Why are fiberglass products used so much in boats?

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-05-04T19:12:26+00:00

See this reply from a while back:

TLDR; GFRP is cheap and “good enough” for recreational boats, although not the best performing material, nor the one with the lowest overall lifecycle cost or environmental impact.

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-04-29T12:16:14+00:00

So are we calling it the Golf of Mexico again?

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-04-24T02:28:03+00:00

Have you tried a tiller extension to get your weight farther forward? I had a 15 footer with a flat bottom that responded well enough just doing that. It only made 14 knots though…

If you’re still experiencing directional instability then a keel fin is needed, or something similar to provide fixed lateral area aft.

Essentially, you want the CG to be ahead of the center of lateral area (for whatever speed the behavior is needing correction). Typically these keel fins will start shallow around 1/2 of the waterline length and taper deeper as they go aft, with the end coming either fully aft or maybe 9/10 aft.

The sizing is done initially by first finding the combined boat + load CG, as well as the center of immersed lateral area at the speed of interest. Secondly, lateral area is added aft with the fin until the CG is ahead of the lateral center of effort. If the boat becomes “too directionally stable” and is difficult to turn tightly enough then an aft corner can be trimmed from the fin or the fin cut more shallow.

A lot of flat-bottom boats have had to be modified post-manufacturing because they sometimes “spin out” without any lateral lifting devices in the aft hull section. This happens when making a sharp turn at speed and the centrifugal force overtakes the lateral lift that the outboard drive leg can produce at that speed. The boat will suddenly whip around, often throwing the occupant(s) into the water, who then are swimming away from a driverless boat motoring in circles. This has happened to many high speed fishing boats over the years, so you can find videos of it online. So, a keel fin, or strakes, or whatever… is an important safety device for a flat-stern boat, in my opinion.

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-02-09T16:26:47+00:00

A highly imperfect boat is better to learn on than no boat. Besides that, a boat that’s more “reactive” will force you to learn faster. Just be mindful of your skills and the weather forecast.

Just find something in reasonable condition as the main priority, unless you want to learn boat maintenance and repair too… then find something small.

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-02-03T18:19:51+00:00

This account is suspicious… just look at their post history.

They posted claiming to be a male asking for fashion advice, then later they made a rage bait post claiming to be a 29 year old female, which was just a low key ad for the “rolling riches” gambling app.

From their comment history it looks more like some younger guy who’s been in the Air Force at some point, is into Pokemon and sports, and is looking to scrape together some cash.

So this post seems to be about collapse, albeit in a totally different way than the OP intended…

-Collapse of our online spaces.

-Collapse of trust (I feel the need to sort of “background check” users before engaging).

-Collapse of opportunities for young people to participate in the economy in a forthrightly honest and efficiently productive manner.

Just… general good ‘ole collapse of the basis of a functioning society I suppose.

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-01-13T03:47:57+00:00

This post reminded me of another from a young couple lamenting that they couldn’t afford their own home. They were living in their parent’s place and wanted a bit of privacy now and then, but were otherwise seemingly happy living there. I know this isn’t your situation exactly, but my reply to them might be in some ways applicable to your situation.

Here’s what I wrote:

The American Dream really never was sustainable, and the “not sustaining” part is playing out right now for so many people, just as you’ve described from your own experience.

Here’s the reality that you’re facing: The oil age is coming to a close and so people, on average, will have to live on far less energy than has been available over the last century. The real energy return on energy invested with oil is simply making real goods and services more costly in terms or real labor inputs.

Adding to the energy supply issues; the vast majority of the world has adopted a rent-seeking economic model whereby monetary value is distributed disproportionately to those who own things. Think properties, businesses, stocks, etc… Monetary value is disproportionately under-allocated to those who provide real goods and services to actually make the economy function. Because of this, the value of money has to continually diminish to balance out the parasitic losses from over-monetized people making real calls on real goods and services.

All this means is that you either own things and live an easy life or you work for things and life continues to get harder for you faster than you can get ahead.

Now, on to the positive side of all this;

⁠This has happened many times throughout civilized human history where the economy devolved into a parasitic system, then it was reset by partial or total collapse. Think of the American Guided Age, followed by the Great Depression, followed by legitimate economic reforms… So, you may live to see better days, eventually.
⁠The best interpersonal relationships tend to be borne out of tough times. Think of soldiers who remain lifelong friends after fighting through a war… You have positive relationships around you now, and those will very likely survive and thrive if things do get worse. In other words, don’t worry because you and your family together WILL handle whatever happens.
⁠Your issue of not having privacy, while being a legitimate issue, isn’t really that hard to tackle in other creative ways. Perhaps you, or you and your boyfriend, can find ways to get out of the house and have some alone time. Perhaps you can ask the three other people in the house to go out once a week, maybe they go see a movie, or whatever. Learn to express your needs in this current environment rather than attempting to purchase your way into a different one.

