The small ICE outboard.

NickWilson1972 said:
I have had a Bison 55lb/ft electric outboard (£200) for the last 3 years and its very reliable. The only modification I made was put a thicker cables on it.

I use a stripped down Skipper 14 dinghy as a tender and the Bison will push this along at 4kts. In comparison my Marine 3.5Hp will do 6.5 kts.

I use an eco worthy 100ah as a battery (£240 currently)
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If you wouldn't mind could you give some feedback on the Eco Worthy 100ah battery
? . I'm tempted to buy one . They are at the budget level and it would be nice to know if they fulfil the promises. TIA.
 
Hi. Pretty good. I have 50 ah and 100 ah battery. Occasionally I take my son fishing in the Skipper on the Blackwater. I do have a 3.5HP Mariner as well.

In calm conditions on the 50ah I went from Marconi Sailing club (steeple Essex) down to Goldhanger and up the channel behind OSEA Island - all the way round and back to MSC. Battery was about 50% full. The Bison draws 600w on speed setting 5. Most the time I was using speed settings 2-4.

Thats pushing a 75KG 14ft tender along with one adult, one kid and fishing gear, a Mariner 3.5 (back up). leccy motor and batteries.

A trick with these is to not store fully charged to avoid cooking them . I only charge up the day before I go out so typically the battery sits there with 50/60/70% SOC

One useful upgrade is to buy some decent battery terminals if using croc clips - there are M8's on the 100 and M6 on the 50.
 
NickWilson1972 said:
Hi. Pretty good. I have 50 ah and 100 ah battery. Occasionally I take my son fishing in the Skipper on the Blackwater. I do have a 3.5HP Mariner as well.

In calm conditions on the 50ah I went from Marconi Sailing club (steeple Essex) down to Goldhanger and up the channel behind OSEA Island - all the way round and back to MSC. Battery was about 50% full. The Bison draws 600w on speed setting 5. Most the time I was using speed settings 2-4.

Thats pushing a 75KG 14ft tender along with one adult, one kid and fishing gear, a Mariner 3.5 (back up). leccy motor and batteries.

A trick with these is to not store fully charged to avoid cooking them . I only charge up the day before I go out so typically the battery sits there with 50/60/70% SOC

One useful upgrade is to buy some decent battery terminals if using croc clips - there are M8's on the 100 and M6 on the 50.
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Why do you take the Mariner? Would you have had to use if if the wind got up in your face?
 
dgadee said:
Why do you take the Mariner? Would you have had to use if if the wind got up in your face?
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Back up redundancy really. My son is 8 and the Blackwater in an unexpected blow can be very choppy and unpleasant. Also getting out of the way of the local 'Romford' Navy types sharpish.

I am thinking of buying a 68lb/ ft Bison or possibly even a 24v 100lb version (would also need another 12V 100ah). In that case I could possible do anyway with the Mariner and view the 55lb model as my back up.

I also have a 130w solar panel which strapped over the bow on a sunny day will provide more charge than the 55lb model is drawing on speed settings 1 or 2 (ideally for bass trolling;-))
 
A lot of these small ice outboards are now 20 to 30 years old yet are still working as they should. My tohatsu 3.5 is 1996. Never changed the impellor. Changed the plug and thats it. Its going to be very hard to convince me that a much higher priced electric outboard is going to last anywhere near as long.
You can get petrol anywhere. You can find mechanics everywhere. Can find most spare parts for current engines everywhere. Can you find electric outboard technicians everywhere ?
A friends 36ft sailboat wouldn't start as the yanmar starter motor had a melt down and the wind completely died. He put his yam 2hp on his dingy, tied it along side and proceeded to motor for nearly 4 hrs back to port. Not sure an electric outboard could achieve that ?
 
dgadee said:
Why do you take the Mariner? Would you have had to use if if the wind got up in your face?
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In a strong blow against the tide I suspect I'd be down to less than 2 kts with the 55lb model with that size tender.

If buying a Bison today I'd buy at least a 68lb thrust model and a 100ah lithium. Forget Lead acid for these - learned that lesson in the early days!
 
