Torqueedo new Travel outboards for daysailing

[Marceline]

tldr - if we weren't somewhere so very strongly tidal I def think we'd have gone for the 1.6kw Torqueedo - especially on a lake

it was quite impressive just how well our 1kw could move the boat (and we didn't have to go to max power)

ideal would be have the boat with petrol as a backup - maybe have it on a bracket we could lift in and out and the electric in the well. But not sure we're going to go for that as yet - especially if we do decide to go for an old larger boat

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I read all these threads with great interest, as we too have a light, easily driven boat but in a very strong tide area. Plus we keep her on a mooring with no power. For us, I think it’s just cost that holds us back now. A 6kw motor would do the job, and about 8kwh of batteries. We have acres of deck for solar recharging, plus marinas when we use them. But we don’t need a new engine. When we do, we’ll look at it really seriously.

 

[coveman]

An interesting update - thanks

I have an Etap 22i which would be lighter than your Jaguar and also has a well for the motor. I was looking at the 1.6kw Torqeedo Travel (5hp equivalent) which would appear to be adequate in most circumstances for us, but I'm not sure whether it would be too bulky to fit in the well- I need to do some measuring! The other problem is lack of reverse, and being in the well it may not be possible to turn the engine through 180 degrees to allow for this. The alternative would be an engine mount on the rear of the transom I suppose.
The Torqeedo "cruise" models may fit in the well as they have a separate battery rather than it being attached to the engine but the cost of that range is prohibitive.
The most economic version would be the Travel 903 (0.9kw) which would be ok in calm, flat water with limited wind and tide, but would be limited to those circumstances.

 

[Bouba]

An interesting update - thanks

I have an Etap 22i which would be lighter than your Jaguar and also has a well for the motor. I was looking at the 1.6kw Torqeedo Travel (5hp equivalent) which would appear to be adequate in most circumstances for us, but I'm not sure whether it would be too bulky to fit in the well- I need to do some measuring! The other problem is lack of reverse, and being in the well it may not be possible to turn the engine through 180 degrees to allow for this. The alternative would be an engine mount on the rear of the transom I suppose.
The Torqeedo "cruise" models may fit in the well as they have a separate battery rather than it being attached to the engine but the cost of that range is prohibitive.
The most economic version would be the Travel 903 (0.9kw) which would be ok in calm, flat water with limited wind and tide, but would be limited to those circumstances.

My Torqeedo reverses…I assumed that they all do

 

[coveman]

Ah thanks - I had not realised that! You learn something every day

 

[fredrussell]

…The Torqeedo "cruise" models may fit in the well as they have a separate battery rather than it being attached to the engine but the cost of that range is prohibitive…

Indeed. Ridiculously prohibitive in my opinion. I own a Torqeedo, bought 2nd hand and cheap, but if I was in your position I’d be tempted to try one of the more powerful trolling motors coupled to some LiFePo batteries. Have a look at a Haswing Protrua 5 perhaps, salt water ready and they claim it’s equal to a 5hp petrol OB, but I’d take that with a pinch of salt…

 

[Bouba]

Indeed. Ridiculously prohibitive in my opinion. I own a Torqeedo, bought 2nd hand and cheap, but if I was in your position I’d be tempted to try one of the more powerful trolling motors coupled to some LiFePo batteries. Have a look at a Haswing Protrua 5 perhaps, salt water ready and they claim it’s equal to a 5hp petrol OB, but I’d take that with a pinch of salt…

The price comparison isn’t much different when you include the battery....a Torqeedo battery cost about a €1000. Obviously you can use cheaper batteries...

 

[coveman]

Indeed. Ridiculously prohibitive in my opinion. I own a Torqeedo, bought 2nd hand and cheap, but if I was in your position I’d be tempted to try one of the more powerful trolling motors coupled to some LiFePo batteries. Have a look at a Haswing Protrua 5 perhaps, salt water ready and they claim it’s equal to a 5hp petrol OB, but I’d take that with a pinch of salt…

Interesting - I see they recommend 2x120AH lead acid leisure batteries for the 5hp version. Couldn't find any details regarding the engine's performance such as range etc.