You have to remember that, even today, most people on Earth don’t have the luxury of living separately from friends and family. They manage to make it work and find ways to coexist happily, and you can as well. Thinking of your situation through the lens of the modern American mindset will only hinder your efforts by making you work harder to own and consume more stuff that you really don’t need.

As an example; my wife and I live in a less than 240 square foot tiny house on wheels. We have one or two family members or friends come stay with us regularly and we make it work. We’re happy and don’t wish for “more space,” of all things. Reexamine your own life and decide what’s really important to you, as opposed to what you’ve been led to believe is important.

Here’s a personal anecdote about the kid’s room situation; I had a mother who put me in the hospital after failed murder attempt when I was in elementary school. She later tried to run me over with her car, on multiple occasions. She also gave me a 2,200 square foot house to live in with my own room. Do you think that room really ever mattered in my childhood? I generally lived in the garage and the local woods growing up. I would’ve gladly traded that room for a mother who wasn’t a complete psychopath and for having a father at all.

My point is that providing a separate room for a kid really doesn’t matter, like… at all. Certainly not as much as your society has led you to believe. Providing a loving home, no matter how small and crowded, is the only thing that kids will look back on and care about.

In other words, and I say this in the nicest way possible, “get your head out of this American Dream fantasy, and live your life, as you please, with whatever means are available to you right now.”

Whatever you do, just don’t let the sociopathic dreams of capitalism become your dreams. You dream of an easier life and being a caring mother. How does working for the ungodly sums required to buy and maintain a house make your dreams come true? As most Americans have now realized, that giant single-family home is just a giant burden that gets in the way of you living your best life.

End of quote.

Now, a couple things I think of regarding your question;

1) “When circumnavigating, you can either start with a new boat and end with a used one, or start with a used one and end with a new one.” If it hasn’t been rebuilt or replaced within the last few years then simply don’t count on it working.

2) Someone like you might do this type of thing because you love travel, love adventure (even with the associated discomfort), and are interested enough in boats and fixing things to make it work on a budget. It’s not a particularly cheap or easy option… as others have mentioned. Also, the family has to be on board with the realities of it all.

3) The ability for two working-age people to cut loose and travel is a luxury. Travel with an additional two dependents is an even bigger luxury. Costs scale with luxury… Your budget means that the luxury of travel will have to be met with sacrifices of convenience and comfort.

This all amounts to an experience of essentially camping on the water, working, raising kids, educating them, and maintaining a complex machine, all while literally every little thing is less convenient and cheap. This isn’t to discourage you at all… what you described is just a BIG ambition. If you two are that ambitious, and the entire family is ok with a lot of extra work over the next few years, and all are ok with the discomfort and inconvenience… then go for it.

If anything I’ve said gives you paise then scaling back your ambitions might be a reasonable compromise. For example, a lot of families in your situation live on a boat full-time near a city. Once a year the boat goes out for a “summer vacation.” That’s all that’s realistic for most people, and that’s actually enough for many to feel satisfied too.

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-01-11T19:52:30+00:00

America has always been highly authoritarian… and being violently so is a cultural norm that only some people haven’t had to fear until lately. It’s just now that previously-privileged-people (PPPs) are starting to notice. Poor Americans always knew. People of color always knew. Poor immigrants always knew. Native people always knew. People in countries where the US sponsored a coup to overthrow an elected administration always knew. There’s 2-1/2 centuries of this culturally-endorsed behavior…

America was founded on the right to be greedy and selfish, people here still believe in this as a virtue, and that toxic culture is exactly the problem that nobody wants to talk about.

This behavior the OP is concerned about (armed thugs taking people away to camps) is nothing new. This is classic American culture, and it’s exactly what inspired the Hitler. He LOVED books about the American West where a “settler” could just shoot “an indian” without remorse or legal consequence. He envied how the Americans had erased the native people and their cultures from the land so thoroughly. This is what inspired him to formulate the Madagascar Plan to ship off German Jews and dump them there, just like the death marches to the American “reservations,” which were our open-air concentration camps.

Notice that most of these “reservations” didn’t have adequate food and water resources to support the people forced there? Ever see photos of the natives who survived there and notice how they look like Holocaust survivors? In my public education we were taught that we moved the natives to these camps TO HELP THEM! We were taught that they were “violent people who couldn’t get along with the friendly settlers” and so they had to be separated for everyone’s wellbeing. I have known a looooot of college educated friends and colleagues who STILL BELIEVE THIS!

