ELECTRIC AVENUE
Phil Sampson is enjoying zero-emissions boating following the purchase of an electric outboard for his dinghy
Our indecision about whether to buy a dinghy has been going on for some time. In the end, we opted for a 2.3m O2 Lite and rapidly discovered it was so easy to handle that we were left wondering whether the outboard we had on order was really necessary.
The answer, of course, is that it’s not – there’s no reason why either my wife or me, or anyone else who travels with us, shouldn’t pick up the oars. But, hey, this is about a boat – which a broker once told me stands for Bring On Another Thousand. So, on the basis it’s only money, we took the plunge anyway. Having no prior experience of outboards, I set about researching the market. In practice, this amounted to a fruitless Google search and chatting to other owners about their engines.
First of all, there was Peter. An experienced sailor with a sizeable dinghy dangling off the back of his boat and an equally large outboard to match, his was a hefty looking power unit indeed. I’m not sure what make it was, but he managed to drop it over the side while struggling to fit it to his tender. “I wasn’t going to let go of the bloody thing – far too expensive,” said Peter, so over he went with it!
The owner of a far smaller yacht invested in a mini solar-powered engine. He tested it out on short trip along the Hamble to our local pub, the Jolly Sailor. We didn’t see him again. The following morning I caught him stomping back towards the chandlery in our boatyard, from whence the engine had come, with it and its solar panel under his arm. “Did 100 yards, then it packed up – flat as a pancake,” he snapped. “I had to row home, I’m not happy.”
My third encounter was with Rick, who I found on the pontoon fiddling around with his Honda outboard, ably assisted by his pal Phil. Rick’s motor had developed a splutter, so I joined
The motor is eerily silent and we glide along at anything up to five knots
in to try to help work out what the problem was. I quickly discovered that like Peter’s, Rick’s outboard was a heavy lump. It eventually transpired that a tiny screw had sheared off inside the carburettor housing, a common problem Rick later discovered, for which the only fix was a replacement carb. His engine was also due a service. The costs were mounting, so Rick decided to buy a new engine instead.
None of these experiences filled me with enthusiasm. I didn’t want anything too heavy, reliability issues were a concern, and the thought of carrying around a motor filled with smelly oil and petrol filled me with dread. So my attention turned to the new generation of electric motors on the market today.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS
We checked out two models; the Torqeedo 1003C and the e-propulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus. On the basis that we had heard it was quieter and everyone we asked spoke highly of it, we found ourselves leaning towards the latter.
A visit to our local dealer, Point Hamblebased Foldable RIB, verified our choice. A static demonstration confirmed just how quiet e-propulsion is. By comparison, the Torqeedo unit we viewed made an odd electrical whirring sound, similar to our local trains do when they’re pulling away.
In terms of features, the e-propulsion has everything you need. Its 1kw maintenancefree motor is powered by a 48V, 1,276W-hour Lithium-ion battery, which the manufacturer says equates roughly to a 3-horsepower petrol engine. The styling is decent enough and everything fits together well – the one exception being the plug connecting the battery to the control unit, which can be a bit fiddly.
Best of all, the control arm incorporates a clever digital readout telling you not only how much power you’re using, but how long you’ve got left to run – which at wide open throttle on a full charge is around an hour-and-a-quarter, rising to a maximum of ten hours at minimum speed. The range at “economical” speed is quoted as 22 miles, which is far further than we’re ever likely to go in a dinghy.
These figures, by the way, are manufacturer’s claims, not mine – we’ve not yet spent an hour-and-a-quarter in the dinghy yet, let alone ten hours, which I could only imagine doing if something had gone terribly wrong, such as having misread the Hamble tide tables and finding ourselves swept halfway to Cowes.
Once our order was placed, we had to wait a couple of months for the next container load of e-propulsions to land on our shores – such was the demand when we put our deposit down that the batch which had just arrived were all spoken for, as were half of the following consignment. When our engine did arrive, we were fortunate that our boat is located near Hamble Point, meaning we could pick it up ourselves.
By way of sea trials, a couple of exploratory dashes up and down our section of the Hamble were followed by a trip on our Fairline Targa 34 to the Isle of Wight, where we tied up on one of the Medina pontoons owned by the Folly pub – what better place to test an expensive and untried item of new technology?!
I am delighted to report that everything went swimmingly. The performance of our new outboard was everything we had been led to expect and once I had mastered the somewhat twitchy steering – due to the combination of a lightweight dinghy and a highly responsive engine, I would suggest – no problems were encountered.
Living with our new outboard is a pleasure.
Each of its two sections – battery and drive assembly – weigh around 10kg, so it’s very easy to handle. Two clamps attach the shaft to the dinghy in seconds, then the battery simply clips on top.
The motor is eerily silent, and we glide along at anything up to five knots, which is plenty fast enough for our lightweight dinghy. In terms of operation, I am completely sold on our new electric lump.
Ergonomically speaking, the only issue I have is that I tend to sit a fair way back in the dinghy, which puts me somewhat in the way of the rather long steering arm with its built-in control panel, resulting in a sharp dig in the ribs whenever I turn too quickly.
Apart from that, life’s great – we’re loving our new dinghy and outboard combination, and it’s true what they say: electric’s a gas!