Electric Outboard for Dingy

For slightly more the Torpedo ,I feel, is a better unit. More power, lighter pieces and battery built into the motor. We have been using a Torqeedo for over 7 years and it has been a great motor. Total weight is about 30#. As I recollect the battery is about 12#, the lower unit and mounting frame is about 10# and the handle about 7#. The handle has a GPS and gives range, power used, and power available. It can be charged from 12 volts DC or 110 V AC.

We put the lower unit clamp on the dinghy first, then the battery, and finally the handle.

It appears to me as if the EP is less powerful than the Torqeedo. It's overall weight is less however. (Their calculator shows less speed than I get with the Torqeedo, and a shorter range than I get. ) I believe that the EP is only chargeable from 120 V AC (could use an inverter, but less efficient than directly from 12 volts.

Either way--an electric beats a gas outboard for the dinghy if you only want low speeds, and somewhat limited range. (We have yet to run out of juice--and go several days between charges). I have also used the Torqeedo to push the C Dory22, 25 and our Caracal Cat.
 
I talked to the Torqeedo guys at the boat show this year and they have recently made good improvements in corrosion protection that make them more suitable for salt water use.
 
We have used out Torqeedo in the keys initially, and didn't have any corrosion issues, but like out outboards, we do wash it off with fresh water, after use in salt water. I certainly would not leave it in the water full time. That would hold true for any electric motor in salt water. I believe that the corrosion issues were on the seals around the motor and prop shaft--with some pitting--these can be retrofitted to older motors. I have not seen any evidence of this on my motor. There are a relatively large number of these motors in service. Many are used to push sailboats up to mid 20's in and out of their slips and in narrow channels.

The electric motors on the ferry boats at Hontoon, seem to last pretty well. I believe they are about 8 hp, with larger LA battery bank. Tom or some of the other volunteers should able to address this issue. I don't remember the actual salinity, but it is high for fresh water: Blue Crabs and some salt water fish can be found up the river (South).
 
We are still debating whether to replace our 2.5 gas with a Torqeedo and how long a 12 v charge would take each day running in to the beach and maybe a little fishing? And range with 2 people compared to normal cruise speed with the 2.5? (slow).
 
My wife hated the gas smell of the 2.5 Suzuki I had. The Torqeedo we now have is much easier to handle and is very smooth. It has forward and reverse and no pull starting. I charge the battery every day I use it and it takes a couple hours to charge but I don’t usually get below 80 percent. If you are going for long rides stick with the 2.5 ..... short trips the Torqeedo.
 
Range depends on speed. But at slow speed about 2 knots you can get over 10 miles. We only pushed the range once, and that was during the emergency at Powell a few years back, when we had to track down a ranger, and ran it at full throttle for about half of the time. We still got over 8 miles, and several miles left.

Time to charge? A couple of hours should bring it back up to full. I would go a mile to two at Powell (so I could receive the WSJ daily). Pluged back in when returned to the boat. Mid morning it was charged.

We have a 3.5 hp 2 stroke Merc, and have rarely used it since we got the Torqeedo. We could spend most of the day photographing wildlife from the inflatable at Hontoon, and still have well over half of the charge left. Granted that is going very slow. The 3.5 Merc will go faster, as well as further--but then you have the mix of oil, gas etc. Weight is about the same, but it is in one piece, rather than the 3 pieces of the electric.
 
Tom, so to you 20% equals about 2 hours charge time, I'm still not getting from the boat show guys or anyone what a long trip is, I wonder what distance we could go with the Torqeedo compared to using most of a tank in the 2.5 and how much charge that would use. Any more than 4-5 hours of charge every other day at anchor on my solar would probably not work out for our away from the dock trips. (20 Amps plus solar available)

Bob I see your post after originally posting this one, thanks, it gives me a better "feel". It's sounding more feasible on a 2 week cruise away from the dock power.
 
The Travel 1003 C (extended range) gives a range of 35 Statute Miles at 2 mph, 18 miles at 3 mph and 5 miles at 5 mph. The standard 1003, has a range of 20 at 2 mph 10 and at 3 mph of 2.8 miles.

There is a newer 1103C, which gives a range of 40 miles at 2 mph. I would spring the extra dollars for that, if buying new.

It is possible to upgrade the original 1003 to the larger battery, and get that extra distance.
 
Forfun1960":2p8y17ko said:
I have the 8' Alaskan Series dingy, based on that would you still suggest the 1003CS over the smaller 503 or standard 1003?
Click to expand...

It would depend on what you want to do. For us, taking dogs ashore 3 to 5 Times a day, the standard 1003 has worked well. The only time we pushed the range was that emergency. If I was doing AK, however, I probably would have gone with the larger battery, or newer motor if it was available.

The question you have to ask is the longer range, and faster speed, worth the extra $500 to $1000? All of these inflatables are going to be 3 to 4 knot boats.
Unless you have 5 + hp and an air floor, or inflatable keel, you will not slow plane the boats.

The 1003 is about $300 more than the 503, has 2x more power and a bigger battery with slightly longer range. I also have used the 1003 as a get home kicker for both the caracal and C Dory 22/25 (slowly--really get to a safe place). The only longer trip was in the caracal 18' catamaran, and it worked fine, all be it slow.
If you go another $500 to $700 you get more range, and perhaps a very slight increase in speed--but without a had bottom, the latter is debatable.

In AK with larger boats we had a RIB and 25 HP--speed of about 25k knots and we went many miles exploring. The C Dory is your exploring boat--and the dinghy is the get to shore, crabbing/shrimping, exploring boat...low speed, and usually low range. There is about 7# difference in weight, and all are less than about 30#.

As for the actual amount of time charging--when we were at Lake Powell, I charged it during one of my 2x a day generator runs of about 90 to 120 minutes--but that was with the 110 v charger. The last few river trips we have used the 12 volt charger--and those were also less than 2 hours. I am sure that when I had run the battery down to about 20% it was a lot more time--probably 10 to 12 hours? The newer motors (after 2015) charge in about half the time from the 110 V AC charger. I don't know if they are any faster from 12 volts.
 
I have had so much trouble with the tiny jets in the new small eco outboards that, with Bob's illuminating experience, the Torqeedo is looking better and better.
I finally sold a 3.5 Mercury 4 stroke that I pulled the carb apart so many times that I needed a new carb just from so many times apart. I am curious to see how our 2.5 Suzuki does over the winter. Unfortunately we will be back to late for the SF boat show and good outboard deals if we end up wanting a Torqeedo.
 
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