Boat U.S. - March 2009 - (Page 60)

Nigel Calder, Guru Of Boat Systems Nigel and Terrie Calder spent a decade voyaging on sailboats, and home-schooling their two children along the way. Nigel’s accumulated background as a diesel mechanic, boatbuilder, cabinetmaker, and machinist makes him the guy you’d want aboard a cruising vessel. Calder was the easiest person to interview. I turned on the recorder, and he expounded for two engaging hours. No surprise. His books are the same. If you need a lucid, complete answer to a question about boat wiring, plumbing, or propulsion, check his Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual. How to set up your boat to cruise over the horizon? The information is in Calder’s Cruising Handbook. He tells you more than you imagined was in the topic in his compact work, How To Read A Nautical Chart. Calder’s books belong in your library beside Chapman’s tome, Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling. When you encounter one of his many magazine articles, read it; you’ll always learn something. The recent hybrid-power grant was a coup for Calder. He beams when talking about it, “I’ve gone from data collection for journalistic purposes to becoming a player in the research and development side of marine hybrids.” Nigel and Terrie now live on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland when they’re not under way. Their latest boat, a Malo 46, is currently in Sweden. — T.D. BoatU.S. Magazine March 2009 22 BoatU.S. Magazine January 2009 Even before the EU grant was awarded, Calder had begun work with Florida-based E Motion Hybrids on a hybrid drive for his own boat. He sold his Swedish-built Malø 46 sloop and ordered another one to incorporate his ideas, and become his test platform for the EU project. He’s been talking to just about everybody in the world who’s anybody in the hybrid propulsion field, gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. “Resident skeptic” is how Calder describes his role in the EU study. “My job is to prove that these various systems won’t work,” he said, grinning. “In the process, looks like I’ll be showing that Solar panels occupy every inch of the cabin top and they can work pilot house roof, but provide enough energy to allow very well.” the DSe to hang out on the hook for weeks at a time. Regeneration Revolution One good reason for using a sailboat as a test platform is that wind-powered vessels can offer a special advantage to hybrid drives: regeneration. No, they won’t grow new parts like a cut-up starfish; it’s a different kind of regeneration that produces energy for free. Electric motors are structurally the same as electric generators. If you put current into the wires of the machine, the shaft turns and can do work, like driving a propeller. If you turn the shaft instead, electricity comes out of the wires and can be stored in a battery. The motion of a boat under sail through the water turns the prop; many sailors feather the prop blades or put the transmission into gear to stop the shaft from turning and make the ride quieter. But if an electric motor is attached to the prop shaft and you let the prop naturally turn the motor, you get electricity out the wires. Presto, it’s a battery charger. That’s regeneration. It’s free energy, compliments of the wind. Sailing in the trade winds, the amount of regenerated electricity can be significant. On one recent transatlantic passage, an electric-powered boat generated so

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Boat U.S. - March 2009

Boat U.S. - March 2009 Contents Reader Forum Boat U.S. Reports What’s New In The Brew? The Perfect Paint Job Launch Into Spring Boats Gear Wheels One Mom, Two Teens, No Exit So, Nigel Had This Idea Ice Devices It Was A Club Of Their Own Expanding The Boating Universe Tech Connection A Case Study In Getting Results Let’s All Do This Together Classifieds Member Benefits/At Your Service

Boat U.S. - March 2009

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