NEWS 2023.03.14

Genuine Chris Craft Data References from 1946 to 1965 acquired!

Our Gallery is all about the Chris Craft wooden boat era, 1920-1965. I collect real boats, model boats, parts, advertorials, pictures, technical drawings, owner manuals, technical manuals, books and other materials regarding the Chris Craft period 1920-1965.

Slowly but surely, I build up a technical database with original documents as part of, the library around the wooden boats period of Chris Craft, based on all the information above. Recently, I could acquire a pile of Chris Craft history, to expand the library.

NEWS 2023.01.15

Are we ready for it Hacker-Craft?

a well-known established reputable classic wooden boat builder in NY, took the courage to equip one of their new wooden boats with Electrical Boat Propulsion. 

Hacker-Craft partnered with Ingenity, a Correct Craft subsidiary, who did the build and integration of a water cooled Electrical Boat Propulsion set up. To see what job they together have accomplished, my wife and I, stepped in my car and drove to the Atlanta Boat Show today. We needed to see what the classic boat world is going through. 

LEGACY

John L. Hacker (1877-1961), was a preeminent naval architect of mahogany pleasure crafts of the last century.

John established Hacker-Craft in 1908.

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Hacker-Craft build in one of their wooden boats, an EBP (Electrical Boat Propulsion) setup, with a "telematic" system.

To understand what the Hacker-Craft can do with this electrical setup, we do some number interpretation to understand what is what.

In the folder, Hacker-Craft says:

- 220kW

- 400V electrical motor or 295 HP equivalent. 

Usually, with an electrical motor,  torque kicks in immediately, as soon as you hit the "throttle".   That will be a big kick to the the prop. A Power diagram is not available yet, but from experience, it comes in early, from 100 rpm...unless a soft start was implemented.

Anyway, it's promising to have that much power (295 hp) on board, for a 28 ft. length of boat.

Hopefully, Hacker-Craft like to share the weight or displacement numbers soon, so we can calculate theoretical speed and power consumption. Love to compare that, with real world numbers. Assuming, that the drag numbers for this boat are not available?

<What the Hack?

How far can we go out with this boat?

The folder (below right) says that there is   126 kW of battery capacity available.

Hacker-Craft estimates that the range can be up to 2-3 hours with a cruise speed of 18 knots/20 mph. This means, that if there is no charging station around, you can go 20-30 miles up and down and close to a 20-mph average speed. Sounds acceptable and is probably more convenient to ride this boat. It is not known, in what weather or water condition this can be achieved, but smooth weather likely.

If there is a state-of-the-art marina around, which is capable to charge 300 Ah of battery capacity, then this can be done in 1.5 hours with a High Voltage DC Charger. That might be a good time for a relaxed lunch.

When I divide 220 kW of maximum power by 400 Volt to drive the motor, then this means that this electric motor can consume 550 A at full power.

However, there are losses caused by wiring, power conversion, power management control and motor efficiency. 

A very good optimized electrical setup, end to end, may be 95% efficient. 

If we do the calculation again like above, we end up with 522 A, to have that electric motor at full speed going.

Most EBP designers, don't let the Lithium batteries drain to zero. This is to avoid a battery "melt" down (overheating. Usually, you discharge LiPoFE batteries not more than 95%. In that case, there is 300 Ah in the batteries available.

Knowing now, that this electrical motor needs 522 Ampere to go full speed, with a 300 Ah battery bank, means that you can do this for half an hour at maximum power.

But, despite of cooling, motors and/or engine running at maximum, it will likely end up in mechanical failure or even fire. I worked in the racing world for a decade and know from experience, that if you let the motor and/or engine run at 85-90%,  to avoid these disasters. 

Hacker-Craft recommend a cruise speed, like 18-20 mph. It's safe then, to have some WOT (Wide Open Throttle) events for some minutes, but monitor your temperatures and pressures.

A WOT event, like on a combustion engine consumes a lot of gasoline. 

A "WOT" event on an electrical motor, absorbs a lot of energy and will discharge your batteries really quick. This will cause you a shorter range, and may decrease battery life.

With a 300 Ah number, you can figure out, where you can charge your Hacker-Craft for another 300 A, because you need to do go back...ride...

For sure, it is of great courage that Hacker-Craft turns a classic boat into Electrical Propulsion. Hacker-Craft manufactures beautiful classical boats and the Electrical Setup looks professional. 

It is time to get real, hands on with world experience. Let's ask ourselves; How reliable will be Electrical Propulsion? What will be the lifetime of these batteries?

Next time, I go into the "Telematic" system installed on this boat, to understand what the possibilities are.

Stay Tuned!

William Adrian

Around 100 years ago, Chris Craft a wooden boat manufacturer in Algonac, Michigan, became a serious player in the market for wooden speed boats in the USA. "That's a good reason to go! In combination with a wooden boat event where it all happened".

My wife and I can be very busy, so to leave our workplace, that takes some planning. Thanks to our friends, who were willing to look after our business, we were able to make the trip. We brought some little trade with us and set up a booth between other vendors. Also, we were considering taking our Sea Skiff with us, however that was causing a couple more days off. We decided to "combine the useful with the pleasant" and taking some me time for ourselves, so we could attend the entire program of the Michigan-Algonac chapter. Some pictures are left in the slider above.