Electric outboards for tender (budget, not Torqeedo) - your experiences please

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fredrussell

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Faffed around with my new to me Tohatsu outboard yesterday, and found that getting it on to flubber single handed could have been easier. Then had to deal with the whole clutchless 'pull start-cord and hold tight' business, fiddling with choke and throttle setting whilst trying to steer the damn thing, and then, on getting it back on boat noticing that it was leaking petrol slightly.

I'd be interested to know if anyone regularly uses a cheap'n'cheerful leccy outboard for their tender. I'd most interested in what battery size one can get away with for, say, a max 30mins of use, and whether the 'trolling' type cheapo motors will tolerate a marine environment. I definitely can't afford a Torqeedo, so its cheap job or nothing currently (no pun intended).

After yesterdays efforts, the idea of attaching a nice light device to the inflatable, then connecting a (small as possible) battery and gently setting off without noise, smoke, wild arm yanking or choke-related lurches is mighty appealing.
 
battery o/b are best used on a lake for fishing / trolling.
you need to learn ( imho) how to operate your petrol o/b, that is well suited to tidal waters & a far greater range than a battery one
i have a very reliable Tohatsu 3.3 2 T
 
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sailorman said:
battery o/b are best used on a lake for fishing / trolling.
you need to learn ( imho) how to operate your petrol o/b, that is well suited to tidal waters & a far greater range than a battery one
i have a very reliable Tohatsu 3.3 2 T
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Unless you get a Torqeedo :)
 
sailorman said:
with the axtra heavy batteries that need recharging onboard, Oh and a good pair of oars
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What extra batteries? I know the OP doesn't want a Torqeedo but they are a real substitute for a 3hp petrol outboard.
I bought an extra battery for my Torqeedo but have never needed it.
 
sailorman said:
i have a very reliable Tohatsu 3.3 2 T
Click to expand...

Mine's the 2.5hp. No clutch or at least no neutral. So when you pull the start cord you're off, whilst trying to keep choke adjusted and so on. The o/b runs well enough, I've just gone off 2 stroke outboards really and am interested in electric propulsion. Why are the trolling motors for lake usage? Lack of oomph generally?
 
Trolling motors are OK on lakes, etc, but they're not particularly suited to any sort of tidal waterway. The Torqeedo is great, I have one for my inflatable and I'm very impressed by it. If only they could improve the legibility of the LCD display....
 
fredrussell said:
After yesterdays efforts, the idea of attaching a nice light device to the inflatable, then connecting a (small as possible) battery and gently setting off without noise, smoke, wild arm yanking or choke-related lurches is mighty appealing.
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Lovely idea, shame such a thing does not exist.

I have a 50lb, supposedly saltwater Shakespear. It needs a 110Ah battery to give it 2 hours at half throttle. At full throttle it would probably manage 30 to 40 minutes. The "light and civilised outboard" weighs around 15 to 20kg, the battery nearer 25kg. Fine in my canoe on a launching trolley but it makes portage impossible. With the mount for the canoe the motor and battery stand me in at around £300. In comparison I have a little Seabee type outboard that looks like an Atco boat impeller. Weighs about 8kg and runs for hours and hours and hours on a couple of pints. In fact on 20 kg of petrol it would last me a couple of years..........

There is a reason Torqeedos cost what they do!
 
pvb said:
The Torqeedo is great,If only they could improve the legibility of the LCD display....
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I agree about that, why on Earth didn't they make them like this prototype ?
8429d2978f81f3e12e22b277f4ae283c_zpswydzk69h.jpg
 
Used one for 2 years now - find in calm weather - a 32 Ah battery will last an hour or more - the saltwater models are as you might expect fine in salt water. The 32 lb model I had wouldn't push in to much more than 15 knots and of course is quite slow. I've just upgraded to a 65b one which will get the dinghy on the plane but have not yet tried it in to big winds or seas. With solar on board its free to run, I don't have to store petrol and I can quietly (almost silently) go ashore without bothering wildlife etc
 
Pete54 said:
There is a reason Torqeedos cost what they do!
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Indeed, and thats the crux of the matter I fear. I think its just going to be one of those try-it-and-see things. They come up on eBay for well under a ton regularly, I might just wait for a cheap one and do some trials re smallest possible battery size for my needs. Certainly under 30 mins use max where I sail/anchor etc.
 
Trident said:
Used one for 2 years now - find in calm weather - a 32 Ah battery will last an hour or more - the saltwater models are as you might expect fine in salt water. The 32 lb model I had wouldn't push in to much more than 15 knots and of course is quite slow. I've just upgraded to a 65b one which will get the dinghy on the plane but have not yet tried it in to big winds or seas. With solar on board its free to run, I don't have to store petrol and I can quietly (almost silently) go ashore without bothering wildlife etc
Click to expand...

Trident, cheers for that, very useful info. Are you using the 32Ah battery on the 65lb motor? What sort of range/usage are you getting if so?
 
I once used an electric outboard for a season or so. It was a pain in the proverbial. Instead of one thing to carry plus the dinghy, you had two. And one of them was a battery weighing in at more than an outboard. So, dinghy down to water. Return to car, pick up motor and battery. Hike back down to dinghy. Fit motor, launch dinghy and then put battery into dinghy and connect to battery. You can't launch the dinghy before you put the battery into it, because the battery's too heavy and will scrape along the slipway, digging holes in the deck (go on, ask me how I found out....). And then when you actually get under way, the motor is next to useless in anything other than a flat calm and no current. And the whole cost is not far shy of what I paid for a simple two stroke similar to the OPs. Oh, and don't forget that once you get out to the boat, there's the reverse to be conducted getting the motor and battery out of the dinghy.

All that said, if the OP wants to change, then I'll take his old smelly two stroke off his hands for a small fee....
 
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It is worth remembering the origins of these trolling motors to understand their limitations as power for a yacht tender.

As the name implies they were designed for trolling. The big market is to lake fishers in the uSA. The boats used are fast outboard powered boats often similar to dorys. The requirements are for a stable fishing platform that will get to the fishing spot quickly, and when there have the ability to move at low speed to keep the boat on station while fishing or move slowly while towing a lure. The electric motors do this job well and their main limitations - power and consumption are not an issue. The outboard charges the battery and weight is not a problem.

Contrast that to the requirements for a yacht tender and not difficult to see why they are pretty hopeless. Fine if you don't need the speed and range and can tolerate the weight of the battery (and have a means to charge it), but that is very limiting.

As already said the product that comes closest to being good for the job is the Torqeedo which has the power and tolerable range because of the power storage in the battery. However such features cost - there is no such thing as a free lunch.
 
This is the best setup of the use of electric outboard on a " tender".
IMGP2522_zpse9789bd9.jpg


Built in charging so no humping batteries around.

I made an electric outboard from an old electric battery drill, right angle drive and spare propeller.
 
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