Hello All,
Just to let any of you that are tired of the noisy, smelly ugly
gasoline outboard hanging there at the transom of their beautiful
Typhoon, that a Minn-Kota electric trolling motor (24volt, 70lbs
thrust, the saltwater "riptide" model RT70/S) moves my Ty Weekender
as well as the gas outboard ever did.
Advantages: SILENT. No noise, no vibration. Instant-on
(no pulling, messing with the choke, etc). Easy
forward/reverse/steering. Fits in the cockpit locker
when not in use. Much less weight out back. Don't need to store
smelly and explosive gasoline on-board.
Disadvantages: Less power. Haven't tried it in any seaway yet,
but it's a sailboat, when there's wind, sail. The motor
is for when there is no wind, and you want to get home. Batteries
are big and heavy. But, if located correctly, they're just additional
ballast. Can't refuel just by filling up a gas tank, charging
batteries takes time. Capacity is at most 4 to 5 hours of
running time at full power. Haven't tried charging by
a solar panel yet.
Will post more details after running some tests, will measure
speed, actual power usage, etc.
The manufacturer of the motor is Johnson Worldwide Associates,
with a web site on http://www.jwa.com/ click on Minn-Kota.
I choose the highest thrust saltwater model they have, the RT-70S,
was about $500 at Outdoor World.
Since this is a 24 volt motor, any two 12-volt batteries in series
would work, I choose two Trojan 225amper-hour batteries, about $100
each, weigh about 60lbs each.
If anyone else has experimented with or is considering this
alternative to the gasoline outboard, I'd be happy to share
information.
Yanek.
yanek@martinson.com
Electric Typhoon!
Moderator: Jim Walsh