Kit-E8: Part 1: Our Top 25 features in a Catamaran & Modifying our Electric Outboard.

[@o4pureh2o]

I can see this channel taking off.

[@SailingSVLynx]

We hope so! We want to share the journey and hopefully inspire others to build their own catamaran and follow their dreams.

[@kingdommindset1462]

Wow! Awesome video! I can't wait to see part 2. You both, are so awesome.

[@SailingSVLynx]

Can you see us blushing all the way from California? Thanks so much for you kind words and that you like our videos.

[@ApprenticeGM]

Schionning cats are the bomb. Best performance for price, only other kit options come close but don't exceed the value. I am always amazed they aren't way more popular overseas (they are very popular in Oz, we're pretty DIY-minded) but good to see you guys flying their flag. Look forward to your build!

[@SailingSVLynx]

Thanks, Schionning has been great to work with so far. Thanks for watching.

[@viper5955]

👍 new subscriber binge-watching all of your content

[@SailingSVLynx]

Nice!

[@kirkb3473]

Looking forward to you sharing the math for adding the complexity and cost of a hybrid propulsion system on a performance sailing catamaran that will only use $2k worth of diesel fuel in a year if you are motoring a ton. There is no financial payback for this option I’ve found other than it “being cool”. All the 50’ performance cat owners I’ve spoken to have giving me the real life numbers that they spend more like $1,500/yr on fuel. Makes it tough to make hybrid make sense, although we really wanted it to on our boat.

[@SailingSVLynx]

Oh, yes, we can answer that question! However, it would take pages of discussion. Fortunately, we plan to do a full video on this exact subject, somewhere in the next couple of weeks. The short answer though is that it has very little to do with costs, and everything to do with comfort. I will look forward to your comments after that video :)

[@kirkb3473]

@@SailingSVLynx cool! We were quoted $100k from HH to install a hybrid system, it would have taken 75 years to have the system pay for itself. (Actually it never would because you’d have to re-power again after 20 years or so anyway…but by then the tech will make sense)

[@SailingSVLynx]

Well, ours will not cost anywhere near that much money! We elimiated a diesel engine, sail drive, and generator (call that, $25,000 for the diesel/saildrive, and $15,000 for the generator), so $40,000, then added $10,000 in lithium batteries (33 kWh), plus $30,000 for the hybrid system and maybe $10,000 for upgraded electrical components (inverters, etc.). So, it only cost us about $10,000 extra. But, I'm getting ahead of myself! Video to come!

[@stephenmurray9850]

Great video . I think the modifications will be interesting to see once you have finished. I assume you have already calculated the extra weight your putting on the transom of your dingy and that it has that capacity and not break the motor holding board of the RIB. I was also going to ask if you considered the Mumby 48 as a possible build ( sailing Jupiter has one) It was an aluminum build. A bit late now since you have already bought the kit but would be interested in your view of the cat. One other thing you are talking about have friends and family and extra crew onboard, other youtubers also said in their initial view of buying a boat that there would be family etc visiting their boat but many have said that this actually didn't happen and a lot of the time they were on their own sailing a large boat with lots of cabins and being totally empty otherwise. Even SV Delos has sailed with just the two of them + baby because they couldn't find others to join them. I love your Cat .. your really speaking to the converted with me LOL but I am enjoying your journey. Good luck with the build.

[@SailingSVLynx]

We are very realistic about how often friends and family actually manage to make time, but in our case, we have four retired full time crew on board, three always there and one about half the time. After that, I expect only short term visits from others. But, we still want the LCC of a large cat. We are divers, so that means a lot of heavy gear and a compressor. But a large cat isn't just about LCC, a longer waterline is a more comfortable sailing vessel, and faster. We would want that even if it were just the two of us. We are glad you are following our channel and look forward to chatting.

[@SailingSVLynx]

As for the weight, this electric outboard only weighs 84 pounds, which is less than a typical gas outboard of equal horsepower, so the transom weight is no issue . The batteries are another matter, but thery are not on the transom. Now, we will increase the weight of the outboard to about 95 pounds with the control box added inside the cowl, but that's still well within specs for our 12' RIB.

