Electric outboards for tender

[dulls]

Just used our Torqeedo 1103 for the first time up the River Dart. Observations: Very light to manipulate around once broken into its three sections. The shaft is still awkward to get onto the dinghy and vice versa but I guess there is no getting away from this (same as on a petrol engine although Torqedo is a lot lighter at 10.3 kgs). Battery life very dependent on speed ranging from 50 minutes to 6 hours but the display allows you to regulate/manage this very easily. At the 6 hour hour endurance, we still managed 2.7 kts which on a ship to shore excursion of only a few hundred metres is fine. Razzing around (?) at a heady 5.5 kts also worked fine as we were able to recharge overnight. Point being that with a little aforethought, you can manage speed and range according to where you are etc. You could always get away with a smaller (cheaper) battery if flexibility in charging Vs. usage is not an issue. Odd to hear the water chuckling under the dinghy rather than this being drowned out by the sound of the petrol engine. My wife thought the engine had packed up it was so quiet. The new transmission on latest 1103 largely does away with any discernible noise . The joy of not having smelly and greasy petrol aboard either in cans or integral tank was great. We have stowed the shaft away in a space that would not have taken a petrol outboard so no outboard hanging on a rail now which is less unsightly and more secure from scrote activity.....Certainly they are expensive but all electric propulsion is expensive, so you pays your money and takes your choice. At the end of the day though, IMO this system works and works well as an alternative to petrol.

Finally, I spent some time agonising about whether to go for the 1003 with the bigger battery or the 1103 (which only comes with the bigger battery). At the end of the day, there was not a lot of difference in price between these two very expensive engines . I went for the 1103 simply because the gearbox had been uprated from the 1003 and hopefully that would "future proof" it for a little longer than the 1003. That may not be the case in reality but ever the optimist....

What about range. We used to have either the 503 or 1003 and i was trying to remember the ranges. We will not go back to petrol. Good and informative post.

 

[dulls]

Next question: where to find the lowest price?

I have not seen much variation between the dealers but am not seriously looking yet.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Occasionally available second-hand

 

[John100156]

These sometimes have used models available:

Seamark Nunn Limited

 

[CapPugwash]

Hello everyone. I have too have got sick of my smelly heavy and dangerous to handle petrol outboard. You all make good arguments for electric but the one thing I am concerned about is charging them up. We like to go away for extended periods and are without access to mains electricity.

How long do they take to charge from my boats 12v system? And how much power do they need for charging? Is it a case of running the engine for an hour or so?

 

[Bouba]

Hello everyone. I have too have got sick of my smelly heavy and dangerous to handle petrol outboard. You all make good arguments for electric but the one thing I am concerned about is charging them up. We like to go away for extended periods and are without access to mains electricity.

How long do they take to charge from my boats 12v system? And how much power do they need for charging? Is it a case of running the engine for an hour or so?

You can charge them from a solar panel. The Torqeedo is a much slower charger than the E-Propultion. I don’t have any exact figures to hand at the moment

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Charging off 12v is fine but relatively slow, leaving it overnight should be fine even if it's almost flat. The Torqeedo battery capacity typically is about 500Wh or 900/1000Wh depending on model, so that's the maximum amount of energy drained from your 12v system (not allowing for charging losses).

 

[John100156]

Yeah I reckon you would need a couple of PV/Solar panels to re-charge your battery banks during the day, if draining energy to charge the Torq. battery over night without mains. Perhaps a spare Torq. battery charged by PV and/or an inverter during the day? Lots of options to consider I suppose. Talk to Torq. they probably will have covered this in the past.

 

[stiknstring1]

I have limited 12v charge capacity on my boat and this would run down my current single service battery requiring a trip somewhere to allow the alternator to charge it back up, but having a Torqeedo is an exercise in calculation and pragmatism. Getting a large capacity Torq battery to begin with, assessinghow much you use the outboard at every anchorage and what that will do to battery capacity before running the main engine (ie when you move on) to enable recharging. How big is your service battery - maybe you already have enough capacity to allow torq recharge once every 3-4 days (?) and normal service requirements? Do you intersperse nights at anchor with an occasional marina night (access to mains)? When you are ashore at a long lunch, will harbourmaster/public an etc permit use of the wall plug to charge you up (partially at least)? Final thought is that the torq solar panel, although expensive, could trickle power back in all day while at anchor?

