Power Puzzle: Gyro + Outboard Solved

Fishing boats are as "Australian" as vegemite. As we get older, the size of the boat may increase a bit. Perhaps pack a pair of Yammies or Mercs on the back and add a little cuddy cabin. Now we can spend overnight on the reef or in the bay to catch the tides perfectly early in the morning. Picture perfect! Well not quite…. Rocking and rolling all night may ruin the trip.

Adding a “Gyro” to the boat solves the rocking and rolling. A Seakeeper 1 for example will suit a boat to 25ft and stabilize the roll by up to 90%. Your partner (and kids?) may even come with you. Now we are talking of the perfect boat for fishing and fun. Well, nearly perfect, we just have to add the power system so the gyro CAN run all night. They consume quite a bit of power in open waters.

Safiery’s Award Winning “Scotty” will capture the maximum power possible from the alternators in the outboards and replenish the lithium batteries. This technology is highly efficient (96%+) but more importantly, it varies the power it takes so the engine’s 12V system has priority. As a result, it may only take 300W at idle and then 1,500W at full revs. This power is used to charge 48V Lithium batteries. Then on top of these features, it is bi-directional so when the engines are off the 12V power pours back in to the 12V devices, even the anchor winch can be lifted without running the outboards. If you are using electric winches for fishing, they can be used non stop plus all the usual 12V appliances.

With 3 hours of engine run time, Scotty is adding nearly 4kwh of energy to the Lithium batteries. That’s a comfortable 8 hours overnight with the Seakeeper 1 running. Sustainable energy is all about replenishment power. Solar is just too small a power source for most boats.

This is the boat of the future. Forward cabin bed, Gyro, electric hot water, induction cooking, air fryer and even a compact ice-maker. In this video, meet Jack McKenzie of Finesse Boat Building in Mackay. Jack had a vision for this boat of the future and modified a 25ft Bertram.

For our technical followers, in this video we step through the power monitoring of the sea trial. The system is reporting every minute all the critical data and we can review it in the office. In fact, nearly every system we ship has this feature now as we can login remotely and make tuning changes, update firmware and of course respond to alarms.

Technology is changing faster in the last year than I have experienced in the previous 10. What’s more, on line data lets us monitor, and improve performance to levels that were previously unheard of. We integrate technology from 3 sectors for this to happen. Commercial power technology from Victron Energy, the global leader in this space, electric vehicle DC to DC technology which is about rapid power transfer, and data centres/ telecom Lithium storage technology which has to be 99.999% reliable. Commonly called Five- 9’s level of reliability. The cross roads is 48V DC and CANbus. This is the power and automation system in the Bertram using products from these three areas of technology.

Whilst we are capturing energy from a fossil fuel driven outboard, we are doing this when the engine is not at peak efficiency. The "white space" between engine output horsepower and propellor load is energy we are grabbing with the alternator load. There will be a little more fuel consumed but no where near as much as running a genset!

About Safiery:

We are Technologists with Insight.

Our Insight changes the Functional into the Unforgettable.

We are passionate about creating "hope" that we can make a change to sustainable energy?for both the user's benefit and the planet. For our part we strive to use the most efficient products and designs that give an unforgettable experience.

Our Insight creates a bridge from technology to products; then products to sustainability.