I like Nigel's book - it's a great resource.
I don't really get most electric motors on monos. Some friends of ours who are great sailors tried a pancake motor and eventually replaced it with a big diesel. The range was awful and the amount of current used in heavy winds to change anchorages or motor sail the last few miles in nasty chop was way more than expected.
Hybrid cars work well because they start and stop a lot, whereas boats don't do any start stopping - they just get throttled up and left at a setting for hours. Coming back across Bass Strait in a calm we needed to do 7 knots to make it before the next blow and we did, the boat just gliding on through the water, the petrol outboard doing a sterling job. Not a place to stop for this guy.
Considering that we can't hook up to massive solar set ups like an electric car can, I don't see the utility of electrics, again for monos.
But for cats things are a little different. A few weeks ago we spent some time with friends who have swapped out one of their diesels for a Golden motor. They have lots of solar - about 2-3 kW. PLus the boat is really easy to push because it is a really fast cat. So it has, heaps of generating capacity, easily driven hull form and redundancy. Andrew can use both motors to manouvre and then use the electric (for short hops) or the diesel (for long hauls). Few cat sailors motor with both motors if the boat is at all fast - one motor pushed a little harder is much more efficient than two eased off slightly.
Andrew and I were talking about this when we watched some boats motor from Yellow Patch to Keppel (we were having a swim on a lovely south facing beach. In a couple more years he should be able to get some lightweight flexible panels for sunny windless days. Then if he can generate about 7kW, the boat could motor all day on the electric system. Here he is with his system
Two episodes - first one here
