Electric Motor ?

BC · Post by BC » Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:18 pm

I'm considering an Electric Trolling motor as a means to get out the channel to sailing depth, and then back to the berth, of course. I don't have the funds for a newer outboard and I don't quite trust the 4.5hp. antique that I have now.
My thought is about a 50 lb thrust with a marine battery and charger at dock.
Maybe a solar panel when not sailing to keep the battery topped up.
I have a 2 mile trip each way to sailing depth.
Any incite would be appreciated Thanks BC

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:27 pm

You would have to have either a nice sized battery, or more than one. Two miles is a long way on a trolling motor.

Papax3 · Post by **Papax3** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:20 pm

I can tell you that lake Quachita is the biggest lake in Arkansas, and I spoke with a guy that did both: gas motor. trolling motor.
He dumped the gas motor quickly related to terrible fumes, and an inability to enjoy himself, or sleep on the boat. He then tried a trolling motor, and used a MARINE DEEP CELL battery, and a 12volt solar recharger. He was ELATED. No fumes, and the trolling motor, he claimed, took him from one end of the lake to the other (I'm not sure if he really did all of the 40 miles by trolling motor). But!!!!
He said that he checked the battery with a volt meter, and often it was topped off already by the end of the weekend.

I am using a solar charger as a "check" for my boat. I have an ancient cub cadet tractor (very small), with 6 volt supply. I have no electricity, so the only choice was solar. the 6 volt recharger works splendidly. It solved an otherwise pricey problem.

Start with a trolling motor, the above mentioned battery, and see how it does... if your boat requires another battery... then buy another one later.

Adendum: My father was in an electronics engineering competition, and the requirement was to build a boat that had the fastest time over a pre-set distance. some tried a huge sprint of energy, others tried a slow build of speed until the end, etc....
The one with the trolling motor won, hands down... the team that used it tried to build a more efficient propeller, but discovered that a more effiecient propeller did not exist.... it was as efficient as it could get.

Have faith,
and go electric. Might save some marine life while you're at it.
Bill

sauerleigh · Post by **sauerleigh** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:11 am

My biggest concern would be going against a head wind, 10mph and more. The trolling motor will get the boat moving in calm conditions and you can probably make you 4 miles on a single charge with large enough battery but going against the wind will be a different story.

BC · Post by BC » Wed Jul 06, 2011 5:57 am

Thanks for the replies.
I'm going to try it. I believe with a good battery and a 50lbs thrust it should do what I want. On the Gulf - western side of Florida - you have to do 1 mile from shore to gain 1 foot of depth, ergo the distance problem.
By using good judgement on when and when not to sail, the electric motor has a lot going for it.
Thanks again for your comments BC

Anhinga · Post by **Anhinga** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:03 am

I use an 80 lb thrust 24 volt on my 26. It will push me as far as I need to go. When setting up batteries I would buy two and wire them in parallel to gain twice the range over a single. You want to buy them at the same time so they age together and thier charging characteristics stay close. When running the system figure on no more than 50% throttle if you want any range. There so only so much energy in your battery pack you can run it all out at full throttle in about 20 minutes, at 30% to 50% throttle I can push the 26 for several hours. To make deep cycle batteries last count on no more than 50% depth of discharge.

An electric setup with batteries, charger and motor will cost you a majority the price of a new small outboard so the cost savings isn't really strong.

Even the biggest troller won't get you out of the way of a storm, won't buck a headwind etc, but you will become a much better sailor. We now leave and get on the mooring under sail alone and can hit most docks inder sail. Energy to run the motor moves from the commodity level in which I would run the gas outboard because it was easy to do - to running the electric only when I need to because my energy source is much more limited. It takes a couple hours to get new electrons in the battery!

If you want to sail old school go electric!

Later!

JK on Anhinga

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:38 pm

BC,

What size boat?

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:41 pm

I ran out of juice on a 40 lb trolling motor with two deep cell batteries moving it out of the canals in Cape Coral, but that was on my 26.

And headwinds and crosswinds cause issues.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:42 pm

Although, glassing in a pair of 50 lb motors and some serious batteries (gell cell, or golf cart).........

John Stahl · Post by **John Stahl** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:33 pm

I read some were that you need one lbs of thrust for every 65 lbs of boat.
a C26 is 5000 lbs. so for a C26 you would need 76 lbs of thrust.
two 45 lbs trust trolling motors should do the trick with power to spare.

kalamazoogal · Post by **kalamazoogal** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:20 am

I'm in full agreement that an ellectric drive is superior in most situations. However, has anybody ever stayed out just a little too long an got caught
by a storm ? As for me, I'll have one of each since a trolling motor
doesn't add much to the total weight of the boat. Since we're sailors most
of us only use the motor to kick off the dock etc anyway. I do, however
always want the "snort" of the dino fueled engine at my disposal if the
situation warrents.
DaveS.

Capt. Bondo · Post by **Capt. Bondo** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:43 am

Just as a FYI the old origional Chrysler Sailor outboards are listed as lbs of thrust. i.e. the Chrysler Sailor 250 has 250 lbs of thrust.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:21 am

I had not looked at the ev offerings for sailboats in over a year. They have come a long way.

Google up regenerative electric sailboat motor.

mariner · Post by **mariner** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:12 pm

I just saw a really good article about repowering a diesel set up with an electric motor , if I can remember I'll post... I know in the free west marine fiberglass newsletter that's by the fiberglass stuff has an article about a electric launch...

BC · Post by BC » Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:55 pm

BC wrote:I'm considering an Electric Trolling motor as a means to get out the channel to sailing depth, and then back to the berth, of course. I don't have the funds for a newer outboard and I don't quite trust the 4.5hp. antique that I have now.
My thought is about a 50 lb thrust with a marine battery and charger at dock.
Maybe a solar panel when not sailing to keep the battery topped up.
I have a 2 mile trip each way to sailing depth.
Any incite would be appreciated Thanks BC

Thanks for the reply's and advice.

Yesterday I set out on a 10 mile cruise from Hernando Beach, Fl --western side --with a 44lb Minn-Kota electric and 2 full charged deep cell batteries.
I had to bailout because for my choice of "motor".
The reality of electric motors are that you don't have enough reserve power to deal with wind and tidal flow. At one point I was trying to get around a channel curve against a outgoing tide -- the motor was on a good battery and at full speed I barely had forward progress. Fighting a 2 or 3 knot flow is not a thing you should do with an electric motor. Throw a little wind into the picture and it's not pretty.

If you were using an electric motor on a lake, sailing off a dock or mooring I think the electric would be a good choice, but for any other application an outboard is much better. For the reserve power if for nothing else.
Given my little "adventure" I'm thinking a 9.9 horse is the best bet.

Thanks again for the comments and advice. BC

mariner · Post by **mariner** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:07 pm

Can't argue here, I love my tohatsu !

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