The Maxi 95 have the diesel engine under the cabin table. The propeller is placed just aft of the keel, leaving some 2 meters to the rudder. This means that in order to maneuver, you need speed, since the propeller flow does not reach the rudder. It also means that there is space under the cockpit.
I wanted to use the second, while doing something about the first! (It helped that I had the electric engine laying around since my last boat… It is a single electric engine from Oz Marine, see http://www.ozmarine.se)
I needed to strengthen the bulkhead in front of the aft cabin, so I planned to do this at the same time. I used my angle grinder to clear the top coat where the fastenings would come. Then I drilled a hole at the bottom of the boat as far aft as I could.
The bulkhead and bottom was strengthened with glass fibre and carbon fibre.
The engine mount was tried out…
On either side, I built boxes for the batteries (I have 10 batteries 42 Ah each).
The final result, before mounting the engine, looked like this:
Now, to fix the propeller axis, I built a skeg. I made a hole in the floor of the aft cabin to access the bottom just in front of the rudder skeg and moulded a piece of stainless steel in there.
The skeg was then filled with divinycell (4 layers)
It was strengthened with glass fibre and carbon fibre…
The final result looks like this. (Note that I added a filling to round the corner above the propeller…)
So, how does it work? Well, the maneuverability of the boat is now very good (going forward). In reverse, there is a strong propeller effect, pulling the aft to port. However, knowing that you have access to instant power is very comforting. I use the electric engine to take the boat in and out of ports and the start the diesel enging only when there is no wind and I need to go a long distance.
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