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Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED #198231
06/20/2019 10:31 PM
06/20/2019 10:31 PM
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 64
Waco, Texas
A
Alec Atteberry Offline OP
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Alec Atteberry  Offline OP
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Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 64
Waco, Texas
Trip Report June 12-20, 2019

Let me get right into this. The trip was absolutely awesome. This was my ninth trip to the BVI and second one through Voyage. We were on the brand new Electrified 480 with a total of 8 people aboard (4 of which were college students, including myself). I’ll talk about the boat in more detail towards the end. We did quite a bit of sailing this trip and certainly put the boat through its paces but more on that later.

Day1: we arrived in ST. Thomas around 2pm and made it to Road Town at about 5. Soper’s Hole is still pretty banged up and the customs office and ferry dock there is still out of commission. We ended up getting on the boat around 6 and were immediately concerned by the fact that the boat wasn’t plugged into any shore power. We called the base and asked if we needed to plug in at all which got a little bit of a chuckle as they reminded us that we were on electrified; Fair enough. The boat isn’t entirely electric, but it’s diesel generator system is programmed to run and shut off depending on the battery level which made for a quite first night on the dock.

Day2: after finishing up our briefing around 9am the voyage team helped us out of the slip and we were off. As usual the entire staff there was very helpful and our briefing was incredibly thorough. We raised sails in the channel of Soper’s Hole and immediately headed towards Sandy Cay. At this point we had about 60% in the batteries and decided to turn on the sail drive regeneration mode. I had us doing about 9-10 knots in 18-20 knots of wind and by the time we reached Sandy Cay the battery had charged to 67% with the AC and water maker running. Sandy Cay was nice; the trail is still there but it is overgrown and far less shaded than it was a few years ago. As we were leaving an older lady got hurt on the beach while trying to drag their dinghy up which eventually led to us calling VISAR. After that we headed into Diamond Cay around 3pm, just in time to hike to the Bubbly Pool and back before dinner.

Day3: My friends and I got up around 5:20am so we could watch the sunrise from the deck. After that we utilized the relatively quiet electric engines on Electrified to get us underway. Like all of Voyage’s boats, Electrified was a breeze to sail and by 7:30 I had gotten us to the Caves at Norman. After that it was an easy motor to the Indians and a short sail to Great Harbour at Peter Island. The new Willy T is a great stop. The food is pretty good and relatively inexpensive, and the whole ship is in much better shape than the original.

Day4: from Peter it was about a 45 minute sail to the Baths and we go there around 10am. The whole trail was relatively uncrowded as I made sure to pick a day when there weren’t any cruise ships in St. Thomas or Road Town. We left the Baths around 1pm and instead of heading to Leverick like we usually would, we decided to head over to the Dogs. The snorkeling on the backside of Great Dog was pretty good but the current was somewhat strong and visibility wasn’t the best. The visibility off of kitchen point on George Dog was much better and overall a better spot. Since we had a BoatyBall reserved at Leverick we didn’t leave until 4:30 from the Dogs and we took our time getting there. We pulled into Leverick at 5:15pm got our ball and went in for dinner. Not much easier than that.

Day5: I slept in a little bit and got a BoatyBall at Anegada for the night; we set sail shortly after 7am. Th wind was blowing at a pretty constant 20 knots from the NW which made it a pretty quick sail from North Sound (about an hour and thirty minutes). We moored around 9am and immediately headed in to get a car. We spent most of the day at Loblolly and went to Cow Wreck for drinks afterwards. The snorkeling at Loblolly is still some of the best in the BVI in my opinion and it was easy to spend hours out there weaving in and out of the reef. That night we had an excellent dinner at Anegada Reef Hotel, which looks as good as it did before Irma.

Day6: I woke up early and got a BoatyBall at Cane Garden Bay for the night and we headed out of Anegada around 10am. From there we went back to the Dogs where my friends and I did a couple of quick dives and some bouldering on the rocks. We left the Dogs around 3pm and made it into CGB around 5:30pm. CGB is more or less back to its pre Irma state, and it was nice to spend some time there that night before all the cruise ship passengers started showing up the next morning.

