8 Pound motor for slow, small dinghies

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Chuck Gould

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
131
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Dear Prudence
Vessel Make
Eagle 40
I saw this at the Boat Show. I'm tired of hauling gasoline around on my diesel boat, merely to run the outboard motor on the dinghy. The propane motors look like a good option if somebody wants higher HP. For our 9-foot Glas Ply shoreboat, that we're happy to run just about as fast as a person could casually row, this looks like a possible solution. The battery weighs another 8 pounds, and the motor is supposed to run about 2 hours at full throttle. Our dinghy runs are typically very short, just from a mooring buoy to the beach or dinghy dock.

The propane option is attractive as well, but I don't think I need that much power and this little electric sells for about half what I remember seeing the propane motors priced.


 
What's the difference between this and a trolling motor? Really? I have actually had to use my trolling motor to get back to the marina when my outdrive went out!! When I was younger we used a Sears electric trolling motor to power our Jon boat on the lake. Jolly Time
 
Cruisers usually find that after a few times of having the wrong dingy...go bigger and more powerful (to a point)...the first time you try to row/electric motor a kedge out....is usually one of the last.

For many cruisers it may be fine...but it's not for a lot more.
 
We originally thought that we could row ourselves anywhere we needed to go, even after we added the Livingston to the boat. And this worked okay for about a year.

Then one day while rowing to shore at one of the islands in the San Juan's (Patos) we got caught in the ebbing current that was flowing out through a passage in the bay we were in. Not a super strong current, but strong enough that hard rowing was barely enough to hold position.

It was not a dangerous situation- if we had been swept out the short pass we could have rowed around to the main entrance or gone ashore to wait for the current to change. As it was I was able to row out of it but was pretty exhausted by the time I did so. And this was some 13 years ago-- I haven't been getting younger or stronger since then.

But that evening back on the boat it got us thinking that if we were ever in a situation where getting somewhere against a current, which around here can easily be three, four, even five knots in the open bodies of water, and much higher in the narrow passes and channels, and it was really important that we be able to get to where we wanted to go, we'd be screwed if rowing or even some little lightweight outboard motor was our only motive power.

So we went out and bought a 4-horse, 4-cycle Yamaha for the Livingston. It has served us very well the last 12 or 13 years. We would have gotten a more powerful motor like six or eight horsepower but we wanted to keep the weight down as low as possible.

When we are able to make longer and more far-ranging trips we'll get a 10' Bullfrog and 15 hp motor. This is practical to make runs from an anchorage several miles to a town or harbor at a decent rate of speed even in choppy water where our low powered, low freeboard Livingston is not.

But regardless of how one uses their dinghy, having the ability to get somewhere against whatever kinds of currents one thinks they might encounter is very important, I think.
 
But regardless of how one uses their dinghy, having the ability to get somewhere against whatever kinds of currents one thinks they might encounter is very important,


Agree , but the amount of "stuff" required for a powered dink removes lots of room IN the dink.

Oars are never out of fuel, and on our brand of dink ,( Grumman Aluminum) two rowers can work two sets of oars at the same time doubling the rowers power.

Distance (over 2 miles) is handled with sails , tho sails do take room when lowered and loading/unloading stores.

The worst is the condom dink that realistically can not be rowed, and must be powered.
 
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Cruisers usually find that after a few times of having the wrong dingy...go bigger and more powerful (to a point)...the first time you try to row/electric motor a kedge out....is usually one of the last.

For many cruisers it may be fine...but it's not for a lot more.

I have to agree...the biggest fastest dink that you can lift/store is what we like. Although I do carry a spare outboard (2.5 hp) I would consider something else with low power.
 
Just get good weed-whacker, gas or electric and put a prop on the end.
 

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