All about sailboat Pania


A little technical, but interesting to boat people and engineering minds...

  Our boat is Pania, a Ferro-Cement, 30,000 lb 45' Cutter sailboat (The only cement yacht in Belize with electric motor) with an AC-34 Motor and Curtis Controller from Thunderstruck. It's programmed for 4000+ RPM with a 3.3-1 pulley reduction for the shaft that we have built.

We had the mounting plate done here and have used some parts from Toyota Corolla . Used the front wheel thrust bearing and CV joint at the end of the shaft putting a flange from the back wheel. There is no shop over here to go and buy pulleys and cog wheels .So timing pulleys did the job after some refitting. It was all to keep the cost down because most of our budget went to customs, taxes and shipping .

The Ferro-Cement hull was built in 1975 in Florida (Canadian design). We got the boat after it had sat for several years with leaking windows and the bilges overflowing. Ugh! Took some time and a lot of cleaning. The diesel engine had been dismantled with parts missing. Removed the diesel, the fuel tanks and tons of waste oil from the bilges. (again Ugh!) A lot of the cabin wood was destroyed by termites so much has been replaced and refinished. Two weeks ago the Pania left the marina for a test run out into the Caribbean. Some Minor problem with the shaft and propeller causing some extra friction and wasting battery power. But we sailed for about an hour, then returned to the marina. The batteries charged when we reached 4.5 knots speed. (note this; when sailing, the batteries charge!) All in all, it was a successful test. Leaving and returning to the marina under silent electric power is amazing. There is just a slight vibration when under full power.

For a charger we are using an electric scooter charger (when at shore) and four solar panels.
Happy to answer any questions about how we did the conversion.

Peterson-Shandiz aboard the Pania in Belize City, Belize, Central America..
and that's home!

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