Electric Outboards.

[Chris Adeney]

During lockdown I painted the outside of my house as the chap meant to be doing it did not look like appearing. As my reward I decided to get a modern electric outboard. The choice was between a Torqeedo or an Epropulsion. I went for the latter as it is slightly cheaper, the motor/propeller bulb is smaller so less likely to fowl my transom hung rudder and most importantly it has more battery life. At  the end of the season I can now report on my experiences compared with my 2.5 Suzuki.
The adverts say the electric outboard is comparable with a small petrol outboard. I have found the Suzuki will give me a bit over 5mph flat out and the Epropulsion a bit less than 5mph. This is adequate as it is more than the river speed limit.
The Epropulsion is much easier to use. It splits into two parts (battery and motor) so although it is slightly heavier than the Suzuki it is less weight to move around and easier to put onto the outboard motor bracket as the battery can be attached later. The power is instantaneous  once the motor is switched on rather than having to start the motor and put it into gear every time you want to use it. There is also a reverse which the Suzuki does not have. This makes going through locks much easier and I find it particularly good sailing on the river when you loose the wind behind a tree being able to give it a quick burst of power to get back into the next bit of clear wind. Another advantage is that it is much easier to transport as you can put it any were with no fluids to leak out. Also you do not need to carry petrol.
It goes without saying that it is much less noisy in fact you can hardly hear the motor above the sound the water makes going past the rudder and the transom. The other big advantage is that there is almost no vibration so it is much more pleasant when it is running.
The big problem is range. Flat out the battery monitor suggests you only get about one hours running but if you slow down things improve a lot. At 3+mph you get 4-5 hours running. The best trip I have done was about 16 miles at a bit over 3mph, ie about walking pace, and I still had about one mile of range left in the battery at the end.
The other down side is the cost but you do save on cheaper fuel and not having to have it serviced. A Trolling motor and lead acid battery's would be another option but it is very convenient having it all in one package.
All together I am very pleased with it. I am looking forward to using on next years  Thames trip as I think the range between charging points is about adequate. I am also considering how to extend the range. Possibly a solar panel or an extra battery(they are a bit expensive but it may be possible to get a cheaper external battery and a lead). Lots to plan during the winter!

[Timmo]

Thanks Chris

Useful review, been looking at the Epropulsion unit. A friend with a boat down at Topsham has one and thinks highly of it. You're experience is nudging me nearer buying one, though need to save some more pennies first.

Tm.

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On 15 Oct 2020, at 22:00, Chris Adeney [via UK HBBR Forum] <[hidden email]> wrote:

During lockdown I painted the outside of my house as the chap meant to be doing it did not look like appearing. As my reward I decided to get a modern electric outboard. The choice was between a Torqeedo or an Epropulsion. I went for the latter as it is slightly cheaper, the motor/propeller bulb is smaller so less likely to fowl my transom hung rudder and most importantly it has more battery life. At  the end of the season I can now report on my experiences compared with my 2.5 Suzuki.
The adverts say the electric outboard is comparable with a small petrol outboard. I have found the Suzuki will give me a bit over 5mph flat out and the Epropulsion a bit less than 5mph. This is adequate as it is more than the river speed limit.
The Epropulsion is much easier to use. It splits into two parts (battery and motor) so although it is slightly heavier than the Suzuki it is less weight to move around and easier to put onto the outboard motor bracket as the battery can be attached later. The power is instantaneous  once the motor is switched on rather than having to start the motor and put it into gear every time you want to use it. There is also a reverse which the Suzuki does not have. This makes going through locks much easier and I find it particularly good sailing on the river when you loose the wind behind a tree being able to give it a quick burst of power to get back into the next bit of clear wind. Another advantage is that it is much easier to transport as you can put it any were with no fluids to leak out. Also you do not need to carry petrol.
It goes without saying that it is much less noisy in fact you can hardly hear the motor above the sound the water makes going past the rudder and the transom. The other big advantage is that there is almost no vibration so it is much more pleasant when it is running.
The big problem is range. Flat out the battery monitor suggests you only get about one hours running but if you slow down things improve a lot. At 3+mph you get 4-5 hours running. The best trip I have done was about 16 miles at a bit over 3mph, ie about walking pace, and I still had about one mile of range left in the battery at the end.
The other down side is the cost but you do save on cheaper fuel and not having to have it serviced. A Trolling motor and lead acid battery's would be another option but it is very convenient having it all in one package.
All together I am very pleased with it. I am looking forward to using on next years  Thames trip as I think the range between charging points is about adequate. I am also considering how to extend the range. Possibly a solar panel or an extra battery(they are a bit expensive but it may be possible to get a cheaper external battery and a lead). Lots to plan during the winter!

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[Chris Partridge]

Which boat were you using, Chris?

[David Bewick]

Chris, I've got one of those, too, and I am generally very pleased with it.  I use it mainly for "getting in and out", so range is not really an issue for me.  I am amazed how little power it requires to keep a boat just gently moving through the water (100W?), though.  If time was not an issue, I think the range would be great.  My main concern is about the structure of the motor, itself, rather than it's performance.  I used mine at Morbihan last year and on one trip from the boat to tender to shore and back again (I forgot the lock to keep it on the boat), the plastic on the tiller part of the motor was damaged despite the motor being in it's padded bag, throughout.  It is also easy to damage the zips on the bag even though they look big and chunky.  I am not normally rough with things like this, so it pays to be careful.  Overall, I find it much better than a noisy, stinky petrol outboard.  And don't get me going on those noisy air cooled Honda ones...

