Where do you store your dinghy/tender motor?

Sarge

I just purchased a Mercury 240RU and I'm looking at purchasing a 3.5 hp motor, but...where will I store it? The inflatable is going to sit on the roof of the cabin, so I need to store the motor elsewhere. I was thinking about the transom or how about this http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/45429/0/0/motor%20mount/All_2/mode+matchallpartial/0/0
type of rail mount.

Any thoughts?

What do you do?

Thanks,

-Sarge

Bess-C · Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:23 pm Post subject:

Sarge,
We used that exact mount on our 25 and it worked great, until we added the canvas. The motor won't fit with the canvas. Now, where to store the dingy motor is an ongoing problem. If you come up with a good solution, I'd like to hear about it.
Lyle

Ron on Meander · Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:46 pm Post subject:

When in doubt,,,,, check out Hanks Sea Skipper. If he hasn't found a solution for a C-Dory accessory, no one has.

Hunkydory · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:00 am Post subject:

Sarge

This won't be much help for you, but it sure worked for us. We have a small West Marine dingy made by Zodiac and was considering going with the new Torgueeda electric 2hp motor witch Iam very confident would have worked well and that motor folded up and could be stored about anywhere. Plans were to tow our new Mokai jet powered kayak and have the dingy ride on top as before. [photos of kayak can be seen in Yukon Chris's photo album] Ours is identical. On a unusually warm day for this country two weeks ago we tried out the Mokai with the c-dory at Massacre State Park on the Snake River in Idaho. The Mokai try out went so well we have decided to abandon our dingy for just the Mokai. Jo-Lee has a very bad shoulder so can't help me with mounting or unmounting the Mokai on land or water. Found I could fairly easily do it by myself on water or land. It rides up on top when towing c-dory on trailer and sometimes on water. Tows extremely well behind c-dory at speed or hip tied when slow. Also much easier to get in and out of from the cockpit than the rubber dingy. Best of all it beat all expectations with its performance on the water with just myself or with Jo-Lee and me. Some fairly strong rapids in this area on the Snake River.

Only real draw back was lack of room when Jo-Lee and I are both aboard. We would be doing some squeezing to pack groceries or much else. Have been to busy for photos but if anyones interested in setup will try to take some and then post them from next trip.

With our limited time the next month will be spent practicing our river running on some of the local streams.

Jay

Sarge · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:21 am Post subject:

Jay, your jet powered kayak sure looks cool and I'm sure I would love one if I ever tried one, but I have to move my wife, my 2 little boys and myself all in one trip. Can't leave either of the little guys alone either on shore or the boat. I need more room than the kayak offers.

Ron or Hank, would the 3.5 hp motor hang on the transome like a kicker? I see that Hank on his boat has a swim step so he put his on the side, but I don't have a kicker or a swim step.

Thanks,

-Sarge

Pat Anderson · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:40 am Post subject:

I have the rail mount thingee too, but like Lyle says, it doesn't work with the camperback canvas on. On the Ketchikan trip, we just lay the little 2.5 hp Merc outboard down inside the dinghy which was on the roof of the boat. A bit awkward but it worked OK I guess. Like Lyle, I would be interested in a better solution...I guess another transom mounted bracket on the swim step side would work...

Adeline · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:14 am Post subject:

At the St. Croix Marine Website I stumbled onto a neat little mount that I may give a try.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:18 am Post subject:

Hi Sarge,

Since you don't have a kicker (like us), check out our album... we use a 2.5 hp motor for our dinghy and have a motor mount on the transom. Works great, easy to use, easy to get at the motor to mount it up when we put the dinghy in the water. I do NOT carry the dinghy motor back there when we are on the road - too easy for someone to walk away with it. We toss it in the back of the pickup (another nice thing about 2 strokes: it doesn't really care how it lays). This solution works great with the camperback. HTH

Best wishes,
Jim B.

thataway · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject:

Check out the various albums--Thataway's has a picture of our rail mount.
I believe that one of the other 255's has a mount bolted to the aft part of the splash well. We used a kicker bracket on the CD 22.

Sea Skipper · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:28 pm Post subject:

Thanks Ron for the nice complement -

I'm pleased with the dingy outboard mount on Sea Skipper. I had planned on fabricating a bracket to mount the outboard in the same location, but found that the adjustable mount from Fulton (MB1050) would do the same job with the added bonus of being able to lower the motor to water level for easier attachment to the dingy. I don't like hanging too much weight on the stern, but the Honda 2 only weighs about 27# plus about 10# for the bracket installed. The biggest drawback to this location is potential damage from a less than perfect docking as the outside edge of the motor is only about a half foot from the port side. To keep the motor located inboard as much as possible, I cut the Fulton mount to conform to the motor well cutout and attach the motor to the inside edge of the mount. The curve in the transom was faired with Marinetex epoxy to keep the mount square with the flat portion of the transom.

A note on the 2hp Honda. This motor is air cooled and a bit noisy especially a full throttle. It starts with ease and will plane my 8' Avon Redstart dingy at about 8 knots if I carefully position my self in the center. I have a range of about 6 kn on a full tank. The Avon dingy has a slatted wood floor, weighs about 40#, is 10 years old and looks like new. This dingy rows especially well considering its size. To store the dingy, I pull it up over the bow railing, rest one edge on the skylight and flip it upside down on the cabin roof. Then rotate it 90 degrees and push it back under the arch until the motor bracket just overhangs the aft edge of the cabin roof.

Sarge · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:52 pm Post subject:

Thought I would tell those who responded how I solved this issue....Lots of BOAT units! Crying or Very sad

I purchased a Torqeedo 801 Travel Electric Outboard from West Marine

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&classNum=820&subdeptNum=478&storeNum=10&productId=274855

I tested it on my Mercury Inflatable 240R in the Edmonds, WA, marina and it did quite well. Even ventured out towards the pier a few times and it had plenty of power to push the inflatable with my son (5 years old) and I around at a respectable speed. After about an hour of use it still had 60% of its power left. I purchased 2 batteries, because it takes up to 12 hours to fully recharge a battery.

The motor itself folds and is stored in a dry sack, which fits nicely in the cabinet behind the dinette.

The entire unit, including one battery, weights 26 pounds. The battery can be removed, which is approx 1/2 the weight, so mounting the unit onto the dinghy is very easy.

Time will tell.

-Sarge

Doryman · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:05 am Post subject:

Sarge · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:14 am Post subject:

Warren,

Are you asking how many watts does it pull to charge? I believe 800 watts.
Here is the link to the specifics:

http://www.torqeedo.com/en/hn/products/travel/technical-data-measures.html

-Sarge

Island Ranger · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:21 am Post subject:

Any idea if you can recharge the battery for the Torqeedo 801 while you are underway? I can only find the 110v charger listed.

Thanks,
Mac

Sarge · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:38 pm Post subject:

Mac,

DrJohn71a, in an earlier post stated: