Tue, 03/21/2017 - 7:45am

SUZI THAYER

The Electra, a 23-foot electric lobster boat, in the water in Boothbay Harbor. Courtesy of Eric Graves/Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

The interior of the Electra, a 23-foot electric lobster boat, showing the Elco Marine AC electric motor that drives it. Courtesy of Eric Graves/Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

Nick Labonte, left, a senior at BRHS, gets instruction on some of the finer points of hull design from Dr. Douglas Read, Associate Professor of Engineering at Maine Maritime Academy. Courtesy of Eric Graves/Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

The Electra, a 23-foot electric lobster boat, in the water in Boothbay Harbor. Courtesy of Eric Graves/Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

The interior of the Electra, a 23-foot electric lobster boat, showing the Elco Marine AC electric motor that drives it. Courtesy of Eric Graves/Boothbay Harbor Shipyard

Boothbay Harbor Shipyard has a lot going on. The Ernestina-Morrissey, a 110-foot schooner built in 1894 for the Gloucester fishing fleet, is being entirely rebuilt. The Balmy Days is up on the ways having her stern end worked on; the hull of the 171-foot Friendship of Salem is being rebuilt; a tugboat from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is having repair work done; and several other boats are being stored for the winter, with some degree of maintenance being conducted.

Manager Eric Graves is overseeing all of it, and on top of all that he's working with Boothbay Sea and Science Center (BSSC) President/Executive Director Pauline Dion on an exciting, innovative project. Dion, along with Graves and two Boothbay Region High School students in a work-study program, are in the early stages of developing a hybrid engine for large boats. “We want to determine whether it's feasible to use hybrid power in boats,” Dion said. “The impetus for the program is to become more eco-sensitive.”

The program was set up by BSSC at the shipyard. The two students who signed up for the project through BSSC are Jake Brewer, a junior, and Nicholas Labonte, a senior.

On March 14, Associate Professor of Engineering, Dr. Douglas Read from Maine Maritime Academy and Nigel Calder, an expert in hybrid technology, gave a presentation about hull design and hull geometry, and speed and its relationship to drag.

Hybrid technology combines an electric and a fuel source for energy. It has been used successfully in cars, but it's different when applied to boats, due to the drag created by traveling over water. The problem is recharging. “When you're driving down a highway you don't get that kind of resistance, and you're recharging constantly.” Graves said. “A boat at cruising speed is using a tremendous amount of energy to push through the water.”

Dion said though hybrid technology in boats isn't all that common, some tugboats on the West Coast are using it. “A tug doesn't really need full power when it's just puttering around a harbor. Hybrid engines are designed to kick in when you don't need maximum power.”

An 85-foot ketch, the Belle Aventure, built in 1929, is being used for the experiment. The boat was restored at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard from 2007 to 2009, and is presently at Wayfarer Marine in Camden. Graves said the owner has been looking into the feasibility of implementing a hybrid engine.

Dion is planning a trip to Camden with Graves and the two students to go aboard the Belle Aventure to determine what kind of hybrid engine will be needed to accommodate the boat's needs. Graves said there are five different types of electricity on the vessel, and Labonte and Brewer are going to crawl through it and look at every one of them — toasters, fans, air conditioners and electric heads — and estimate how much of a draw each one uses. “We want to determine if the boat can go with a hybrid system — if it’s more efficient than a large diesel engine,” Graves said. “It has never been done on a big classic yacht.”

The two students are spending some time almost every weekday at the shipyard. Dion said Brewer told her what they were doing wasn't really work study: It’s more than that; it’s opening up opportunities for a career path.

A small (23-foot) electric lobster style boat, Electra, built at the shipyard for Gene Story, is also being used by the students, who are studying the system that was installed in the boat — and Elco Marine AC electric motor, with six batteries producing 72 volts, and a diesel generator for back-up.

Graves said Story and his wife, Ruth, were interested in hybrid technology, and Story’s dream was to apply it to lobster boats. He was researching the feasibility when he died in 2015. Ruth Story, who has a summer home in Southport, continues to work with the shipyard, helping to push the project to the next level, Graves said.

For more information about BSSC, visit http://boothbayseaandsciencecenter.org/. For more about the shipyard, visit http://boothbayharborshipyard.com/index.html.