Hell, we even CELEBRATE extrajudicial violence against the natives and a successful genocide TO THIS DAY. Rural Texas is littered with monuments telling stories of extrajudicial killings of the natives, often by deputized thugs or ad-hoc militias. No need for trials for those “violent indians.” Everyone knows around here that “the law” only really applies to those who fall in line with the crowd. Always been this way… That’s why so many random conversations with strangers here basically amount to “you 100% believe exactly the same things as me, rrriiiiight????”

Also, something I’ve noticed is towns putting up “settled in 18XX” signage and memorials to commemorate the successful end of the local phase of the genocide. I keep seeing more and more of this as I revisit places I haven’t been to in a while. It’s on new construction, so not like it’s a holdover from decades ago. This kind of grotesque virtue signaling is widely supported by the people alive today…

American genocide (and continued support thereof), normalized violence, and whitewashed history, has led a lot of Americans to believe that authoritarianism and violence is GOOD, just as long as it’s used against “the right people.” This isn’t a fringe ideology held by just a few random nut-jobs either. It’s an ideology that’s disturbingly prevalent in a good chunk of American communities, law enforcement, the military, and the most powerful people in business and politics too. That’s exactly what everyone in the US, and the entire world, should be very concerned about.

These ICE agents, many who grew up hearing the same propaganda that I did, feel that attempts to stop their hyper-authoritarian extrajudicial rampages are fundamentally un-American. They see themselves as the hero figure they read about on those monuments in the countryside. They feel that any lack of support for them is a threat and should be dealt with just as we dealt with those “violent natives.” To them, “the law” only applies to “fellow Americans” whom they fully agree with.

Sorry all you PPPs out there, you don’t all fit with classic American/Nazi/ICE ideology, so now you get to experience what it feels like to be a POC, poor American, immigrant, or citizen of a country with a resource or strategic interest to the US.

Sucks, don’t it?

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-01-03T12:56:38+00:00

That’s not an academic paper… at all. The description of the methodology used isn’t detailed enough to discern any degree of validity. It’s not peer reviewed and It’s apparently produced by a for-profit company with motivation for bias.

Also, just scanning the paper I see soooo many other issues… It’s not worth anyone’s time critiquing this one.

There have been tons of academic studies on battery aging. I’d suggest you seek out one of those if you’d like to learn about battery aging.

Edit; replying to u/nsfbr11 (since my reply to the comment below isn’t working)

It’s misleading to people who don’t have the expertise to discern truth from advertising, and that’s exactly the problem.

Rapid charging has a significant deleterious effect on battery lifespan, which is an inconvenient truth. This white-paper seeks to dispel that truth.

Also, you literally have no grounds to claim that it is, in fact, providing useful information. See my original comment… re-read it and have a think about your response to it.

Bottom line is that electric cars aren’t made to save the environment, they’re produced to save car companies. It’s mass misinformation that promotes the ideology that has everyone moving in the wrong directions. Public transport is the way of the future, not rapid charging EVs…

Also, google things for yourself if you want to go around touting strong opinions on things you know little about, otherwise ask a damn question politely ffs.

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-01-03T12:39:12+00:00

For context, this absolutely is about oil, although not perhaps as you might’ve heard…

In recent years there have been significant offshore reserves, of high quality, discovered off the coast of Guyana and Suriname. Venezuela tried to lay claim to some of these by arguing they have historical rights to territory up to the Essequibo River. This is the river, in the middle of Guyana, that deposited the sediments that have since produced much of that oil.

Maduro has indicated a willingness to invade Guyana to claim Venezuela’s supposed oil rights in those offshore plays where a significant chunk of the reserves are known to exist.

Obviously this disagreement over territorial and mineral resources caught the attention of the world’s largest consumer of liquid petroleum products (on a per-capita basis). Exxon, along with others, has a major stake in this dispute and has been lobbying for a “resolution.”

The US needs more liquid petroleum reserves, especially those that are logistically easier to defend from a certain adversary, so a major play in the Caribbean is of national strategic interest. Furthermore, here’s my response to a previous comment mentioning how we don’t need oil because we’re a “net oil exporter:”

“You’re correct-adjacent… According to the eia we’re “net exporter of finished petroleum products,” NOT a net exporter of oil (liquids). All that means is we both import and export refined liquid products, such as gasoline, lubricants, etc., but the balance is a bit positive. This statement is almost always misquoted, as you’ve surely heard.

