Electric power for 23/3

[ka8uet]

Has anyone had any experience in using an electric auxilary for a 23/3?  My trusty Evinrude 6HP Saildrive was stolen.  I've looked at an electirc outboard listed in the West Marine caalogue (eeeek!  sticker shock!) , and the Solomon Electric Wheel (ditto!).  I've thought about a trolling motor, with battery recharged by a solar panel.  I don't do much motoring, just in and out of the marina or launch ramp.  Electric appeals to me both on an ecological basis, and bacause I don't have the srength needed to pull-start a gasoline engine, let alone to take it to someplace it won't be stolen when I'm not using it!  hanks in advance for the help.

[Bob23]

ka8uet:
   When I was at the Maine Boatbuilders show in March, I saw these Torqeedo electric outboard motors. Very nice; a lot more power than an electric trolling motor. Check out www.torqeedo.com. They were quite expensive, if I remember correctly.
   How about a 6 or 8 hp 4 stroke with electric start? You could probably get one cheaper than a Torqeedo, have more range, and still be ecologically responsible. The new 4 strokes are clean, quiet and reliable.
   Me, I still have a 2 stroke only because I can't afford a new motor and this one starts on the first pull.
   I think Sherie (Blonde Ambition) just bought a Nissan 8 hp 4 stroke for about 1700 plus clams and she loves it.
   As far as theft, how 'bout a big ugly chain around the sternrail? Or a vinyl coated cable? Or check out the New York Bike lock. I think you can get 'em in titanium so rust is not a factor.
  Where do you sail, K?
Bob23  and s/v Koinonia in NJ
   

[sun17cat]

I have the Torqeedo 801 on my SunCat and it works great but will only run for about 45 minutes without a recharge, probably even less time on a larger boat. I just pull off the battery take it home and plug it in so it is ready next time. I especially like that it has forward, neutral, and reverse on the throttle. To be honest if I could find a small gas engine with that feature I would probably go that way just to have a little more range.

[Craig Weis]

Takes a lot of amps to charge a battery enough to keep up with a running electric motor.
I feel a solar cell will not do it. At night heading home against the wind and waves at 9 pm, your ETA will be very long and beating into the wind, very wet. skip.

[ka8uet]

I sail on Lake Erie, and if I were out at night in the conditions you describe, I'd be sailing to the nearest anchorage.  I rarely use my outboard once I'm out of the marina.  Only extensive use it got was one trip to Canada when the wind died and I had my brother and sister-in-law aboard.  She's scared of water and getsw seasick.  He's more of a powerboater than a sailor, although he likes sailing.  Anyway, the biggest drawback for me of a 4 stroke is the weight.  I singlehand, and lifting it on and off the boat is not something I can do any more.  I find that as I get older I get weaker!  Drat!  Old age is not for sissies!  However, I suspect that I will have to get a 4 stroke and have someone help me mount it on the boat each spring and remove it each fall.  My Evinrude wasn't stolen off the boat.  It was taken from the basement of my former residence, in which I have a renter.  I suspect that he is the one who took it, as I never had anything  taken in the 30 years I lived there.  He has never let me down in the basement since he moved in, so I suspect that the motor and my bicycle were early casualties of his not wanting a regular job.  He says he is a roofer.  He junks in the winter to make money.  Enough on that subject.

[Craig Weis]

So a four cycle is too heavy? Find a 2 cycle.
I believe that my water cooled 2 stroke Mercury O/B weighs 47.5 pounds.
And a long shank key lock will lock the thumb screws to the motor mount.
All low hp Mercury's are made by somebody over seas.

Here are the specs. from the owner's manual.
5 hp
3.73 Kilowatts [So what is that in an electric moto and battery?]

[3412 btu/kw] [2544 btu/hp][1 horsepower (hp -- 550 ft-lbf/s) = 745.7 watts (W) = 2544.43 british thermal units per hour (BTU/hr) = 0.0760181 boiler horsepower (hp -- boiler)

5000 rpm.
850 rpm in gear at idle.
1000 rpm in neutral.
1 cylinder.
6.2 cubic inch [102cc].
2.165 bore.
1.693 stroke.
NGK BPR7HS-10 or Champ RL 82YC spark plug.
6.8 oz gear case lower end unit capacity.
Fwd-N-Reverse
2.15 to 1 Gear Ratio.
3 blade prop ? x ?
Exhaust out of the center of the prop.
47.5 pounds.
1 QT internal fuel tank.
3 Gallon external fuel tank.
Break-in mix 25:1 ratio or 4%.
After break-in mix 50:1 or 2%.
8 oz oil for three gallons gas.
Oil for lubrication TC-W3 2-Cycle oil. NMMA/BIA Certified.
Run time before out of fuel about 11 hours.
Reasonable usuage. 1/3 to, 1/3 return,1/3 in reserve. [USPS Recommendations]

Untiringly enough this O/B pushes my Com-Pac at 4.8 knots, about the same as sailing with good wind and good heading.
So my main and 155% lapper may about 5 hp? I guess so.
skip.