 

[Bouba]

The Torqeedo solar panel is expensive but you could buy and rig your own panel for very little

 

[John100156]

There’s an idea, a flexible solar PV cover for your tender, re-charging the battery whilst ashore and keeping the rain and UV off the boat... ?

 

[SiteSurfer]

I purchased a Torqeedo 1103 3 months ago, its been used daily by both us and our friends whilst cruising - we have been extremely happy with it and i cant see us going back to the petrol Honda we also have.

Range and speed more than adequate for us in a 2.9m air deck.

 

[Bouba]

I purchased a Torqeedo 1103 3 months ago, its been used daily by both us and our friends whilst cruising - we have been extremely happy with it and i cant see us going back to the petrol Honda we also have.

Range and speed more than adequate for us in a 2.9m air deck.

Compared to a year or so ago there are a lot more forumites with electric outboards. Nestawayboats (on the Practical Boat Owners forum) said a couple of years ago that they have reached a tipping point where customers are just as likely to buy electric as they are likely to buy a small petrol outboard. We are definitely seeing that here.

 

[stiknstring1]

Bouba, can you share detail of a non-Torqeedo solar panel alternative? Interested in this as a concept butTorqeedo pricing puts me off

 

[Jsu]

Nestawayboats (on the Practical Boat Owners forum) said a couple of years ago that they have reached a tipping point where customers are just as likely to buy electric as they are likely to buy a small petrol outboard. We are definitely seeing that here.

We are in that camp. contemplating a first outboard for a smallish 2.7 meter tender with inflatable v floor. Choice seems to be between a 6 hp petrol outboard with the 20+ kg weight/petrol onboard downside. Obvious + for petrol seems to be longer range, higher top speed and only a few minutes to refuel.

We are leaning heavily towards the electric option for all the good reasons given here.

Use case is mainly for kids to sail around for fun, exploring local area if we are visiting somewhere where that makes sense and occasionally a short trip from an anchorage to shore. Do not see the electric range being a major issue for us. But might miss the going for a quick blast in the tender speed kick.

Has anybody changed to a proper electric (torqeedo or the e-propulsion) and regretted the move or find themselves still using their petrol outboard?

Thanks.

 

[Bouba]

Bouba, can you share detail of a non-Torqeedo solar panel alternative? Interested in this as a concept butTorqeedo pricing puts me off

Off the top of my head, you could get a cheap 100 w solar panel with a charge controller (PWM) for about fifty pounds. From this you probably could connect the Torqeedo directly (but I don’t know if I’d recommend it) so best bet is to get a leisure battery of about 75 amps. Again you could directly connect the Torqeedo battery to this or better still get an inverter and just plug the Torqeedo charger into it like you would to a domestic supply. £40 will get you a pure sine wave off eBay. All very cheap, plus you now have an extra power source for anything else on the boat from coolbox to charging iPhones.

 

[stiknstring1]

Interesting - thanks Bouba

 

[Caminoman16]

I'm looking at the Torqueedo 403AC, 1hp, for my small dinghy. Main consideration is decibels - I like quiet boating - is this motor REALLY quiet? On some utube vids, the larger motors seem to have a sort of grating gears noise, not much better than a small 4 stroke petrol, or rather not much better than the large price differential.
Anyone have the 403?

 

[gregcope]

@caminoman16 i would suggest getting to hear one in real life. Our 1003 makes the whiring noise at speed, but it is significantly quieter than a petrol outboard.

 

[Bouba]

Yes, the 1003 has a reduction gearbox that you can hear as a whine, much less than a combustion engine, but it is audible. The E-Propulsion and the new Torqeedo are direct drive and are supposed to be near silent. I have no knowledge of the 403