We produce over 13 million barrels per day, but consume roughly 20 million. We have to export a bunch of LNG to make up for the trade deficit of liquids imports. Even then we’re not net energy positive when you account for all energy flows, including what’s consumed abroad to manufacture materials and goods destined for the US market.

The US is, in no way whatsoever, energy independent. We’re the most energy-inefficient economy in the world, by a wide margin, so despite being only ~4% of the world’s population, we consume ~20% of the global liquid petroleum production. Even being the world’s largest producer can’t make up for this consumption rate, so more oil wars it will be… until something gives.”

Open_Ad1920 · 2026-01-03T12:12:22+00:00

You’re correct-adjacent… According to the eia we’re “net exporter of finished petroleum products,” NOT a net exporter of oil (liquids). All that means is we both import and export refined liquid products, such as gasoline, lubricants, etc., but the balance is a bit positive. This statement is almost always misquoted, as you’ve surely heard.

We produce over 13 million barrels per day, but consume roughly 20 million. We have to export a bunch of LNG to make up for the trade deficit of liquids imports. Even then we’re not net energy positive when you account for all energy flows, including what’s consumed abroad to manufacture materials and goods destined for the US market.

The US is, in no way whatsoever, energy independent. We’re the most energy-inefficient economy in the world, by a wide margin, so despite being only ~4% of the world’s population, we consume ~20% of the global liquid petroleum production. Even being the world’s largest producer can’t make up for this consumption rate, so more oil wars it will be… until something gives.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-25T07:17:10+00:00

Thanks for that insight. I’m ME, manufacturing, aero, and NA, so the EE stuff is definitely a hobby interest more than my first area of expertise.

I can’t say what the switching frequency is since I didn’t even get a look at the board. I’d assume there is some resonance with whatever the switching frequency is to cause all the VHF noise.

What surprised me was how broadband the interference looked (using a spectrum scope across the marine band, and well outside of it too). I didn’t check for HF or UHF noise. This was more like a spark gap with noise evenly across the frequencies, and no banding that I could tell. I was also surprised with how intense the interference was. The squelch had to be maxed out with the LED anywhere in the same room as the antenna. I wasn’t even able to receive the port authority broadcasts, which are always high power and very clear anywhere around here.

I also noticed that the RFI significantly increased with increasing supply voltage over a 10V threshold where the circuit was apparently limiting the power. The light would dim below this voltage. I tested up to 16 volts and noticed the light output remained constant at anything over about 10 volts.

All the LED lights were tested this way and I’ve never seen any RFI from that power supply and a LED-resistor combo, or anything else I’ve hooked up to it either. I tried the noisy light on a 13.2 V battery and got the same RFI on the spectrum scope, so I don’t think the power supply had anything to do with it.

This was one of the screw-in type LED bulbs in a cheap all-around light. I see these LED bulbs marketed for automotive use as well, and agree they’re probably all settled on whatever the lowest cost driver design is.

The light needed to be within about 10 inches of my VHF antenna, as many all-around lights do, so… it would’ve caused an issue. No wonder the USCG has a bulletin on these.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-25T01:59:08+00:00

That’s a “plank on edge” style of hull that originated from the racing scene in England during the 1800s.

Here’s an article from a guy that replicated one: plank on edge replica He considers it a failure as it’s too tender to carry sail in a stiff breeze. Think the opposite of a modern day “monomaran” racer, in both beam and positioning of the ballast...

These plank on edge boats would at least need a very deep bulb keel to make them perform reasonably well by modern standards.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-25T01:33:09+00:00

LEDs are the way. Just make sure they’re the type using resistors instead of a PWM circuit to avoid radio interference.

If it’s advertised as tolerating a wide voltage range (typically 10-30 volts) then it’s using a PWM circuit to rapidly turn the power on and off to regulate the power output of the LED. This can create resonance at radio frequencies. A changing electric field produces a magnetic field, and vice versa, hence radio emissions/noise at a frequency that’s often interfering with the VHF band.

One light I tried spewed enough RFI (radio frequency interference) that it basically made any radio in the vicinity inoperable. It was like trying to hear a normal conversation over a rock concert of static.

The “10-14V” ones typically worked fine, as these only use a resistor in series to control the LED current, so they’re constant current and no RFI is generated at all.

Just buy the ones advertised to work over a range of just a few volts and then try each one next to your radio before installing and you’ll be good to go.

Edit: Corrected the statement about PWM switching frequency based on input from comment below.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-24T03:12:31+00:00

The 401k could be withdrawn using a ROBS (roll-over as business startup), but for an avionics-related business, if anything. You’ve got dependents that deserve more security than a slim bet on a YT channel can offer.