Day 7: I got a BoatyBall at Cooper for the night but instead of heading straight there my crew (of college kids) wanted to visit Foxy’s and Soggy Dollar, both of which are back better than their Pre-Irma state. After talking with Foxy and a few painkillers at Soggy Dollar, we started the long sail down to Cooper. We made decent time, and pulled into the mooring field around 4:45pm. I didn’t eat dinner at Cooper (on account of being a college student) but my friends and I did spend several hours at the Rum Bar which is in my opinion, one of the highlights of the island.

Day8: For our last full day I decided to head over to the Rhone for a couple hours of diving and snorkeling before sailing over to Norman for the night. We moored south of the Caves in Privateers Bay, where one of my friends spent several hours trying to climb through the bush, determined to get to the top of Norman. After leaving there a little cut up and tired, we moored in the Bight only to realize that there is a trail that leads all the way to the top of the Island. Naturally we had to climb it, and after spending several hours hiking around the island in five booties and flip flops, we went to the Pirates Bight for dinner. The food was great but the service was pretty poor. I don’t know if it was the fact that we were college students or something else, but it took well over an hour to get our food and our waitress stopped by our table twice. That being said the food was really good and it wasn’t a bad way to spend the night.

Day9: pretty simple. We got up early, packed, cleaned the boat, raised the sails, and headed into Soper’s Hole.

The Boat:
Let me start by saying that the automatic generator on/off is probably the best feature of Electrified. Our power consumption bordered on the obscene as we ran the AC and water Maker every day, and the underwater and spreader lights at night. With the auto on/off function, and relatively quiet generator, power consumption was a non issue and made for one less thing to worry about.

The saildrives are another distinguishing feature on this boat. Let me start by saying that they’re not fast at all. At full speed I was able to get the boat up to about 7 knots with just the electric saildrives so it’s no speed boat. But what the engines lack in speed, they more than make up for in torque. Picking up moorings, motoring/ maneuvering into the Harbour, and controlling the boat was incredibly easy with the electric drives. The props have a unique folding system that adjusts the blade pitch/direction depending on the amount of power being applied which made handling a breeze. And while putting the props in regeneration mode did decrease the overall sailing speed by about a knot, they served as an easy way to charge up while underway.

The rest of the boat was what you could expect from Voyage. Impeccably cleaned and maintained, and loaded with features. All of their boats have underwater lights, spreader lights, mast speakers, water makers, ice makers, and a slew of appliances and extras that make their boats stand out from the rest. Besides the giant Electrified logo on the side, the spreader lights made the boat easily identifiable, and the loud mast speakers set the boat apart front the rest. Underway, the three electric winches and electric furler, as well as the line placement made the boat easy to sail shorthanded, and easy to sail fast.

Overall Summary:
Overall the trip was great. We spent the most time on the water and the most time sailing than we had on any previous trip which was great. The islands are looking a lot better than they were even 6 months ago, and it’s great to see that most of the big name bays have made a complete recovery. There’s still a lot of work to do, but at the rate things are moving down there I won’t be surprised if the BVI surpasses its pre-Irma state within the next couple of years. All in all, this was one of the best charters yet.

Last edited by Alec Atteberry; 06/20/2019 10:32 PM.
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Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198247
06/21/2019 09:34 AM
06/21/2019 09:34 AM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 631
BaardJ Offline
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BaardJ  Offline
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Posts: 631
Thanks for the report.

What was the generator fuel consumption and total hours for the 8 day trip?

Was the max motoring speed of 7 kts in relatively flat seas? What about motoring upwind with some swell?

In hydroregeneration mode, did you notice a whine or shaft rumble from the freespooling props?


I like the idea of reducing the carbon footprint, but not so much the increasing of the visual and auditory footprint with "loud mast mounted speakers" and "underwater lights" and "spreader lights". See too many boats lit up like Christmas trees all night long when you're trying to stargaze.

Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198252
06/21/2019 10:02 AM
06/21/2019 10:02 AM
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 64
Waco, Texas
A
Alec Atteberry Offline OP
Traveler
Alec Atteberry  Offline OP
Traveler
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Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 64
Waco, Texas
The generator ran for about 3-4 hours at various points during the day and in total I believe we went through about 60-70 gallons of fuel. That being said, Voyage doesn’t have a fuel charge for Electrified which made that more or less a non issue.

