Wind Driven Houseboat

yup, and a very large percentage of them got killed that way. Even very experienced sea captains with capable crew in the best ships at the time floundered in conditions we often today go out in for sport or recreation.

The risks were very high, but occasionally the rewards were good. that is what drove those hardy men.

I do not think that is a way you want to spend your retirement years.

I have an idea that might be very viable for you. Consider buying a suitable used houseboat, a classic with a good reputation, and renovate it. than as you enjoy using it the way it was designed, try out your ideas on a small scale while you live on board. Put a small windmill to charge just two deep cycle batteries, keep good records of power in/power out, etc. And than see if going larger makes sense. Do it one step at a time. If it works out you have working prototype for a full scale scratch built wind/solar houseboat.

If fails to work the way you expect, you can always sell the renovated house boat at a small profit for your efforts. Otherwise you can drive yourself bankrupt by sinking all of your life savings into a specialty designed boat that will have no secondary market if it does not work out the way you expect.

In some ways it would be kind of cool to see a very traditional wood and brass houseboat set up with hidden high tech features. Very steam punk. Something like that I would love to own. Something that looks like an old GM motor home floating on the current I would not be so keen on owning.

 

Just to be a bit picky -- but two vertical black balls is for a vessel not under command or restricted in their ability to maneuver.

Three vertical balls are shown for a vessel that is aground

 

I agree that lead acid batteries are not very good. These T-875's are from an electric car site (golf cart batteries) the site said they were $200 each?
But I do like the other feature of this wind powered boat.
Self powered
Huge floor space
Acceptable length / beam ratio (for a cat 12:1)
stable ride
360 degree control
Shallow draft; no props / rudders
Low center of gravity
Cheap construction ~ 58 sheets of plywood epoxy coated

I would prefer these batteries:
From:
http://www.voxsolaris.com/batnas.html
The sodium sulphur battery can have very high energy and power densities because of the chemistries of alkali metals of which sodium is a member. Reported figures differ widely, mostly because of differences in the construction of working systems. Mostly this is down to diiferent approaches to insulation but also to such factors as thickness of electolyte and cell walls. The lowest energy densities are around 50Wh/Kg and the highest are around 200Wh/Kg. Power densities range from about 100W/Kg to 200W/Kg.

Potential low cost

Probably the biggest advantage is that all the materials are cheap although Beta alumina is difficult to work with and can be expensive to engineer to a high quality. The materials are also very abundant and would not become scarce even if every house and every car in the world had a large sodium sulphur battery. The fact that sodium sulphur batteries are expensive today is purely because they are not mass produced. The materials needed for a one ton 100KWhr battery cost around $1,000 and the techniques for producing high quality Beta Alumina do lend themselves to mass production. Should mass production ever materialize prices could ultimately tumble to $75 per KWhr for car batteries and $25 per KWhr for large stationary applications.

A 1000 lb. of these (top end) is 90 KWH and less than $7,000 ?
I'll repost when oils $300+ / barrel and/or these batteries are available.

Shrouded wind turbine videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AYkkyWX4hU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko-_zAXNvYk&feature=related

Colin
http://www.ww.xbug.ca

 

The best batteries you can get are LiFePO4's. They can be discharged all the way down without damage, meaning you need about half as many of them as lead batteries (which offsets their greater cost). Plus, 2000-3000 cycle life isn't so bad...

 

Here is a successful wind powered houseboat I lived in for nearly 30 years. It's seaworthy enough to go anywhere on earth, works its way upwind just fine and cost $15,000 for hull and deck and about $30k total. The wind powered aspect of the design has undergone 50,000 years of development and works quite well.... Periodic battery replacement in not needed but a new set of sails every 15-20 years of so is.

 

Fair enough I've sailed (day sailing mostly) for a few decades.
But:
You can't rotate on your axes and go in any direction (with maybe 12" of draft).
You don't have a lot of living space.
And your sails do not generate power.
If I could buy your boat as shown in Canada for $30k I'd be able to resell it for maybe $150k+.
But I do agree that lead/acid batteries are not good enough.

Colin
http://www.ww.xbug.ca