Sorry - I missed this entirely somehow.lostintime wrote:I did not mean to start a debate on efficiency, diesels won, I believe different applications warrant different approaches, my goal is a sail auxiliary that uses it's ballast weight as lead acid batteries for ports and dull drums, and a recharge system that can run on about anything that burns. An efficient (relatively speaking) power unit to "recharge" if I cant regenerate from the prop. I'd love to have a big slow turner to pass the free days, but then id be too busy boating to build a boat...
Where are you headed w/ this boat? The true doldrums are too large to traverse with lead acid batteries; they're about +- 5 degrees around the equator or something around 600 miles. Solar panels would help here, of course, but w/ power limited to ~200W/m^3 it will be slow.
- Bart