in a marina now for the winter and will head out again in spring. Strange that you were unsubscribed.

Are you living on the boat in winter and if so, how much are the marina fees? I only ask because I WILL have my 40ft cat finished for next winter and would like,e to know what my options may be. Thanks.​@@SailingElectra

@alanbutterworth4219 yes we are, 1700 euro for 5 months. It's much less than the summer rate

@@hammyrocks478 yes, in fact most days I start out motoring whole charging and when the batteries are full I motor while keeping them full. It's only if I'm running at night or in rainy weather that I'll drain the batteries. I consider my boat solar powered with batteries as my "reserve tank". I've got 3200W of solar, and a 14.4kWh battery bank.

@@Seacracker1 All good here, we're in Greece now. Lots of rain, but much warmer than Aprilia! How are you doing?

Nice to here. By Electra i guess​? @@SailingElectra

Hi there, it's hard to say it depends on so many things. The best advice I could give would be too join one of electric boat Facebook groups and ask there. Someone would have a similar boat and could give a good answer.

@@nickosterloh3948 Bluetooth. It's a love hate relationship. The flexibility when dropping and lifting anchor single handed is a game changer, but I've twice run out of battery and scrambled to plug in the cables to charge them. The fact that there isn't a battery percentage on the controller is a major issue. In a perfect world there would be a battery indicator, and I would be able to charge them with a 12v plug or by type C, but neither exist.

@SailingElectra yes I can see with the positioning that the solar charging would be poor. I am just about to twin up my setup and really want to stick to Bluetooth. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any conflict between 2 Bluetooth throttles. Mine will be positioned in the sun light so I am hoping they will keep charged.

@@nickosterloh3948 yeah no disturbances at all, just make sure you can reach the charging cable in an emergency. The good point is that it jumps between cable and Bluetooth very quickly. Even when plugged into the wrong cable it's no issue.

@SailingElectra thanks that's great information, hope your voyage continues on with a following wind 😀

@@gordanmirkovic it's such a small effort, pity not everyone does.

Not yet! I don't want any gas on the boat, so what I need is a small wood braai that I can run on driftwood which is so easy to find in the islands. Something to look for on my next trip home!

Yes definitely a lot of current in that area! When I went the other way I was so much slower. Thanks for the correction, I've updated the spelling. Medulin was a very lively town!

Thanks, great to meet you. Weird timing, but I'm leaving Italy today for Greece, and will be in the Ionian from tomorrow. If I see a bargain I'll let you know :)

@@senorgringolingo glad you found it useful

@@filippotartaro7614 yes, I got lucky 😁

@@jacktar-d3k welcome, nice to have you here

@@JohnBraman413 I did consider it, but thought shading would be more of a problem. I'd also need bigger charge controllers as mine are limited to 100v and these panels put out 65-70v each. Probably the perfect solution would be 1 charge controller power panel, but that's a lot of wiring and finding places to put everything.

@@SailingElectra shading you don't lose the whole panel. only a percentage of the power output.

@@JohnBraman413 is definitely worth trying, the thinner cables would be so much easier to deal with.

Yeah I'm happy with that. It seems like the charter boats motor faster, but typical sailboat owners do around the same because they like to look after their engines and their wallets😂

@@reefr80 that's right, you lose the ability to motor at high speed for a long time. But you also gain. For instance now that my sails are working I typically sail faster than most mid size cruising boats, because when sailing my batteries fill up fast, and then I have nothing else to use the power for, so I motor sail. This works so well in light wind, that everyone comments on how fast I sail! And to be very honest, it's definitely not my sailing skills 😁

Thanks for letting us know, it was everywhere in northern Croatia.

@@777swampie haha we'll test that next time!

Dolphins always come when I play Rush, or yes.

@@machien321 sounds brilliant. The price of lithium has dropped so much even since I bought mine that there's no reason not to get a huge pack for tons of range. My problem is catamarans don't like being heavy, but the tug should have no problem if you want even more range.

@@SailingElectra "my" boat has a 22kw build in motor. I so hope she will be mine in the coming weeks! But first the inspection and see what thiat brings..

@@larrygrenevitch2299 I do have a speed test somewhere. I do 6 knots on 7kw and a tad under 7 knots on 12kw. I need perfectly smooth water for that though wide the props cavitate. 5 knots is 2200w, 4 knots is 1600w, 3.1 knots is 600w and 2.7 knots is 400w. The power level below 200w on each motor isn't easy to set, so it's hard to get an accurate reading below that.

@@SailingElectra That sounds right which is crazy. 7kw will get 6 knots, but to get 1 knot more you have to double the power. You don't notice it with a diesel or gas motor because of the loses due to running below optimum speed. I would still like to see a video dedicated to this.

@@larrygrenevitch2299 the next time I've got completely flat water and no wind I'll do one.

@@machien321 yeah it's quite something. My favorite is sitting on the front of the boat when there's no wind, it's so quiet and smooth! Which boat are you looking to buy?

@@LostYogi 😂 good thing we're back in Italy then, but now I'm worried about the withdrawal symptoms when we get to Greece!

@@Paul68Luis sails are working, the wind not so often! But yeah you're right, the boom can shade 2 out of 8 panels. I try minimize this by tying the boom to the side, but there's still some loss some of the time.

​@@SailingElectra There is a way round this problem ...and that is to use a Parra kite sail.. it flies far away from the boat and panels.

@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 I did actually get a quote on one, at the time I thought it was expensive, but now I've spent more on sails and rigging 😂

Doing well thanks, arrived in Vieste after crossing from Croatia, now heading south in Italy.

@@PieterOskam no still using the standard Autohelm. I'll be ordering one of your boxes soon though, it'll be cheaper than a remote for my Autohelm and smarter too!

welded flat plates are you serious?. Look at Richard Wood's design, there is nothing complex and it works perfectly.

@@markusspeetzen9505 Looked him up. All designs have complex underwater curves that are time consuming and expensive to manufacture.

@@marviwilson1853 it's been two years and a couple of d thousand miles. I do think slightly differently now about my batteries. I now consider them my reserve tank. I know how far and at what speeds I can do on reserve. My fuel source is still solar, so when motoring, like I am right now, my goal is to fill the reserve tank and then motor as fast as possible on only solar power. So at the moment I'm using 1000W total power to motor at 3.5 knots (7 knot headwind) and I'm charging my batteries at 600W. They'll be full soon, then I can go faster until the sun gets lower then I'll slow down to make sure I don't draw into my reserve as long as possible!

@@SailingElectra What you have done is fantastic and it is to your credit. All boats are designed for a mission and you are clearly happy with the spec level you have and the boating you do. Most chose multi hulls for this conversion but mono hulls are also feasible. They benefit from their abundance and variety and therefore cheaper price. Buy one with broken winches, worn out diesel, sails and ropes for best value. Solar panels are thin and light so a full length, full beam roof is possible. Build a layered roof with athwartships extensions to increase generating capacity at anchor or motoring in calm conditions. Use a properly marinized 2nd use EV lithium phosphate battery. Much cheaper. The business model must surely exist for such a boat in sunny climes. Built for "solars" not sailors who put out the panels when the sun shines as opposed to putting out the sails when the wind blows. Perfect for summer Island hopping in the Med where winds are often light and variable and sailing a pain. All that power allows all the home appliances for a comfortable stay onboard including air con. 100kWhr battery, 40-50kWhr per day from a 10kW array. Now we are cooking with gas!

@@marviwilson1853 thanks for the compliment, and yeah I completely agree, a 10kw array and 100kwh battery would be insanely good! I suspect faster than an equivalent sailboat too!