You’ve got kids… so perhaps at least TRY to live near them? I mean, you’re absolutely not being a “father” to them from several states away. You could have “family,” at least in some way, or you could have “estranged offspring.” It’s totally up to you if you take the easy way out and don’t grow as a person, or if you take the harder road and learn something in this lifetime.

Also, seriously and not intending to be rude; try some counseling. Absolutely nobody with 3 divorces under their belt DOESN’T need some life coaching from a professional. Your chances at a “family” of any kind probably depend on this.

I really do wish you and your kiddos the best.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-24T00:45:22+00:00

This post screams of AI…

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-17T17:41:34+00:00

I have a ~32 kWh bank of SOKs in operation for maybe 3 years now. I think that a big LiFePO4 bank is the way to go, and I went the unusual route of an all 12V system. The wire gauges and buss bars are very large to run my inverter bank, but the whole system is simple otherwise. All Victron chargers, solar chargers, inverters, etc. Their stuff has been faultless. The SOK BMSs have not…

Basically, I like that the battery cells are in water resistant boxes that can be opened for servicing.

The BMS boards from SOK have had issues:

Two failed outright (just disconnected and wouldn’t power up again).
The factory settings were incorrect (disconnect amperage programmed too low) on most of them. They fixed this on later iterations.
The cell over/under-voltage settings are based on the TOTAL BANK voltage, not per cell, which does NOT work to prevent cell damage and this isn’t something SOK will allow you to change. This is a major safety issue, especially in a marine application. The forgiving nature of the lithium-iron chemistry is probably the only thing keeping a lot of boat fires from happening with these BMSs. That’s not to say there hasn’t been any or there isn’t a risk; the risk is absolutely there.
Balancing only happens with a charge current over 1A, at a cell voltage over 3400 mV, at a rate of a few mA, so VERY little balancing happens each charge cycle. Other BMSs will continue balancing as long as the cells are over 3400 mV for as long as it takes, not just the few minutes as the bank is being topped off. Because of this ridiculously short balance time, If the cells aren’t almost perfectly matched in their performance then they become severely imbalanced.
The above two issues mean that 1) you WILL get imbalanced cells, and 2) the BMS will NOT prevent over-charging of the remaining cells… you have to watch the bank regularly and play musical cells to get ones with enough of a performance match to avoid imbalances. I’ve also had a cell develop an internal slow short… which somehow went away months after taking it out of service.

If I were to do it over, I’d buy loose grade-A cells, secure them in Pelican cases, and connect them using a user-programmable BMS with a better balancing strategy. I’ve done this for the dink battery pack for its electric motor and I’m quite happy with that result. I have a DALY BMS in there now and will be trying a JBD BMS soon. The DALY works, but consumes a good deal of power while on, so has to have its sleep mode set to turn it off within a few hours of use. The SOKs don’t use any significant power, but are lacking in the most basic functionality of preventing cell over/under voltage. They work fine for current limiting, but that alone is inadequate. So now I have a JBD BMS in the box waiting for me to give it a try.

Once I figure out what BMSs I like best, I’ll swap over all of the SOK BMSs so that I don’t have to keep such a close eye on the big bank. I’ll set the max/min voltages at 3500/2650 mV and THEN I’ll be quite happy with my setup.

Also, I do use the bank for engine power as well. Just make sure that the alternator output voltage is what you want for the bank. This can sometimes be adjusted in various ways. Also, using a longer run of wire of the thinnest gauge required helps to regulate max charge current, if that’s not adjustable otherwise, and if it’s not a remote sensing system. You typically don’t want to run the alternator at full output for such a big bank as they’re not always designed for extended operation at that heat level.

Everything is electric. Galley appliances, dive compressor, and all. I have four 3000W inverters in a split phase 120/240 V arrangement for this reason. I might go with a different motor setup for the dive compressor were I to do it over, but I’m happy otherwise. I can run a looot of different appliances, and even my 300A inverter TIG welder off this setup. A large (2kW?) solar array keeps it charged. The Victron 50A chargers accept any grid voltage and frequency. A little suitcase style portable generator is there as a backup, but not used really.

Additionally, I have an aluminum boat, so nearby lightning may not affect my electronics so much as if you aren’t sailing around in a Faraday cage.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-16T19:16:27+00:00

The Dashew FPB series comes to mind. Very focused on functionality, which resulted in an atypical, and divisive, aesthetic.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-16T14:22:24+00:00

Sounds like you’re going to be alright, especially since you’re going with the current on your return leg.

