[Public-list] electric repower, steam and diesel smell

[dickdurk at atlanticbb.net]

>I suppose if we
>wanted the maximum in power, we would be like the >railways and go to diesel
>-electric. GM make the big ones just down the road from >here in London, Ont. an
>we could sink a boat easily with one of those.


2 cycle EMD's (electro motive diesel). Another reason GM 
is reduced to junk bond status. They are suffering the 
same fate as gas engines before they discovered catalyctic 
converters in the late '70's. GM's solution is computer 
controls that need to be kept in air conditioning. Lose 
AC, lose engine. I work around them all the time (the 
diesel part, anyway).

I believe the reason railroads use electric drive are 
torque issues-an electric develops max torque just before 
stall, so it's good for chuffing up a mountain without 
dealing with gear changing. Not really an issue on 
sailboats.

Michael Grosh
#220

 1118313087.0