Watercraft
A watercraft includes a plurality of outboard motors. Each of the outboard motors has a generator and a rudder deflecting system driven by an electric motor. The outboard motors are turned by the rudder deflecting systems thereby steering the watercraft. Electric power can be supplied from the generators of others of the plurality of outboard motors to the rudder deflecting system of an arbitrary outboard motor among the plurality of the outboard motors. Using this arrangement it is possible to provide a watercraft in which electric power for operation is stably supplied to the rudder deflecting system without increasing the size of the generators.
1. A watercraft comprising:
a plurality of watercraft propulsion units;
at least one generator provided for each of the plurality of watercraft propulsion units;
a rudder deflecting system arranged in each of the plurality of watercraft propulsion units, each rudder deflecting system being driven by an electric motor, and the plurality of watercraft propulsion units being arranged to be turned by operation of the rudder deflecting systems thereby steering the watercraft;
a main battery arranged in each of the plurality of the watercraft propulsion units and electrically connected thereto; and
a sub-battery connected to the plurality of the watercraft propulsion units; wherein
the at least one generator for each watercraft propulsion unit and the rudder deflecting systems are arranged such that electric power can be supplied from the at least one generator for each watercraft propulsion unit to the rudder deflecting system of another watercraft propulsion unit included among the plurality of the watercraft propulsion units; and
when an electric power consumption of the rudder deflecting system of a first watercraft propulsion unit is larger than an electric power consumption of the rudder deflecting system of a second watercraft propulsion unit, a portion of the electric power generated by the generator of the second watercraft propulsion unit is supplied to the rudder deflecting system of the first watercraft propulsion unit in addition to the electric power generated by the generator of the first watercraft propulsion unit being supplied to the rudder deflecting system of the first watercraft propulsion unit.
2. The watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein the main battery is arranged to supply electric power to the rudder deflecting system of the first watercraft propulsion unit and arranged not to supply electric power to the rudder deflecting system of the second watercraft propulsion unit.
3. The watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein electric power is supplied from the at least one generator of the first watercraft propulsion unit to the main battery of the second watercraft propulsion unit.
4. The watercraft according to claim 2 , wherein electric power is supplied from the sub-battery to each of the main batteries.
5. The watercraft according to claim 2 , wherein a plurality of generators are provided for each of the watercraft propulsion units, a first of the plurality of generators is connected to the main battery, and at least a second of the plurality of generators is connected to the rudder deflecting systems of the other watercraft propulsion units.
6. The watercraft according to claim 3 , wherein a plurality of generators are provided for each of the watercraft propulsion units, a first one of the plurality of generators is connected to the main battery, and at least a second of the plurality of generators is connected the rudder deflecting systems of the other watercraft propulsion units.