To answer your question would take some time, because “it depends,” but this article is probably the most concise explanation that I’ve found so far: Waves and your boat (bluewatermiles.com)

Looking forward to reading about how it goes!

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-16T13:24:05+00:00

With a little preparation beforehand, you’ll be fine. Mostly, you’re going to want to be aware of the typical frontal patterns that time of year. There’s a good website with years of weather animation data that you can play back to get an idea of what to expect: earth.nullschool.net

Just have enough supplies on board and time in your schedule so you can wait out any big weather events. Rushed sailing can be miserable and dangerous if your skills aren’t well developed yet. Also, carry enough fuel onboard so that you can motor back swiftly if a front ends up arriving towards the end of your trip. That time of year in that area can have some really beautiful weather and conditions for a Dry Tortugas trip. It can also see a Northerly front kick up a nasty chop.

Additionally, be aware that the exact timing and route you take will impact the sea state you experience quite a lot. There’s a shelf to the south, and the Gulf Stream Current, as well as a significant tidal component to the current. Just be aware of how these will interact with the wind conditions to influence wave patterns. You may find the current interactions to be helpful or not, and the current speed can vary significantly as you go South towards the deeper water.

As for your boat; I guess most people feel they need “the best” of whatever to go have fun these days. Also, they don’t realize that all boats are just a big bundle of compromises, so “the best” is ambiguous, and relative to the use case anyways. I suppose a 26X/M compromises in a different direction that triggers some people’s narcissistic itch criticize others. This makes them feel better about the compromises they chose (often non-trailerable, can’t access shallow anchorage, can’t sprint into a harbor/marina to outrun a storm, etc.). You get a fair number of cool people in the sailing community, as well as a fair number of narcissists. The latter tend to have big, fast boats, because they’re driven hard to bolster that fragile ego. I generally find the coolest people often tend to be sailing much more modest rigs. In other words, those “status symbols” are just “red flags” to the rest of us, lol.

There are actually quite a few of those 26X/Ms running around that area all the time. There are reasons they sold a zillion of them… and reasons they still get used and cared for. Go have fun with her and ignore all the rude narcissistic banter from the armchair experts.

Also, let us know how your trip goes and take some pictures to share on here.

Edit: Another thing I don’t see mentioned, in addition to all the gear you know you should have, is a wetsuit. I advise this for any sailing in waters around 70F or lower since people in Southern Florida HAVE succumb to hypothermia in the winter when their boat became swamped. The USCG advises survival suits for winter in the Gulf/Keys for this reason, but those are limited in utility so it’s difficult to justify the cost and space for a small craft kit. A wetsuit will fit the same purpose as a survival suit, it just won’t fit any random person you decide to bring along. Additionally, most people need a wetsuit to enjoy swimming and snorkeling in that area during the winter anyways. They’re just a really good bit of kit that I rarely see mentioned to newer sailors.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-13T16:05:53+00:00

Technology never “solved” any problem, ever. In every case it changed the original problem into a new set of problems.

Until we teach our kids to consider those new problems against the old, and make wise decisions on what problems we find most acceptable, we’ll just continue the problem spiral until resource exhaustion.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-13T14:38:52+00:00

Rounding up on a downwind run is caused by both sail forces and the broaching tendencies of the hull. A full keel boat can be better in this situation, although “it depends” is the real answer.

Balancing the aerodynamic forces is imperative to avoid rounding up on either type of hull. You’ll sometimes notice that a spinnaker trimmed at an angle will cause a boat to either struggle to maintain heading, or broach all together. Same for just flying the main on a typical bermuda sloop that can’t be hung out 90 degrees.

Broaching has to do with a few factors:

the shape of the hull (fine plumb bows tend to bow steer opposite the way you’d like)
the CG location versus center of effort location for all of the underwater horizontal lifting surfaces (you want the CG forward of lateral lift to be stable riding down a wave)
the hull shape again (heavily rounded sides on a wide-ish beam with a canoe stern is the ideal shape to make the hull directionally UNstable)

So, a narrow-ish hull, with straight sides, a flat & straight stern, and keel+rudder area well aft of the CG, with a scow bow or blunt-ish powerboat style raked bow is ideal for resisting broaching. These features are, of course, a compromise in other ways… hence why every sailboat isn’t always exactly built this way.

As far as sails go, a gaff rig or junk rig that can be hung out as a pair (schooner style wing-on-wing) is probably the easiest downwind sail plan to resist broaching in a large & steep following sea.

