Class 1 offshore powerboat 1.60m

Manufacturer: EPV
Name: Giesse class 1 offshore powerboat.
Design: Spirit of Norway.
LxBxH: 1,60cm
Weight: about 11.5 kg total
Owner's: Mario Verweij & Ronald van der Wijden

 

Motors: 2 x Lehner 2280/10. (before 2x Plettenberg HP355BM/45/4 (left + right turning))
Speed Controller: 2x BK-Electronics 36150. (before 2x Robbe Navy 570)
Batteries: 4x 15 cells GP 3300mah M&P. (2x 30 cells parallel)
Prop: 2x Graupner 51mm carbon L + R.
Hopup's: All hardware is from MTC.

The building process

27-10-2002: the beginning of a big project.

Ron is using the Powerfile. He's making plates of carbon for reinforcements in the back of the hull where the hardware comes on.

In the background on the right, Mario is painting another project.
Ron is checking if the plates fit.

The building process continues. Here you see that the struts and the rudder are already in place. It took us 2 days.

I still can't believe this will work. thinking this baby will run 80km/h minimal.

Three in a row: the one at the back is ours, the rest is from Pete; in the middle the exact same hull, only a little smaller at 1.30m, and in the front a Hydro & Marine Drifter S.

Visible above: battery supports being glued in place.
Also visible are the two motors with the drive shafts and motor cooling tubes.

16 packs counting 15 cells each, totalling 240 pieces. Pete's been busy soldering for two nights straight on these babies (half of them are his, by the way).

On the right: four packs in place, on the sides the two controllers that are going to harness al those amps.

Detail view of one of the motors, motor mount and axle. Also visible: water cooling tubes.

09-06-2003: first test runs

 

 

 

The only problem we encountered is that the cells became far too hot, so next time we are going to use 90 cells, and place them in parallel.
Also we are going to try out some other props, because we think that the boat can go faster than this. The motors and controllers remained cool, so the water cooling works.

 

Update 13-08-2003

We've finally got the new speed controller, so we could fix the heating problem with the cells.
In the mean time we've also gave the boat a little color, so it looks a little bit nicer at all the fairs we go to.
(It's only for a little while, because we want to paint it in the new look (2003) of the original "Spirit of Norway")

More Dead batteries: 90 cells...incoming...

That's what we called cells!!!

Latest news

At the power boat meeting in Bremen, Germany we got the chance to try out the new 90 cell setup.

The first test run showed that the new speed controller wasn't up to the load and reduced the power to the motors to keep from overheating.

To overcome this, we rigged the speed controller with a makeshift water cooling and cut the 70 carbon props down to about 63 mm.

The next run proved this was the right direction: the boat ran at top speed and the controller kept functioning properly.


After the run, motors and cells turned out to be quite hot, but everything held.
The next step will be to construct a more efficient water cooling for the controller, and maybe a different cooling intake to enlarge the water flow.

On one of our latest test runs we've shown boats don't need to be confined to water but can take to the air as well:

(With special thanks to Bas Ladru for the great animated gif).

Our models in the press

(Here some pictures from some news papers i came in)

As it a result, it suffered some damage to the gel coat, but luckily nothing serious. Everything for a thrill...

Go see the paint jop page for it's new look, or click on this link for the latest pictures.