Alison Langley
MERMAID is a 46′ yawl designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Paul E. Luke in 1957. She recently received an electrical-system upgrade and a bank of lithium-ion batteries. The new system adds enormous battery capacity and greatly reduces recharging time.
It’s not often that I’m at anchor in a quiet Maine harbor as the morning fog lifts and the cockpit discussion turns to how nice it is that there’s an espresso machine aboard—and, thanks to the new battery bank, we don’t have to fire up the generator to brew a second round. More often, when a boat is on the hard, I discuss with a client how to get more battery capacity and charging ability so that on their next cruise they can bring that espresso machine. That discussion then often turns to the challenges of converting a boat’s current lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion ones, which have greater capacity and more efficiency.
Especially among cruising sailors, this topic comes up often. For more than 50 years, most of us have relied on lead-acid batteries to store what little electricity we could and we’ve been constantly challenged with how to recharge those batteries without extended engine or generator run times.