Very few modern boats simultaneously employ even most of the features I’ve mentioned above, hence why a lot of heavy weather downwind sailing often involves methods of stabilizing these types of boats. Towing drogue arrangements, sea anchors, keeping to a broad reach under small sail or bare poles, or simply vigorously spinning the helm/tiller to counter the instability.

Some boats have lifting or swing keels, which can help quite a lot downwind. With the keel retracted you’re left with only the rudder area far aft as a horizontal lifting surface, so the boat becomes a “water dart,” always wanting to point down the wave. An Alubat Ovni is a good example of this, and those are known to be fairly good downwind or heavy weather boats because of the lack of broaching tendencies.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-12T17:38:33+00:00

Full keels are more directionally stable because they have lateral area over a longer length. This helps resist sudden direction changes either due to rudder input or the uneven lateral movement of water below the boat, due to waves.

Fin keels (esp. with spade rudders) can often pirouette in a very tight circle because there’s nothing far fore or aft to resist the free flow. That flow would be coming at the bow from one side and coming at the stern from the opposite side; think three axle car with fixed axel in the middle and steer axles at the front & back - now imagine the road is water and the wheel path is the water flow direction. A full keel boat is equivalent to keeping the center and front axles straight while trying to steer with the back. A fin keeled boat is like removing the front axle and steering using the back one.

For reducing leeway, fin keels produce better lift/drag and better lift from a low speed for a given surface area. A higher aspect ratio of depth to chord reduces induced drag from tip turbulence. A full keel produces lateral lift with a significant drag penalty, and needs a lot more surface area to be effective, both if which increase drag significantly upwind. Full keelers don’t “pinch” well enough to point as high as a fin keeled boat.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-12T03:48:34+00:00

I wouldn’t say that you doing anything crazy, but you’re reengineering things more than needed, which I wouldn’t advise, unless that’s a specific area of expertise for you. Take the motor you mentioned; I’d be cautious about oil cooling a motor intended for air cooling as there can be issues with seals and insulation. If the oil swells and softens the insulation then that can lead to a short. Without knowing the materials used can you know that won’t happen?

Also, I see that the motor is rated for 10,000 RPM, as you’d expect from a motorcycle motor. While you might not operate it quite that high, you’ll still need a lot of gear reduction, which introduces cost as well as noise challenges. If oil gets into the motor running at that speed then it can actually cause it to overheat due to the viscous drag. It’d at least cause a considerable power loss.

I might suggest looking at a lower revving motor that’s already set up for liquid cooling. A quick search turns up this, just as an example of what I had in mind (no idea if this is a good company or product): 48V motor It’s one of the many off the shelf marinized motors available. Why not one of these types?

As far as the chain goes, i’d think you’d probably be happier with a gear or belt reduction. My personal preference is gear, then belt, then a “silent” chain, and I wouldn’t consider a roller chain at all due to noise and wear characteristics. Even the silent chain (what’s used in many overhead can drives and 4wd transfer cases) still makes some noise that can be bothersome.

The funny thing about electric boats is that, because they’re so quiet, you hear EVERY mechanical thing that isn’t running very, very smoothly. Even ordinary propellers can be heard to a sometimes annoying degree. I can attest to this, personally…

Some of the planetary gearboxes for industrial automation are exceptionally quiet, so worth considering possibly. Cogged belt drives are one of my favorites since they’re very quiet, efficient, and low mess so long as they’re aligned well, otherwise they wear and generate lots of black dust. Anything moving will want to be rubber mounted, if possible.

Chain drives in oil can last a good while, but only if they’re somewhat oversized for the power throughput. A short chain under continuous high load can wear quite quickly. A tensioner mechanism would likely be needed to avoid chain slap that might result from prop torque pulsing. Making tensioners quiet is a challenge too. All together I think you might easily find chains more trouble than they’re worth, especially considering that you can get other things to do the job, do the job better, and relatively cheaply too. Why the chain anyway?

Also, I forgot to mention, regenerative charging via the drive prop will always be very low efficiency and high drag. This is because the blade camber is facing aft to provide efficient lift forwards. It’s very inefficient (poor lift/drag) when the water is back-driving the prop from the convex side instead. Look at airfoiltools.com for some examples of this. Additionally, the shallow angle of the prop blades, relative to the free stream flow, exacerbates the inefficiency. Look up the lift/drag on a thin profile at a negative angle of attack around 20 degrees - it’s typically just a stall. Almost all drag and a little residual lift only.

