Cheap electric outboard - make and thrust

Plum said:
That's interesting. Thanks. I can buy a Bison 65 for £170 and 2 22ah mobility batteries for £120. That it certainly tempting versus a Torqueedo. Did you fit a plug/socket to connect the battery? If so, which ones?

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
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My pair of 22Ah batteries cost me about £80 total for both at Mobility Pitstop (https://www.mobilitypitstop.com/product/12v-22ah-bbb-sealed-lead-acid-agm-mobility-scooter-battery/ ). I wired a short length of cooker-current capacity wire and a high current in-line mains socket to each, with the plug on the motor's cable (http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/hylec-apl-24a-ip68-teeplug-3-pole-mains-plug-and-socket-n87lj ). It's useful to have two fairly light batteries rather than one monster one; both for redundancy, should connectors on one battery go awol, and for ease of handling, so that wife and children (and me!) can easily pass them about from dinghy to pontoon to boat and back.

The Bison 65 is used on a rigid Plastimo 300, for trips to and from the offshore pontoon at Wicor.

I've no reason to doubt that the torqueedo is the top-end, Rolls-Royce, dogs-bit's solution, but for me at least it is a hell of a lot of money that could be spent on other things for my boat.

Steve
 
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Just been nosing you tube for electric outboards, you want cheap one guy has a simple boat prop, a length of threaded bar and old 7.2 battery drill.

Clamps drill onto the bar with prop on other end, sticks it in the water and away he goes lol!
 
philiphenson said:
I have a bison 40lbs thrust on a 2.3 inflatable with a golf trolley battery. I had two on board overtook a small rubberdub with 4 powered by a torqeedo! Bison seem ok to me for the money, much faster than rowing. Equates to about 0.5 hp.
Torqeedo overpriced.
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+1 Very happy with our Bison. You just need to adapt to its limitations and advantages.
 
What's the best battery to use with the Bison? I tried mine with a battery from a garden tractor and I could row faster - though the tractor battery is designed for a different use. Had a look last night, and I'm trying to avoid an 18kg monster leisure battery!
 
bigguy said:
What's the best battery to use with the Bison? I tried mine with a battery from a garden tractor and I could row faster - though the tractor battery is designed for a different use. Had a look last night, and I'm trying to avoid an 18kg monster leisure battery!
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I tested the Bison 40, with a 17Ah emergency start battery and got around 45 minutes of mixed speed endurance. So the battery you use depends on the range you need. I have an 85AH battery for the motor, which is overkill, and I charge it with a small solar panel. This battery gave between 3 - 4 hours of use before it ran out of steam, mostly at setting 4 with short bursts of full power.

Ian
 
'So the battery you use depends on the range you need.'
You've said it in a nutshell Ian. If you can put up with limited speed and range, electric is fine, otherwise you're stuck with petrol.
 
FWB said:
Believe me C that nothing yet beats a Torqeedo. I know the OP doesn't want one but once you've got over the initial cost you've got an easy to use powerful outboard needing no separate battery.
Regards, S.
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I'm sure it's a great bit of kit ... it just doesn't meet my need or therefore justify the expense at the moment. The only boat I use an outboard on is my Longboat, and that would need one of the bigger even more jaw-droppingly expensive Torqeedos. Besides, it came with an almost new Mariner 5. By god these four strokes are rattly bloody things aren't they? I much prefer two strokes.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I'm sure it's a great bit of kit ... it just doesn't meet my need or therefore justify the expense at the moment. The only boat I use an outboard on is my Longboat, and that would need one of the bigger even more jaw-droppingly expensive Torqeedos. Besides, it came with an almost new Mariner 5. By god these four strokes are rattly bloody things aren't they? I much prefer two strokes.
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Exactly - it has to meet your needs and our Torqueedo meet our needs of an stressfree transfer from boat to dinghy compared to 5hp 4-stroke, sailing where diesel is easy to get delivered to boat and petrol not, and an engine that all crew members can use without anxiety as it doesn't required a pull start. The price was a bit of a gulp, but 3 years on we're still delighted with it and have lost any range anxiety.

Edit: and I should have said the key person who hated the petrol outboard was my wife so like separate bathrooms the price was worth it to keep all our holidays as sailing ones.
 
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I inherited and Electric Outboard not sure about the make says saltwater on it but I think it is about 45lbs thrust. I bought a 45 amp hour leisure battery and keep it in a plastic battery box.
The both have Anderson plugs on the cables to make connections easy. Easily carried with one in each hand.

Runs for over an hour continuously although slower than the racing rowers will push well against Pwllheli tides.
 
This is a friends electric powered outboard, always ready to use.

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JumbleDuck said:
I'm sure it's a great bit of kit ... it just doesn't meet my need or therefore justify the expense at the moment. The only boat I use an outboard on is my Longboat, and that would need one of the bigger even more jaw-droppingly expensive Torqeedos. Besides, it came with an almost new Mariner 5. By god these four strokes are rattly bloody things aren't they? I much prefer two strokes.
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On my canakcruiser I swapped out a marina 20 hp 2T for a mariner 10 HP 4T.

Have to admit I prefer the raspier sound made of the 4T, against the constant buzz of 2Ts

Electric is not yet practical but i find notice the high pitch whin on YouTube demos and imho tdon't seem all that quiet either.

Alan
 
Petrol stinks, petrol is extremely flammable, not to mention I have to buy it only for the dinghy because I have nothing else running on petrol.
I get fairly strong, up to 4-5kts currents, which is probably a challenge for the weaker models. I'd use the motor on an inflatable kayak with less than 300lbs load.

I was wondering, can any 12V units cope with such fast currents?

Budget is strictly below £400. Thought about the Bison 55 as the reasonably priced Minn Kota's are not saltwater rated.
 
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Your wife will not really notice the battery as a battery. Ours is clean. One of the advantages of a torequedo.
 
gregcope said:
Do you have a “safety upgrade” budget? Can cover a multitude of things?
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My "upgrade plan" is to return to my trusted 3.3HP Mariner and the dinghy if the electric is not fit to the purpose, end of story.

It doesn't have to push 4x200lbs crew plus supplies, just an inflatable kayak with tops 300lbs. I'll check those currents more carefully, it's around Port Dinorwic.

I might start with a stronger model, the Bison has 100lb units too. Problem is the battery, going cheap it would take a ton of lead. Lithium would make more sense but costs quite a bit and cumbersome to charge on board.
 
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