[@navalgazingatcampdavid]

Hey folks, can you do a deep dive into your planned circumnavigation route? I am most interested in both the canals in Europe you mentioned as well as the great loop in the US. You mentioned your reasoning for your choice of beam, but what about air draft? Dying to hear more. D

[@SailingSVLynx]

Yes, we will do a video about one of our projected routes, just remember that it is only one, we have about 50 versions as many things will change over time and we don't want to sail to a schedule. That being said, certain things, like depth and air draft, width of locks, etc. won't likely change, though even that can be different year to year. For example, the Rhine River is incredibly low this year. Even so, we will do a video about our favorite route that we might take. We just hope people won't freak out about us planning routes when we don't even have the boat built yet! lol

[@christopherOakes-vc1wo]

Captain Blood , I see from your previous videos you talk about your Hydro drive , what about the batteries you are using for this project .

[@SailingSVLynx]

We have a video coming out about the batteries we are using on S/V Lynx, so instead of trying to write a novel here, if you just wait, we will go over everything about the new batteries fairly soon. I will give you a tease though, they are a brand new design and will be commercially available for purchase soon. They were specifically designed for the marine industry, to be a safe battery for use on a boat. I worked with the company that will be selling them, kind of like I collaborated with Schionning Deigns on the new 1520.

[@alqubes]

can you pls use Basic Standard Metrics like cm/m and KG ? the world is watching...

[@SailingSVLynx]

Well, we live in the US, so our minds are comofortable talking in what we know. However, I will try to add in conversions to metric as well, when possible. Thanks for watching.

[@rberglind]

Great work with the electric outboard. I’m looking into converting a Suzuki 20 to electric myself, but the cost of batteries is crazy high… how do you plan to power the outboard?

[@SailingSVLynx]

Well... that will require a long answer. If you don't mind, let me answer all your questions about the batteries in one of our upcoming videos. I promise we will go into great detail about the batteries, as well as all kinds of other information on an electric, convertable, tender/dinghy.

[@anthonyrondolino8148]

Very interesting. Any issue with heat and the electric motor with it now being right next to the water cooled component?

[@SailingSVLynx]

It shouldn't be. We will be putting a small air gap between the electric motor and the bottom of the control unit. You will see that in next week's follow up video. Also, this unit is inside the cowl of the Stealth E40, so we know that it works fine that way. The only reason that Stealth did not put it in the E18 is due to the cowl not being large enough... which we are dealing with, as shown. Thanks for commenting, we appreciate your viewership!

[@DRB68]

nice video... length is not directly related to hobby horsing...rather its weight distribution i.e. avoid weight at the bow and stern and the hull shape to avoid the bow "digging " into the waves (this is a large topic)... I would have gone for a Mumby personally but shoennig are not bad. BTW: you turn your back to the screen a lot, i would try and avoid that;-)

[@SailingSVLynx]

We beg to differ on this. A simple search on Google on 'Hobby Horsing' and 'Catamaran' will bring numerous discussions talking about length affecting hobby horsing on a cat, particularly one under 44' in length. Certainly, weight distribution is also a big factor in hobby horsing and we have taken that into account while planning where the heavy things will be located on S/V Lynx. As for a Mumby, we considered one and talked to the builder, but they are a very the small yard and are currently so overbooked after Sailing Jupiter made their videos that it would be many years before they could get to building one for us. We can't build one ourselves since we do not have the skills needed for welding aluminum. Building a Schionning Kit is far easier. As for turning our back during the video, we agree, and will try to do better, though we used those times for graphic displays during that video. Thanks for your comments!

[@DRB68]

@@SailingSVLynx As a naval architect, i can only advise you to seek expert rather than google advice. The main cause is an inbalance as a result of poor weight distribution or the bow digging into the water causing a sudden loss of forward momentum and the rigging trying to reconnect with the wind. The later is certainly more prevalent on smaller hulls given that they will not ride waves as well as longer hulls. The former is common in Cats because of the excess use of heavy saildrives in the aft and overloaded sail lockers and poor design on the bow. Your choice of a shaft drive with engines further forward is the right approach here. I guess the question you will address in the next episodes is how you will balance the port and starboard given your difference engine approach.

