Sven Yrvind · video

What this video covers

Sven Yrvind, age 85, installs a donated Minn Kota electric outboard motor on his small ocean-going boat Exlex.0:16 The motor weighs exactly 10 kilos, runs directly off the ship's batteries, and requires no separate lithium pack — a key advantage Yrvind emphasizes.2:06 Fitting it into the mount required grinding and cutting to achieve a clearance of one or two millimeters.1:06 The motor was donated by Jan Komstedt-Auby, a company based in Gothenburg, Sweden.5:59 Yrvind traces the idea to a 2020–2021 offshore passage of 150 days, during which a dinghy towing him out of Madeira harbor used only 175 watts for propulsion — far less than the 300 watts of solar panels already fitted to Exlex.3:05 That observation convinced him solar power could drive the boat.4:36 The intended use case is the doldrums near the equator, where light wind and strong sun would allow the motor to run on solar energy for a few hours daily without depleting stored battery capacity.6:42

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