The top speed of 7 knots was in pretty flat seas, but even in some moderate swells we were able to average about 5-6 knots.

In regeneration mode there is a slight whine when you first start the program as the engines use a little bit of power to open up the props (normally when sailing they fold to reduce drag), but after that it is relatively quiet. I’m general the engines are far from silent, but at their max output they sound similar to a diesel in idle, so they’re far from loud.

Regarding the other features, I will say that the mast speaker is great when you’re underway. They’re aimed at the trampoline upfront and it’s nice to be able to listen to music and sit on the trampoline while sailing. We always turn off the spreader and underwater lights at night, usually when we get back from dinner. But the underwater lights are great for attracting tarpon and other fish at night, and the spreader lights make it easy to find your boat when coming back in the dark.

Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198255
06/21/2019 10:54 AM
06/21/2019 10:54 AM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,675
An island state of mind
tradewinds Offline
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tradewinds  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,675
An island state of mind
2 weeks ago, Voyage didn't have the shore power hooked up yet, so all the boats on the dock were running off their generators.

Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198260
06/21/2019 12:47 PM
06/21/2019 12:47 PM
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,419
Bucks County, Pa.
toast Offline
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toast  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,419
Bucks County, Pa.
Nice report, thanks for sharing!


Toast.......to Life; White Bay...heaven on earth.
Diane
Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198382
06/22/2019 06:21 PM
06/22/2019 06:21 PM
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 322
C
Christo Offline
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Christo  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 322
Great to hear you had such a great experience with Boatyball. Do you get first pick on them by any chance?

...also, I thought businesses were supposed to pay for advertising on this forum?

Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198391
06/22/2019 08:27 PM
06/22/2019 08:27 PM
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,151
Ontario, Canada
warren460 Offline
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warren460  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,151
Ontario, Canada
How would Alec get first pick?

Fast internet connection?
Luck?
Tenacity?
Nepotism?
It's getting quiet in the BVI so less competition for the balls?
Maybe he had some kids in the states all trying to get the ball?
Ball squatter?
Othe?


I did not see the post as unpaid advertising for boatyball.
Alec is merely sharing his unbiased independent opinion of boaty ball.


Warren S/V Scuba Doo
Lagoon 50 (winner of best crewed yacht under 55 feet at the St. Thomas crewed yacht boat show).

https://www.cyabrochure.com/ebn/2307/pdyrX/6642/4///
Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198393
06/22/2019 09:29 PM
06/22/2019 09:29 PM
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 64
Waco, Texas
A
Alec Atteberry Offline OP
Traveler
Alec Atteberry  Offline OP
Traveler
A
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 64
Waco, Texas
No special treatment here. Just fast fingers and onboard WiFi. That being said I actually did miss getting a ball at Great Harbour one day because I wasn’t fast enough, but when I did have a reservation it was nice spending the extra couple of hours out on the water.

Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198399
06/23/2019 04:44 AM
06/23/2019 04:44 AM
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,151
Ontario, Canada
warren460 Offline
Traveler
warren460  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,151
Ontario, Canada
Fast fingers, good connection and young eyes


Warren S/V Scuba Doo
Lagoon 50 (winner of best crewed yacht under 55 feet at the St. Thomas crewed yacht boat show).

https://www.cyabrochure.com/ebn/2307/pdyrX/6642/4///
Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #198402
06/23/2019 06:29 AM
06/23/2019 06:29 AM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
GeorgeC1 Offline
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GeorgeC1  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
If the 60 to 70 gallons of fuel is correct it does not sound like the setup produced much if any fuel savings. On a Voyage 440 with a small 6KW Genset I would burn 40 gallons a week. On a M4800 with a 9KW I run about 70 a week. I do probably sail more than most. No watermaker on either however.
G

Re: Trip Report June 12-20 ELECTRIFIED [Re: Alec Atteberry] #225377
04/23/2020 03:24 PM
04/23/2020 03:24 PM
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 22
New Orleans
B
BSer Offline
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BSer  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 22
New Orleans
Thanks for the report. I was interested in how that boat performed on a charter.

How much did you run the A/C? That likely may have made a difference with regard to the comparison of fuel usage.

Was the bareboat charter price competitive with similar boats that lacked the electric motors, sail drives, solar, etc.?


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