[Bob23]

K:
   Why don't you evict that low-life and get a nice 4 stroke and big titanium bike chain. Lock that puppie to the boat and forget about lifting it on and off.
bob23...again- just my 2 cents

[ka8uet]

I'm conferring with my lawyer and a realtor re:  evict or sell house as an investment property, already rented and let new owner evict him!  If I sell the house, I can get a new motor!

[Craig Weis]

Ka8uet, predicated on selling your rented house and actually make a few bucks, the current president will take about 50% on what you make with capital gains tax. So beware. Better burn it down and call insurance. LOL.skip.

[ka8uet]

Better than the last guy, who took it all and spent it to kill people!   LOL

[Bob23]

Please, child.

[Craig Weis]

Wrongo my friend. You cannot deal with a cult that wants to kill as many of us as they can in the name of some religious believe.

I have friends who took the war to there back door. Three times! Not your back door. Be thankful. The funds spent there pale to what the current administration is spending. And no one ever died from water boarding, but many spilled there guts, saving many troops. The Geneva Convention is for the military prisoners, which these people are not. They are terrorists.

I think an ankle bracelet ought to be attached to the Gitmo Boys and track'em to there leaders when these non-military, non-uniformed, non-country represented detainees return to there leaders and resume cutting off heads of people with pockets knifes; and when they do call in a cruise missile strike and take them all out. But that's just me. But you go ahead and think that they'll be 'good boys'.

If you think health care is expensive now, just wait till it's free. It'll be so free that doctors will be paid a stipends for the service and no one will care to enter the medical Field.

Kind of like those slopeheads in black pajamas taking American pregnant Vietnamese girls going into labor and putting them into a dug hole up to there necks, or taking them and cutting a tiny slit in the belly and pulling out intestines, then nailing the end tail to a tree forcing them to circle the tree till they fall. We called in artillery to end it. Although we were under orders to not engage.
skip.

[HideAway]

To get back on the subject.

  I would never trust an electric motor for a boat as large and heavy as the 23 - actually my concern would be the battery - especially sailing on big water. 

For the last 14 years I have used the C channel lock with a special master padlock that comes with it.  You can buy  it at any marine store.  The first one took seven years to rust out  in a salt water environment.   The second one I misplaced the padlock when the engine was in for service and had to buy another whole package.  Of course I found  the one I lost as I was looking for something to grease the new padlock.   Somebody did try to steal the motor while the boat was at our slip but was not able to defeat the lock.  Since the boat has been on the trailer stored at our sailing club its not been disturbed.

I would not recommend chain.  Its bulky and anyone with a battery operated grinder can cut it in seconds.  Thieves look for the easy targets and their are plenty of them around so if you make it difficult to steal generally you will be OK.   One fellow we know had his motor stolen when the thieves removed the bolts from the mounting block in broad daylight while people watched.  They were in uniform and claimed to be working on the boat!

I can t imagine trying to put the 8 horse motor on each time I sailed.   We have to use the main halyard and the mast winch  with a bridle to get it off !.

[pbrenton]

Hideaway said;
"I can t imagine trying to put the 8 horse motor on each time I sailed.   We have to use the main halyard and the mast winch  with a bridle to get it off !."

Oh, that's interesting!  My cousin and I lift my 90# 8hp Honda up over our heads (twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of the season) and we are not getting any younger or better in terms of back health!.  How do you lead the line over the stern?  You also must raise the mast on the trailer (for various reasons involving poor electric wire placement at the ramp we can't really do that).

I wonder if a line and bridle led to the winch over the stern rail would provid at least an "assist" to the brute force approach, I'd love to hear the hazards/what not to do list.

Pete, CP23 "Ella J", Chebeague Island, Maine

[HideAway]

Last time we took the motor off the boat was still in a wet slip.   We purchased a bridle at a marine store although you can make one that is easier to use.  We had to add some line to the halyard -  About four feet if I remember right.   Then one of use would man the mast winch and the other would hold the line out so it was vertical to the motor then swing it over to the dock.  We only did this at high tide so the distance was not as great.  the scary part was that if something went wrong the motor could fall into the water but that was never a problem.  We were able to lower the motor into a dock cart.  The hardest part was loading the motor into the truck for transport to the mechanic.  Putting it back was the reverse except that the motor had to be lowered exactly right to engage the motor mount.  We use the jib halyard the same way when we load our generator to the bow for the Christmas boat parade.

Now the HideAway is on a trailer with motor problems.  I spent the better part of today on a ladder replacing the thermostat assembly - it was spraying salt water all over the spark plugs and I thought that might be the solution to the sudden loss of power we experienced last Sunday.   I was able to stop the leak but even after cleaning all the ground wires I could fine we still have a problem of dropping a cylinder. After  hooking up a timing light to confirm an electrical problem  I'm going to replace the ignition coil.  If that does not work I'll have to remove the motor  to take it to the mechanic.   The only change will be to  add a much longer line to the halyard. 

Did I mention the heat index today is 105?   M