Perfect electrification project boat or too far gone?

[SolGato]

actual fully intact similar sailboat hulls sans rigging are free all over the place where I live on Craigslist SF. You just got to be ready to go get them, fast, as they are normally posted when some event forces their instant removal to clear space.

I'd look into using a EV or PHEV battery for semi-serious EV boat. Prius Prime batts weigh about 300lbs and are rated for 26 miles of range and sell for about $1500 on Ebay. But might be some tricky work setting up charging, as I assume they want lots of safety signals from full Toyota system or they will shutdown.

Totally agree on the freebies. Most of my projects have all started with free or cheap hulls that I repurposed.

And sometimes placing a wanted ads looking for specific boats not only brings them out of the woodwork, but also gives you an opportunity to “shop” without competition.

Battery-wise, the easiest modules to work with are the Leaf. It very easy to make say a 48V battery from them, and there are numerous outfits making circuit boards that you just place over the terminals to tie the modules together with ability to integrate a standard full feature BMS.

The only downside is Leafs are notorious for cell degradation, but if you can live with reduced capacity (solar would help offset this), then it’s probably the easiest and least expensive option.

With so many Leafs having been sold, and their reputation for reduced range over time, their value isn’t much used and not worth repairing if say one got in an accident, or needed a full HV battery replacement out of warranty.

And so there is an ever growing market of parts available from dismantlers that the DIY hobby crowd has started developing support parts for/around, like control modules, battery boards, driveshaft and gearbox adaptor plates, etc.,

 

[IronPrice]

Lots of potential issues with that hull. What material is it - matters when you try and add more fiberglass that you have the right kind. Is there much rot in the core (I'm assuming this is glass over ply)? Will the hull have the kind of performance you want?

If you're happy with all of that, then it's possible to add sheet material as partial moulds to allow you to repair the damage. Something like melamine coated thin and flexible will do the job, if you can get to bend into the right shaped. It will be needed to coat with mould release agent of some kind. The transom would likely be the easiest place to start (assuming its flat or only has a slight curve). If you check out transom rebuild videos on YT, you'll get the idea of how to proceed. The basic idea is that you fibreglass one side using a partial mould, glue in your core material, fibreglass the remaining side.

I've only dabbled in this so please don't treat don't my comments as technical advice. I'm simply trying to point you in the right direction for repair work, should you go that way. It is doable and there is lots of great material on YT to learn from.

You'll also need to understand how to remove core, add in new core material and feather the new fibreglass onto the old to ensure a smooth transition. It's l0t of work, especially filling, fairing and sanding, sanding, sanding.