[inwe]

I have a Torqeedo and the big disadvantage is that you are supposed to not go through the water, ie sailing, with the unit in the water as it is then driven. OK if you can tilt the motor when you have finished , buut in my double ender lifting the motor out every time is a faf . The reason of course is that the water then drives the motor. I agree with Tim the lack of range is a worry, unless you invest in the larger battery £1000 !!!
The other problem is the prop. If you hit the mud the shear (drive ) pin gives way spectacularly. Because the
prop is resin and the construction of the boss is such the pin is not the only thing that gives. It chews the back of the boss to pieces. A new Prop is about £100. Re-engineering the prop is not easy I've tried. I'm on my 4th prop. If I had the choice again I'm afraid I would go for your 2.5 Suzuki. The batteries have to be run out and charged all year and reduce in capacity as time goes on.
That's my two pennies worth.
Richard

[GregHBBR]

For what it's worth, as I've only used one on my SeaHawk on the Broads, not the kind of light craft most of you guys have, I have a review of my MinnKota on the SeaHawk site. There's much more about the installation on the Boat Safety Scheme page 

The three hour trip I referred to at the first link happened at the end of the Three Rivers Race 2006 and having looked at that report again I see "three hours" was an exageration, although it was certainly true that there was no drop in power in the time we were running the engine.

I really only used the engine to get in and out of the dyke at my mooring outside the Pleasure Boat Inn and would only consider such an engine on inland waters with mild flow/tides. I sold the SeaHawk two years go but kept the engine as the plan, since executed, was to buy a canoe. I still have to decide what battery to buy as it won't be left on board with a solar panel to charge it and, knowing me I'll be lucky to manage to use the canoe more than three or four times a year.

[Chris Adeney]

The boat I have this on is my Broads boat so it is fairly heavy (about 3/4 ton) so the performance is quite good. As to David's comment I would agree the zip is not brilliant but so far with care I have had no problems and fortunately no damage to the motor.  I was worried about leaving the motor in the water when I am sailing as it is very difficult to get it out of the water on my boat but I was reassured by someone at Nestaway boats the dealer that this would not be a problem. I hope they are right. So far I have not hit the bottom too hard with the propeller so have had no problem there but this is less of a problem on the river as I am generally in deep water. I need a longer season next year to see if any other problems appear.

[Chris Adeney]

I have  spoken to the epropulsion importers about leaving the motor in the water when you are sailing. They tell me there is no problem as long as you do not exceed 18 knots so there should not be a problem with my boat. The long awaited solar charger connector arrived today so I have now got to work out were I get a suitable solar panel from and were to fit it.

[Paul H (admin)]

Chris,

The only place I could fit a solar panel on MilliBee was the hatch. You might have more roof space than me though. It's 40 Watts, the biggest I could fit. If you have space for a 5ft x 3ft panel you could be generating 250 Watts.

Lithium 12V batteries are gaining popularity and manufacturing costs are coming down. They are much lighter than lead-acid batteries but still a bit too expensive. An external battery lead could be a good investment, to let you break away from the outboard manufacturer's monopoly on batteries.
 
Expect a heavy dose of fear, uncertainty and doubt from the marketing department, when they realise you have rumbled their monopoly!

The future from my perspective as an electronic engineer, is electric motor outboards and external battery systems just like external fuel tanks for 4-strokes. Mix and match to whatever suits you, from a 5 minute tender run to a week down the Thames.

-Paul

[Alan]

I agree with Paul, fit the size of battery you need for the job in hand. But I won't ever buy another leisure battery after my experience; I lost two 105 Ah batteries due to my failure to regularly charge them over a previous winter, and I've just recycled two 85Ah batteries because the charger I bought to keep them charged over winter didn't do its job. On the broads this year I could get about 5 minutes of use before I was reduced to the measly 50W to 100W available from 200Wp onboard solar panels. Below that it's better to row my small boat.
You can buy traction batteries if you don't mind twice the weight and cost for the same nominal energy; I spoke to a hirer of electric launches who said they had to replace one battery this year - which had been in the boat for 16 years!
On the other hand I'm still using the lithium battery cordless drill for DIY which I used in the 2011 Cordless Canoe Challenge.

[Jeremy]

Alan wrote

On the other hand I'm still using the lithium battery cordless drill for DIY which I used in the 2011 Cordless Canoe Challenge.

Same here.  Both the batteries I used there got another hammering when I built this house.  One then got left for too long, and one of the cell banks internally dropped below the alarm threshold that Makita use, that throws a charging fault (don't let this happen three times - it writes the pack off permanently by "blowing" a "fuse" in the onboard electronics).  I took that pack apart about two years ago and recharged the cells individually, and since then the pack's been as good as new.  One of those two packs got so hot during the race that it was too hot to handle at the end, yet despite that it seems to still work OK.  Pretty robust, lithium batteries, if looked after reasonably well.