Electric Outboards

[kingthrob]

Has anyone used the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus electric outboard motor? Any thoughts on it?
I need to get a motor for my inflatable dinghy. I want use the dingy to play around with on the River as well as a tender. Looking for 3hp motor and these look promising.

 

[ak-guy]

I have been thinking about that same motor for our tender. I have a 3hp gas engine now. The newer version of the epropulsion motor has regenerative capability. We always tow our tender but I don't think I want to tow the dinghy with the engine down. Still it would charge at 100 watts at 6 knots. We have a small trawler and cruise at 5.5 or so.

 

[jeremy.st]

I have a friend with an ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 that likes it. It'a very quiet and similar power to a 3 HP gas outboard. On his 9' RIB with an inflatable floor it does about 4.5 knots.

 

[High Wire]

You can push an inflatable dinghy with a $120 MinnKota trolling motor. It won't plane off but it will run you to and from the anchorage dinghy dock reliably with a M24 deep cycle battery.

 

[rsn48]

I seriously looked at electric propulsion for my boat, singe engine. A close friend is a retired BC Ferries captain and I discussed electric, gas, and propane propulsion. The conclusion we came to was that although electric and propane would be suitable for dinghy use alone with my desire to use the motor as an emergency back up in case my main engine pooped out I would be better off with gas. Range would be a problem with electric when pushing my sedan cruiser along, propane would be an issue if my main source of propane had been used for other tasks. And in light of my dinghy motor being a back up motor, we both came to the conclusion that the highest horsepower the dinghy could legally handle would be the way to go. So in the end I got a 9.9 short shaft gas engine.

Epropulsion has a good reputation and the MinnKota trolling motor will get the job done if you aren't planning on traveling over any distances such as longer dinghy exploratory trips.

 

[DDW]

Do a search - there are several threads discussing this. I have an eProp Spirit 1 and I am happy with it. It will do about what a 2 hp will do, and do it much quieter. Without getting on plane, 1, 2, 3 hp will all push a small dinghy at its displacement speed.

 

[Aquabelle]

Has anyone used the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus electric outboard motor? Any thoughts on it?
I need to get a motor for my inflatable dinghy. I want use the dingy to play around with on the River as well as a tender. Looking for 3hp motor and these look promising.

I recently bought the eProp Spirit +, replacing a Torqeedo Travel 1003. I like the eProp very much and it is far superior to the Torqueedo Travel. I use it with my 3.2m (10'6") RIB. Though their thrust specs are near-identical, in practice the eProp is significantly more powerful than the Torqeedo and compares to a 4 or 4.5 gas outboard. It is also much quieter (almost silent) and has a better (and serviceable) transom bracket and a much stronger tilt lock. I've had it long enough now to give it a pretty good workout and range is excellent. I have not had any of the disabling Error Messages that the Torqeedo Travel is notorious for displaying.

 

[FF]

"You can push an inflatable dinghy with a $120 MinnKota trolling motor. It won't plane off but it will run you to and from the anchorage dinghy dock reliably with a M24 deep cycle battery."


The trolling motors will push faster than an inflatable can be rowed , and can frequently be found on Craigs List so not much investment would be required to see if electric is for you.

 

[Arc]

I went with EP Carry. Fantastic design and battery is not proprietary.

 

[jeremy.st]

The EP Carry is great and probably priced similar to a salt water rated trolling motor. The EP Carry uses a 24v 10 ah battery from K2 Energy.

If using a trolling motor a similar lithium could work. Most of my trips are a few hundred yards to the share, I guess I could row, and something like the battery below would work. A 12v 18 AH for just under $200.

https://dakotalithium.com/product/d...h-18-amp-hour-lifepo4-iron-phosphate-battery/