[@SailingSVLynx]

I agree that the main cause is poor weight distribution, but that doesn't have to do with our choice in boat length, we would need to address weight balance no matter what cat we purchased. You are correct, we are going to address weight balance in a future video, but I will give you the short answer. Our Lithium battery bank will be on the starboard side, in a sectioned off section of the engine compartment (to cut down on heat exchange). That, plus the electric motor gets us close to the diesel engine on the opposite side. By the time we add our dive compressor to the Starboard side, it will be within a few pounds of balanced. Just to note, one of the things that Schionning is doing for us is helping to balance out the cat. They asked us for a complete list of every item we plan to have on board and the weight, so that they could make a plan for us to follow. They want their boats to sail well.

[@DRB68]

@@SailingSVLynx thanks... I thought that is what you would do to balance the port and starboard. Will be interesting to see how you manage the power distribution given the differing distances between the engines to the power banks.

[@SailingSVLynx]

@@DRB68 Lots of design work on the electrical system still to be done, but we will show what we came up with as we work on the boat. Fortunately, my XO, Brian, has been an electrician for the past 30 some years.

[@pbear6251]

Hi guys regarding your electric dingy motor you might check out Captain Rick Moore's channel, He has one on this dingy and he has done extensive videos about what type he chose and how it is performing . Great video!!

[@SailingSVLynx]

We will most certainly take a look at his video, though our bed is made on which outboard we will use since we already purchased our model. We will go into all the reasons why we choose the E18 in an upcoming video. Thanks for the video suggestion, we'll will check it out.

[@SailingSVLynx]

Well, I looked at the video. I am familiar with the Navy 6.0 from ePropulsion, in fact, we purchased our smaller outboard from ePropulsion, the Spirit 1.0 Evo. The issues we had with the Navy 6.0 are as follows, it was not powerful enough to put our 12' RIB up on a plain. In that video, Rick has a point near the end where he says that the motor is at full throttle, and they are still not on a plain with just two people on board. Then, as for a small motor for going up on a beach, the Navy 6.0 uses a separate lithium battery, so you don't dare flip that over in the surf, while the Spirit 1.0 Evo is waterproof, the battery even floats. So, we went with the Spirit for surf beaching and the E18 for power when we want to ride at 15 knots of speed on a plain. But, if you aren't planning on surf launches, and you don't need to go fast with heavy loads, that Navy 6.0 would be a fine motor.

[@pbear6251]

@@SailingSVLynx thanks for the reply and enjoy your new toy. Also I have never seen anyone modify a outboard motor electric or otherwise in that manner . Good work🙂

[@martinnovation1]

maybe I missed it in another video - but what do you estimate the finished total price will be?

[@SailingSVLynx]

The price to finish the boat to sail capable is about 500k (us), but to outfit her further for a full circumnavigation will add 40 to 50K. Still, we get a brand new, 50' performance catamaran for that price. A production cat like this would be north of 1.5 million, ready to sail. Of course, that price does not figure in labor costs, but we are building S/V Lynx ourselves and we are cheap labor (free).

[@martinnovation1]

@@SailingSVLynx That is amazing - very inspiring. Also I liked how you had a creative and positive design process with Shionning. I am looking forward to following your progression. Did you ever consider a forward cockpit area, or is that not done on performance cats?

[@SailingSVLynx]

@@martinnovation1 Yes, we looked into forward cockpits. There were several issues. The biggest one was that the boat must be designed for one from the ground up, as you need a lot of structual support for that large flat face at the back of the cockpit. That would have added weight and required a huge redesign of the 1490 structure (which is what we based the 1520 on). Also, it does have a hit on performanced, creating a hole that disruptes air flow. Still, there are performance boats built with one, Gunboat comes to mind. Yet, for us, it would have caused too many structual issues. Schionning makes a design with one, but I didn't like the rest of that boat so I stuck with the 1520. Also, they recommended against adding one for those performance reasons. As it is, we had to significantly reinforce the large window structures we added to make this boat capable of sailing in more extreme conditions.

[@quintushiguera7105]

𝓟Ř𝔬𝓂𝔬𝐒ϻ

[@SailingSVLynx]

?

[@1littlelee]

yes no diesel fumes but the droning hum of the electric motor will bug the sh*t out of you

[@SailingSVLynx]

I have spent plenty of time around electric motors, there is no comparison to the noise level of diesel engines and fumes. In our opinion, the trade off is a massive upgrade. Plus, we are a performance cat, so we can sail in lighter wind, requiring neither diesel or electric propulsion.: )