Electric outboard on 18/19ft cruisers? Anyone have any tips?

[BilgePump]

2 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Does that mean that if you carry oars as well you can't get the discount?

I've got a long rope. At least bowhauling isn't propelling

[ditchcrawler]

How about twin motors if you need a bit more push

How about twin motors if you need a bit more push. There was a chap bumbling round with 2 on the back of a steel narrowboat

[magpie patrick]

34 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

The conditions for licence rebate do not actually say that :

 

Extract from the licencing T&Cs

 

Electric Motor 25% discount if the Boat has an electric motor as its sole means of propulsion.

Odana, lapsed member of this forum, fitted an electric outboard to a boat that was never going to move, because if the boat had no engine at all the full rate was payable, but with an electric outboard the discount was available. 

The boat was used as an office and spare bedroom - a very comfortable spare bedroom having stayed with them once or twice

[Mad Harold]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

How about twin motors if you need a bit more push

How about twin motors if you need a bit more push. There was a chap bumbling round with 2 on the back of a steel narrowboat

Sounds sensible.They are light enough to simply clamp a second motor on the transom when on a river, providing there is enough space.

[David Mack]

47 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

Odana, lapsed member of this forum, fitted an electric outboard to a boat that was never going to move, because if the boat had no engine at all the full rate was payable, but with an electric outboard the discount was available. 

I've heard of owners of full length butties doing the same, even though a 40lb thrust trolling motor is never going to propel a full length boat at even minimal speed.

[ditchcrawler]

I have no idea how well it performed 

[BilgePump]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

I have no idea how well it performed 

I imagine that it puts a whole new twist on 'move a mile every 14 days' when it takes that long to cover the distance. And probably as much use as a feather anchor at stopping it. But if that, a pole, a rope and a broken inboard diesel are all you've got then at least on a sheltered narrow canal it should be possible to get the boat moved the bare minimum.

[BilgePump]

't's a while since I updated this thread (we were only emerging from lockdown at the last post) so I thought I'd give a brief update.

 

The electric outboard still hasn't made it anywhere near the boat on the canal but I have tried it out on the boat that it came with.

 

Actual specs, converted into what we understand, showed how poorly they compare to a petrol outboard. At 350W it is just about 0.5hp so it's certainly sub-featherweight, even for dinghy outboards. For comparison, it's a similarly light weight as the last of the 3.3hp mariner/mercury 2 strokes, which still seem to be very popular, and have oodles more power.

 

The 17' sailing boat has two bilge keels that the cruiser on the canal doesn't. Both boats come in around the same weight of 600kg. I suspect the Shetland with a much reduced draft on the canal would get caught by the wind worse than the sailing boat did with its sails down.

 

I only went up and down the creek to move boats around, no way would I have gone out onto the river without a petrol outboard, but even so, and even with only very light breezes, the motor just didn't have the power to make it feel as though you were fully in control of a situation. It took a combination of motor, wind and pole to pick up mooring lines to get into the mooring one day.

 

They are very thirsty electron juice wise. I was running off either an 85Ah leisure battery or a 120Ah Landy battery, both in reasonably good condition, but an hour of use was about as much as I wanted to risk on each, and for most movements half power was enough to move the boat forward at a leisurely pace. Even this lowish thrust motor was still drawing about 30 amps I guess on high setting.

 

One problem that I have encountered, specific to my motor, is that it has always been used on a sailing boat with independent rudder and tiller. It's always been fixed in one position so the shaft is completely seized in the transom mount. WD40, silicone, mallet etc haven't worked to free it. One of the reasons I haven't tried it on the canal.

 

However, all this doomsaying doesn't mean that it's not viable under certain circumstances. I don't move frequently and I don't move far, boat on narrow canal sits on mooring or cruise maybe twelve miles in one direction and then back. I can cycle between locations for car, transport batteries from land home charging, happy to leave boat away from home mooring etc. The mighty half horsepower will be enough to propel the boat in calm conditions. Stopping on a sixpence when fifteen tons of steel comes round a narrow bend or hitting hard astern may prove a bit more challenging. The pros are obviously a cleaner, safer and cheaper fuel, near silent propulsion and the relatively cheap cost of each component, batteries under £100 each, motors from £150. The motors, being simple, are connect and go and the better makes have a reasonable reputation for longevity. 

 

An aforementioned idea of twin motors seems a good one, especially given the lack of a powerhead, two on the back would be possible.. With twin engines, one fwd and one astern, comes great manoueverability. Heck, that would be reaching the dizzying heights of more than 1hp.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

28 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

One problem that I have encountered, specific to my motor, is that it has always been used on a sailing boat with independent rudder and tiller. It's always been fixed in one position so the shaft is completely seized in the transom mount. WD40, silicone, mallet etc haven't worked to free it. One of the reasons I haven't tried it on the canal.

 

 

A lot of people are under the misaprehension that WD40 is an 'oil' or lubricant - it isn't.

A company I used to work for had an equivalent (and much stronger and more effective) spray which I used on my Trials Bike and it kept the petrol engine running whilst wading rivers.

