Not me but the owner.  I did the basic design and layout.  Owner did the shop drawings for the frame.  Bored out the pulleys to suit the shafts.  The belt box has provision for a second DC generator that could be used to charge the batteries but there are already two options for charging being the solar and regen so it is unlikely the other generator will be used.

I stuffed up on the toothed belt though.  I designed it with a safety factor of three on the motor rated torque but during starting the belt can be broken if the diesel misfires a couple of times and a resonance sets in with the high inertia of the generator.  It helps to have the belt correctly pre-tensioned as the resonance is not as severe and the generator inertia acts as a flywheel.  In any case there are plans to increase the belt width and also increase the gear ratio to reduce the diesel rpm at the 5kt cruise speed.  The aim is to get 5kts at around 2200rpm.

We are still sorting out the sound proofing and the air flow in the engine box.  Even delivering 9kW there is a good deal of air flow required to prevent the box from warming up.

My choice for Australian waters would be as many solar panels that can be reasonably placed on flat surfaces.  Then a small off=the-shelf AC diesel generator that can be used to charge the batteries in emergency.  It does not take much power to get the boat moving and create some useful apparent wind in light conditions for motor sailing.  On the other hand the DC generator does offer the advantage of being very simple and completely bypasses the controllers.  

Rick

 

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