 

[fredrussell]

Range will just depend on size of battery/batteries you connect it to. I only googled briefly, but I think the Haswing is £700 or so. Plus two 100a/h LiFePo batteries for £300 and off you go. Bear in mind that LiFePo batteries have a max amps output controlled by the BMS, so depending on current required by the OB, you may require a specific battery capable of bigger output. These are readily available. If you run the OB from lead acid batteries none of the above applies, but for me the huge plus of lithium batteries is that they are much lighter than lead ones, so taking them ashore to charge them is easy.

Important to state here that a) I know very little about these Haswing motors, and b) I’m hugely biased against petrol outboards (having suffered enough). I’m just providing an option for OP to look into that is substantially cheaper than Torqeedo.

 

[fredrussell]

The price comparison isn’t much different when you include the battery....a Torqeedo battery cost about a €1000. Obviously you can use cheaper batteries...

Price comparison between what Bouba? See my post above. £1000 all in for Haswing ‘5hp’ incl battery(s)- dunno what a Torqeedo 5hp costs but a lot more than this shirley?

 

[fredrussell]

Here you go: HASWING Protruar 5HP Electric Outboard 24V with Digimax Controller - thargo.com

 

[Bouba]

Price comparison between what Bouba? See my post above. £1000 all in for Haswing ‘5hp’ incl battery(s)- dunno what a Torqeedo 5hp costs but a lot more than this shirley?

Yeah, when I googled it, it was $700 without the battery.....so £1000 all in is a good price....provided it’s a quality product

 

[Supertramp]

Hi Coveman - sadly not much to update

We did as was suggested on here - do some 'sea trials' to try and figure out if for our situation ( very strong tides in the Menai Straits ) if we could likely manage with the new Torqueedo's 1.6kw rating, and so we tested things with our 1kw ePropulsion to see if it could move our 1500kg sail boat

Our boat has a well so we tried some simple ideas initially - had our inflatable dinghy tied up alongside and had the ePropulsion on there with the petrol 6hp in the well running for safety on tickover as backup incase we got into any difficulties. Amazingly the epropulsion did move both our boat and the heavy dinghy so we we then tried taking the petrol OB out of the well and put in the 1kw ePropulsion and left the mooring/went across the straits and around the local area. It worked great into the tides too but this first test was near/after slack and on neaps with low wind.

Our next tests were to put the petrol outboard back and try and see how much revs we were using for other challenges. This came soon the next week as the wind was quite strong (and the tides on Springs) and getting back to our mooring that day proved quite challenging (especially given we'd been out in similar contditions and it wasn't a problem)

Our worst test was - again with the petrol outboard - we ventured for the first time up to Abermenai crossing the Belan Narrows. I claculated that the tides would be strong but not at their strongest, but we came quite close to being washed out down Belan Narrows towards Caernarfon Bar and I really had to gun the petrol OB to max and get very close to shore to be able to - very very slowly - make progress against the tide and up into the channel for Abermenai. That for use was the clincher, as we nearly ended up in a bad situation.

So we decided the 1.6kw likely wasn't going to be enough and likely 3kw would be best, if not 6kw. The trouble is, as mentioned above, were on a swing mooring so charging isn't easy. I think the 1.6kw could have got us through the Swellies the couple of times we did go through (outboard revs werent very high as managed to get the timiings right) - but in bad weather/strong winds I wouldn't attempt it (tbh, don't think we would with our 6hp either)

However - we really do have a strong dislike of petrol outboards. Not just the noise/smell/hours of vibrations - but the danger - petrol is horrible volatile stuff

So we didn't take things much further - It didn't help the season was such a washout and we didn't get out much more on the water this year

So we have decided to pause on the idea. One thing were looking at is getting a larger boat anyways (been looking at a couple of Westerly Pentland/W33's that are for sale and fairly tempted) - but if we were going to keep with our Jaguar 24 we still might go for an electric system - but maybe in a year or two when hopefully there may be some more powerful options on the market with clip on battery packs or something we can change at home.

Your description of fighting the tide is exactly the problem. If you use your electric outboard at full power it will gobble battery capacity whereas normal use takes a much lower amount. This is what put me off using them in place of an inboard/outboard at sea. They are excellent in calm sheltered water.

A larger boat should have a diesel with ample tanks and soundproofing - very hard to argue against.