Electric Outboards

[Bub]

Hi Mike
I also have a SunDay Cat. Purchased the long shaft which seems about right. My outboard bracket actually drops below the profile of the rear deck. Even with that location I think the short shaft would cavitate.
I compared the tiller and the remote with communication cable. Decided on the remote. As Bruce points out, the limited tilt for the Tiller is a negative. In addition you cannot read the control panel while seated unless you use the Remote.
I had mine shipped to me. Purchased from Sky Blue Adventures in Florida.  Reps name is Luis. Outstanding service, advice and accessibility.
Best of luck
Bub

[mikehennessy]

Hi Bruce,

As always - thank you for your advice.

At about 3:30 into the video shows a 75 degree tile angle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns6fSqH3xG0

Will need to rotate the tiller to get it up.  I also had to do that with the trolling motor.  The ePropulsion is much larger though.

Anyone else have comment on this?

Still looking for shaft length comments.

[bruce]

Right, it tilts normally once the tiller is out of the way. It will mean that you can't readily use the fixing pin, that some prefer, that locks the motor center lined. That requires removing the battery. But, I'm not trying to talk you out of it!

On our PC, the long shaft is best, and doubt you'd want to go shorter on a Sunday Cat. I use one up from the full down setting on the motor mount. If it gets choppy, I'll go full down to mitigate the cavitation. I had a short shaft on a Lehr 2.5 because that was all they offered. Too short.

[Jim in TC]

On our Sun Cat I am pretty sure the short shaft would have been too short in difficult (choppy) situations and maybe more often than that. The long drags ever so slightly when under way (tilted up). Raising the adjustable mount would alleviate that but it is more trouble to change that while sailing to make it worth the trouble. Bottom line, I think the long shaft is almost certainly your best bet.

I also agree that the remote is a great and, for me, important addition. It keeps all of the control for speed and forward/reverse
(and all of the information on state of charge etc) handy. I do put the tiller arm on for maneuvering in and out of the slip, after trying with the motor pinned straight, as Bruce points out, and found I needed the control offered by the motor getting in and out of a slip, especially if there is a cross wind. I keep the tiller handy and just slip it on, keeping the remote wired to the motor (Torqueedo is hard wired). 

[mikehennessy]

Today was my first sail of 2022 and the first sail using my new ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus long shaft.

Sailed for 60 minutes until the wind died than had a pleasant "motor" for 60 minutes around Union Lake in southern New Jersey.  I found the best power setting was about 250 watts which gave me a run time of 5 hours and moved me at close to hull speed.  This is MUCH better than the 55lb thrust trolling motor.

Didn't realize until I reread the manual that the BMS reduced the charge to 60% over time.  Was able to top it off in 3 hours.

Only used one "bar" of battery life during my trip.

A very happy customer.

Regards,
Mike

[bruce]

Yeah, the Torqeedo 1003C loaner I had didn't do that. I don't know what they might do these days with the new models. It seems to be a reasonable protocol for battery management, but a bad surprise for those who hadn't heard, or don't have good access to recharging. In that case, augmenting with solar seems a good idea. I've mentioned it, but it isn't the first thing people are thinking about.

I recharge after use, and top it off the night before I'm going out again. A couple of hours usually does it, so first thing in the morning if I've forgotten is often enough.

[Bub]

Here is an update on the eProp on my Sunday Cat. I have taken 3 ?Sea Trials? motoring only to check out all the nuances and because sailing conditions haven?t been the best. Because my transom has a curved shape, I?ve needed to shim the motor to avoid excessive weather helm and I?ve tweaked it enuf to be acceptable. As you can imagine the degree of helm varies greatly with speed and tidal direction but adjusting the centerboard provides decent correction.

Yesterday I did my first Sea Trial under sail. All went well, but the weather helm still needs attention. I cannot raise the motor free of the water, so I?m dealing with this under power as well as sail.

NOW another question. The battery storage temperature parameters are too narrow for my climate, especially summer. It isn?t clear if these parameters are only for long term storage (as over the winter) or also include a few weeks leaving the battery in place on the transom on a boat lift. I?m in Coastal Georgia and temps in the summer run high 80s to mid 90s.
Thanks. Bub

[bruce]

Regarding temperature range, my manual says 32º to 113º when charging, and 14º to 140º when discharging. The top end isn't a problem for us, but I often don't bring the battery in from the unheated garage until December, since there might (in theory) be a day we want to launch it one more time. I'm sure the motor's been below freezing, but probably not down to 14º

I haven't seen a problem.

[Reighnman]

Launched my Sunday Cat on Thursday and overall, the Torqeedo was a success. Operator error with throttle did launch the boat onto the kayak dock, thankfully it's made of plastic.  The silence also made me think the motored died a couple of times as well. It'll be a great motor for my 5min motor, but she did struggle going into a 20mph headwind with 1-2ft chop from marina to house. Full throttle delivered a max speed of 2.4mph in those conditions. The rhythmic hum of the motor through the hull reminded of a diesel which I enjoyed. Now to get the sail on and actually go sailing.

[Bub]

Bruce. I see your reply on the question I raised about temp ranges for battery storage. Sorry  but this
Liberal arts guy doesn?t understand. I think you are quoting charging and discharging rates.
I am questioning the acceptable ambient temperature ranges to avoid damage to the battery during
    1  outside, on boat non use of the motor of a few weeks versus
    2 long term storage, for example 3-4 months of winter storage
Thank you as always.
Bub

[bruce]

Hey Bub, that's all I see in the manual. I don't see temperature ranges for storage of the battery. I do see temperatures ranges specified for storage of the charger, -40º to 167º, and for its operation, -20.2º to 113.9º. Sorry, I haven't a clue why they'd specify storage conditions for the charger and not the battery.

Another way to look at it is the battery is discharging if it is in use, or just idle, including in storage, due to the BMS protocol. So, the battery is always charging or discharging, and ranges are specified for those times. Of course, I'm looking at the manual that came with my Spirit 1.0, version 1.2, dated March 2019. That may have changed with the newer models. You mentioned your dealer was helpful, you might ask him to verify.

[Bub]

Thx Bruce
Are the unusual symbols next to your numeric -40 to 167 indicating DEGREES celsius?. Symbols such as quote marks or parenthesis get converted to some completely different symbol on my iPad so I wonder if it can?t read the symbol for DEGREE correctly. Crazy, huh?

As for the dealer, he was puzzled as I was and I haven?t heard back yet.
Bub

[bruce]

Huh, no they're degrees Fahrenheit, degrees being "option 0" on my Mac keyboard. They display properly for me here on the forum, so I didn't see it as a source of confusion.

I have noticed that your apostrophes become question marks, at least they didn't get creative with the numbers! Leave it to the technologists to mess up perfectly simple punctuation marks.

[kickingbug1]

   if these things ever become affordable im on board, until then 2 stroke power

[Bub]

Bruce. Thanks for clarifying. I was assuming that, but it?s good to know.
Leave it to the techno geeks to confuse mere mortals.