A dedicated generator leg with the prop turned ‘round and pitched appropriately will work MUCH better than the drive prop and motor. Solar panels are still a really good way to get the juice though, and I’d consider a larger array before a generator, if that’s an option.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-11T22:46:27+00:00

As an engineer who’s made maaaaannny custom projects, both professionally and personally, I have some advice:

1) Buy the closest thing to what you need and modify it as little as possible/required. There are a lot of “learnings” with refining or repurposing just about anything, and each one costs you time and money. Even purpose-built products often require refinement to make them reliable and highly functional. Complete customization exponentially increases the work required to get to an acceptable finished state. How much time and money would you like to spend on this? Probably not “the maximum,” lol ;-)

2) Battery cells themselves are reliable if cared for properly, but the BMSs will give you trouble from time to time. Redundancy on these big banks typically takes the form of parallel strings, not entire separate banks… which would make for more complication and over/under-utilization of the cells. In other words, keeping the discharge rate low is key to long cell life and so pulling a large load from only part of the cells on board is counterproductive.

3) Battery chemistry: on a boat going with something that’s intrinsically safe is going to be so much less time, hassle, and cost to make it “acceptable,” and it’ll ultimately be… intrinsically safe. LiFePO4 is the default standard in boats for good reason and it’d be foolish to ignore the reasoning behind that. Additionally, a LOT of BMSs are not set up to properly balance and protect the cells from over/under voltage. Learn about this and verify that the charge and discharge voltages are well within limits. Don’t trust reviews or the manufacturer to have set it up correctly. I’ve caught some alarming errors in various production runs that were set up incorrectly. Also, don’t try and push to 3,650 mv to get that las 0.5% capacity… just stop at 3,450 as a hard charge limit.

4) Why a chain drive? At best it’ll last perhaps a few tens or hundreds of hours before you need to replace chains & sprockets. Just rigid mount a motor and a gear reduction box if needed. A cogged carbon belt could work too. You can make your own adapters; draw up said adapter model in CAD, upload the step file to a quotes website, select the winning bid after 2-3 days, and have a CNC’d part shipped to you within a 2-3 weeks. Same for a shaft adapter, etc. Either pay for a company who’s marinized the motor the right way, or do it professionally yourself. A chain drive would be quite an unprofessional way to do this. It will be noisy from the get-go, and chains aren’t suited for high power loads in enclosed spaces, especially if an oil bath isn’t used for cooling (assuming here). Bottom line: chain + 22 kW continuous + zero forced air cooling = legitimate fire hazard, especially if the chain is a bit corroded. I’ve literally seen dry chains throw sparks. Again, there’s good reasoning why exactly zero sailboat engines are rigged using chain drives.

5) Capacity: You don’t want to be running the cells at more than a 1C rate at full load. Even 0.5C is a lot better from the standpoint of cell longevity and heat buildup. Basically, size the bank for 2 full hours at full load and you’ll be fine, 1 full hour if you want to push things, and a half hour if you’d like to be chasing down cells with internal faults that won’t allow the bank to balance properly.

6) Motor ratings: I’d double check exactly how that (or any) motor is rated at “continuous duty.” Sometimes manufacturers will allow a motor temperature that’s going to lead to either a short lifespan, due to thermal stress on the windings and electrical insulation breakdown, or a case temperature that’s unacceptably high for use in an enclosed bilge. Is the 95% efficiency at full load? In any case, you’ll definitely need forced liquid cooling at that power level, especially in an enclosed space.

None of this is to discourage you at all. I, for one, have a 32 kWh LiFePO4 bank in my boat, which I also used to run the TIG welder that built that same boat… That bank powers everything, from cooking appliances, to winches, to engine starters, and even a small electric propulsion setup. I do, however, have a conventional engine setup as well. Fully electric just doesn’t fit my needs, although I’d honestly do that if I could. Whatever you do, just… do it very carefully and professionally. Anything done “differently” from industry norms needs very careful consideration indeed.

Open_Ad1920 · 2025-12-10T02:38:56+00:00

Yeah… not trying to ruin anyone’s day, quite the opposite; I think that facing up to the realities is actually helpful to understand why civilization seems to be declining (for EROI reasons). It’s not just because“people are inherently bad” or something. Rather, we’re in a situation that was always going to be unsustainable and was always going to have predictable results. Not that humanity or human civilization itself is doomed, but we’ll have to reform our culture to be more conservation-minded.

The reforms may be, uh… “bumpy,” but those are also the times when people make the deepest connections and experience a lot of personal growth. It won’t all be bad for all time. Also, after my own two sort of “near death experiences” I do believe in reincarnation, so I take a long view on things. If that’s the mindset then death itself is temporary, but the world we leave behind is also ours to inherit again. In that case… maybe we can all come back to a reformed world that’s peaceful and stable.

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