 

WD40 was the 40th 'recipe' used when developing a 'Water Dispersant'.

It was (for example) used by BT to disperse water in cable junction boxes. Open the lid, squirt the components and conductivity was restored.

 

If you want to 'free off' something siezed then WD40 is a waste of time, buy some proper penetrating oil and allow it to soak for (could be days) giving it another drip or two every few hours.

[BilgePump]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

A lot of people are under the misaprehension that WD40 is an 'oil' or lubricant - it isn't.

A company I used to work for had an equivalent (and much stronger and more effective) spray which I used on my Trials Bike and it kept the petrol engine running whilst wading rivers.

 

WD40 was the 40th 'recipe' used when developing a 'Water Dispersant'.

It was (for example) used by BT to disperse water in cable junction boxes. Open the lid, squirt the components and conductivity was restored.

 

If you want to 'free off' something siezed then WD40 is a waste of time, buy some proper penetrating oil and allow it to soak for (could be days) giving it another drip or two every few hours.

Was one of the old ones called Eezit? Basically graphite in oil and slippy as a snake. Have a bit left in an ancient tin in the shed.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

Was one of the old ones called Eezit? Basically graphite in oil and slippy as a snake. Have a bit left in an ancient tin in the shed.

 

 

Eezit was / is a penetrating oil rather than a Water-Dipersent.

Eezits main constituent is desulpherised Kerosene (Domestic Central Heating oil) but diesel or petrol will do just as well. Am not aware of any Graphite being incorporated.

[David Mack]

I have eased stuff off in the past by alternately dripping in diesel and engine oil - diesel because it seeks its way into the smallest of gaps and oil to help lubricate once the parts start moving. And on a boat, you usually have both to hand.

[Mad Harold]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

I have eased stuff off in the past by alternately dripping in diesel and engine oil - diesel because it seeks its way into the smallest of gaps and oil to help lubricate once the parts start moving. And on a boat, you usually have both to hand.

Have found the best stuff is Plusgas.

[peterboat]

9 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

Have found the best stuff is Plusgas.

In the garage it's the first choice, turbo nuts etc. Nearly always works, we used to use crafty rostoff by wurth, but they changed the recipe 😟 so plusgas was the next best stuff

[Alan de Enfield]

13 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

Have found the best stuff is Plusgas.

 

Which is simply aerosol Kerosene - check the cosh data sheets.

 

~90% Kerosene

8% Mineral Oil

2-3% Carbon Dioxide (propellant)

 

Just use diesel or petrol - why pay for someone to put it in a can.

[George and Dragon]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

If you want to 'free off' something siezed then WD40 is a waste of time, buy some proper penetrating oil and allow it to soak for (could be days) giving it another drip or two every few hours.

 

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

I have eased stuff off in the past by alternately dripping in diesel and engine oil - diesel because it seeks its way into the smallest of gaps and oil to help lubricate once the parts start moving. And on a boat, you usually have both to hand.

Diesel seems pretty good and also prevents steel from rusting

[David Mack]

18 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Which is simply aerosol Kerosene - check the cosh data sheets.

 

~90% Kerosene

8% Mineral Oil

2-3% Carbon Dioxide (propellant)

 

Just use diesel or petrol - why pay for someone to put it in a can.

Not much different from my diesel and engine oil!

[ditchcrawler]

6 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

  3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

If you want to 'free off' something siezed then WD40 is a waste of time, buy some proper penetrating oil and allow it to soak for (could be days) giving it another drip or two every few hours.

 

  2 hours ago, David Mack said:

I have eased stuff off in the past by alternately dripping in diesel and engine oil - diesel because it seeks its way into the smallest of gaps and oil to help lubricate once the parts start moving. And on a boat, you usually have both to hand.

Diesel seems pretty good and also prevents steel from rusting

Dom on the Repair Shop on TV  recommends

 

 1 If an old tool hasn’t been used for a long time and has seized up, soak it in a mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid for a few days to free up the internal mechanism.

[Alan de Enfield]

24 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Dom on the Repair Shop on TV  recommends

 

 1 If an old tool hasn’t been used for a long time and has seized up, soak it in a mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid for a few days to free up the internal mechanism.

 

 

 Would it 'burn' or just 'tingle' and feel cold as it evaporated ?

I wonder if that could replace the 'little blue pill' (as advertised on TV)

[magnetman]

One option for freeing small things up is to put in a bowl of diesel or paraffin fixed to the top of a running diesel engine. 

 

Good vibrations. 

 

 

[Mad Harold]

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Which is simply aerosol Kerosene - check the cosh data sheets.

 

~90% Kerosene

8% Mineral Oil

2-3% Carbon Dioxide (propellant)

 

Just use diesel or petrol - why pay for someone to put it in a can.

I think there must be something else in Plusgas  as well.

It really does stink,but not like kero or oil.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

I think there must be something else in Plusgas  as well.

It really does stink,but not like kero or oil.

 

All ingredients must be given in the COSH data and it only states the 3 I quoted.

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Alan de Enfield