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With The electric trolling motors (Bison etc) they have advantages for tenders

  • The motor is lighter and the weight is bottom end which makes handling easier
  • Much less aggro when launching (No test run / fouled up plugs / starting aggro)
  • No servicing - just rinse with freshwater, oil the screw fittings.
  • They have reverse unlike a small petrol OB
  • They have a much longer shaft
  • The motor is cheap (less than £200)
  • Lithiums getting cheap (£225 for an ecoworthy 100ah)
  • Solar is so cheap you can recharge the battery on the go if out on a daytrip!
  • The 100ah lithium has many alternate uses on the yacht / home
 
Rappey said:
A lot of these small ice outboards are now 20 to 30 years old yet are still working as they should. My tohatsu 3.5 is 1996. Never changed the impellor. Changed the plug and thats it. Its going to be very hard to convince me that a much higher priced electric outboard is going to last anywhere near as long.
You can get petrol anywhere. You can find mechanics everywhere. Can find most spare parts for current engines everywhere. Can you find electric outboard technicians everywhere ?
A friends 36ft sailboat wouldn't start as the yanmar starter motor had a melt down and the wind completely died. He put his yam 2hp on his dingy, tied it along side and proceeded to motor for nearly 4 hrs back to port. Not sure an electric outboard could achieve that ?
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My 2hp is well over 40. It’s still viable, but we have an E-propulsion. Once you’ve tried it, there is no going back.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
First is says fusion reactor, then Uranium 235, then fission reactor and finally the fuel will last as long as the half life of Uranium 235. No! U-235 gets consumed in fission reactors and doesn't last 700 million years. Really! They should have asked a (former) reactor control engineer. 😛
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Yes, I spotted that too! But maybe the U235 acts as a catalyst for the fusion? After all, a fusion bomb gets triggered by a fission bomb....
 
Rappey said:
Would that be because youve ran out of battery ? 😉
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Very smart. No, it’s how you feel when you never have to row cos the plug is fouled, or it’s decided to sulk. Neber having your gear smelling of petrol. It’s having ypur wife willing and able to deal with the motor, both fitting it to the tender, and driving it as there’s no starting. Also, you’ll never again elbow her in the face before setting off, with that ‘it doesn’t really hurt but I still hate you’ face.
We have about half a mile of tidal river to our mooring. Only a knot and a half max, mind you. The boat will do maybe 4.5kn with the 2 of us. And it will do that return journey probably 5 or 6 times. More if the sun is shining cos it’ll be on charge on the boat. We are not going back to ICE, for that. We also have a ‘super tender’ mind you, that is way too heavy to take with us. A 25kn mini RIB. But that is electric start and civilised.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
Very smart.
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Hope you took that in the humour it was intended...:D
My mooring is 7.78 miles from where i depart. My outboard has caused me to row back a few times and it always seems to be against wind and tide.
I fully understand the allure of an electric outboard..im not against them but ice for me is cheaper to buy and it's lasted a very long time.
Just for fun and i was surprised at the result.
0.78 miles to my mooring, can just about do 5 return journeys with my 1.4l tank. So that's just over 25mpg !
Works out to 28p per mile.
With a 30l fuel tank i could do 165 miles. There is a guy who used a tohatsu 3.5 to motor across the Atlantic.
 
Nobody needs to motor across the atlantic. Mostly they motor 0.5 to 1 mile to their moorings. ICE still has a place in the marine world, even the leisure marine world. But you don’t need it to get to your mooring. However, I appreciate it may still be more economic. We have a petrol outboard as auxiliary power. We ‘might’ be on the point of electric viability there, both cost and range. Very powerful sailboat, easily driven, rarely motor to get somewhere. The little rib, that is never going to be electric. It would need to be a hydrofoil, and then it wouldn’t be viable at 4kn. It’s Yam 25 will be replaced like for like if need be. We use electric for our carry on tender because it’s best for the job in hand, not because we are zealots.
 
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Chiara’s slave said:
Nobody needs to motor across the atlantic. Mostly they motor 0.5 to 1 mile to their moorings. ICE still has a place in the marine world, even the leisure marine world. But you don’t need it to get to your mooring. However, I appreciate it may still be more economic. We have a petrol outboard as auxiliary power. We ‘might’ be on the pint of electric viability there, both cost and range. Very powerful sailboat, easily driven, rarely motor to get somewhere. The little rib, that is never going to be electric. It would need to be a hydrofoil, and then it wouldn’t be viable at 4kn. It’s Yam 25 will be replaced like for like if need be. We use electric for our carry on tender because it’s best for the job in hand, not because we are zealots.
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I have had this debate with numerous members at my club, usually while they are swearing and cursing their petrol OB that won't start. They could get a 40lb thrust bison and 50 ah lithium for around £300 which would more than suffice as a shore to yacht motor for their tender.

Ive got a HH27 and would be interested to see how it performs with the 24v Bison (100lb thrust) on an outboard mount. Especially given the feckin issues I am having with the sea water cooling on the Beta 10:mad:
 
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