The guys at Yankee Point Marina found a Mase genset that will fit in the aft locker. Volta is becoming a "plug-in hybrid." Well, sort of. We still have to manually switch to generator charging, but it's an easy process with only a couple of steps.
Now we will have better than the 6-hour range than just the new(ish) LiFeP0 batteries will take us on one charge. Roger has calculated that we can keep going, as long as the FIFTY GALLON [diesel] tank will last--as long as we draw only 30 amps (about 4.5 knots in calm water/winds). If we want to go faster, (all the way to the hull speed of 6 knots) the charging "on the fly" won't keep up. But we can anchor & charge the batteries back up and be on our way again in silence.
The locker is so large, we will still have room for storage of the extra anchor, swim ladder, life vests, and tarps, on either side of the generator. Storage has never been an issue on Volta.
In Roger's research, he also looked at a couple of DC generators (NextGen, Fischer-Panda, & Polar) that would automatically come on when the batteries were discharged to a preset percentage, but they were all too big for the locker, so no go.
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| Mike is showing Roger where the control panel for the generator will go. We are replacing it where she has a strange receptacle that goes to nothing we have, so no loss. |
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| Mike enlarged the hatch to install, and later access, the new generator. |
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| The new generator Mase IS 4.04 - 60Hz - 36RPM |
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| We can use the existing exhaust, water [cooling] intake, & fuel tank. The house batteries will power the starter. |
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