What's new

Outboard Motor or Paddle?

M

marthasvineyard

New Member
Just got our 14.2 in the water today and had a fantastic sail on Lake Pleasant in Arizona. We got fairly far from the launch ramp and the wind started to die. If the wind had completely died, we would have had a LONG paddle back so I am considering a Minkota electric trolling motor. Hate to add the weight of a car battery to the boat...any suggestions?
 
kdub

kdub

Member
Someone mentioned something about making ore-locks out of old jib-cars. I thought that was a great idea and would like to see some pics or try something like that myself.
 
I

iowapuddles

New Member
I got the 1003L . Should be no problem to hit hull speed (for about 30 minutes) or putter around at a couple knots all day long.

I like not having to lug around the marine batteries. I was actually wavering between this and an air cooled honda outboard (2HP). The torqeedo and air cooled honda are both significantly lighter than a standard trolling motor and battery.

The problem is the torqeedo is 2x the price of the outboard :eek:

For me its worth it, especially if the wife is out on the boat with the kids. No need to fuss around getting an outboard started. A little off topic, but I chartered a boat with a 2hp honda (J/24) and it was a difficult to start engine. not sure if it was that one, or all of them.
 
sjkarch

sjkarch

New Member
They look really nice. Great idea. I was in the same boat with not wanting to deal with gas. Do they swing up and out of the way when sailing? Again let me know how it goes.
 
S

skyfree

New Member
I definitely wouldn't trade my 27-pound Honda 2HP 4-stroke motor for a lead acid battery, electric motor, cables, and necessity to charge. WAY too much clutter/weight/modification/and work.
 
I

iowapuddles

New Member
according to the OP, if the only issue is weight, the honda 2HP is about the lightest option out there, and of course no worries about range, the internal gas tak holds plenty of fuel.

They are, however, pretty loud with quite a bit of vibration (I assume because of a lack of damping provided by the water jacket?). Doesn't take long to remember why my primary propulsion is wind.

I have a friend with a Rebel 16 and a trolling motor. On his, the battery (deep cycle marine) is up at the front of the boat with cables run to the back, helps with weight distribution, but I don't think that those copper cables are cheap. All the cabiling is hidden below deck and he has a couple brass bolts poking through near the transom to act as terminals to connect the motor. Nice thing about that setup is he doesn't have to hump around the battery for charging, just connect to the terminals once its back in the garage.

I'd recommend a trolling motor with the "digital" control (I forget Minkota's marketing term for this). If you don't have that, it uses the same amount of juice at quarter throttle as it does at full.

You can also buy litium batteries instead for lead acid that are basically the same size as car batteries. They have about the same capacity. I just bought one for a project at work building a portable data acquisition system. It weighs ~15 lbs and cost around $700 for 40 Ah. Helps to take care of the weight issue (lighter battery and lighter the wallet).

http://www.valence.com/
 
sjkarch

sjkarch

New Member
Julio,
Used some "L" brackets that use the same holes as the rubber mount and then moounted the bottom of the battery holder to the "L" bracket. Its easy to take on and off and works great. Stays completely ou of the way and there's no long wirring runs to the front of the boat.
 
G

gone4sailin

Member
Oarlocks on old jib cars

To answer Kdub's rqst (2nd in this thread) for pics and details on using an old jib car to set oars on:

It was cheap and easy and it works pretty well, having proved stout enough to row C14 (even swamped) straight into a 12 kt wind with a large passenger.

It's just a block of marine grade tropical wood (type unknown, I scrouged it from a marine lumber yard in Ft. Lauderdale) centered on the jib car facing and secured with 4 #10 and 1 #8 screws. I was quite glad that I had a cheapo drill press on this project since there are alot of perpendicular holes to be drilled at certain depth.

The oarlocks were a closeout item at West, and they had inserts which have since abandoned ship and I'll have to finagle some replacement for. I had 'em glued in but they were made of one of those plastics that nothing sticks to...

The downside: Although this places the oarlock in a good spot midway on the boat, reversing the cars outward means they are now at an ideal angle to snag lines, and they need to be that way to get the fulcrum suitably outboard. My one and only capsize was the result of a snag on one, which is now bent to a slightly upward angle (first pic). Bad bulu, but I got lucky and didn't rip out the jib track or otherwise damage things.

Also, as you can tell from the pic, my 8'4" length oars sometimes make contact and have left some ruff on the gunwale. Longer oars could be rowed on gentler angle, but mine collapse into two sections that are as long as will possibly fit in the front cuddy of my Mod One. Good collapsible oars are not cheap, and the freeboard on the C14 means that oars of 9'6" would be about ideal if I remember my figuring right.

One of my goals in working this up was to avoid additional holes in the boat, but now that I know that rowing works I think I will remove this and replace with the kind of oarlocks that are inserted right into the deck -- maybe with a removable block so that I can get some elevation right at the edge. I found rowing to be enjoyable and not particularly tiring.

The third pic is of my Florida volunteer pest control patrol who was hunting under the tarp when I lifted it for the pics -- ain't she a cutey?? :p
 

Attachments

kdub

kdub

Member
Thanks for posting the pics. I'll bet that the boat moves nicely with two paddles working. I have had to row mine quite a long way (with passengers) with just one paddle by sitting out on the bow and alternating sides, clumsy work for me, but work with a surprisingly efficient result. This is the method that I used to get out of the harbor before I bought my old Evinrude Lightwin. With the oarlocks I would imagine that the boat can move quite swiftly, one last question, where do you post yourself up at while rowing?
 
A

Allatoona

Member
Electric trolling motor

I bought the smallest/cheapest Minkota electric trolling motor. I sail on Ga lakes and along the Gulf Coast of Florida. I always keep a small paddle in the boat to get in/out of the marina on the lake, I used to keep my longer kayak paddle in the boat but would get in the way. Now I use a telescoping paddle that hide away easily when not in use.

I've done some racing on the lakes and used a small lawn tractor battery for the trolling motor. It worked fine for about 45 minutes or so. I only used the motor/battery once. I don't have a motor mount, so the mainsheet tangled around the motor once and slowed me down during the race. Otherwise it worked fine. It was not very fast with the small motor/battery combination, but it worked for what I needed.

I always trailer my boat, so I sail off from boat ramps. Only once I was out when the wind died completely. I was about 1 mile out and paddled in, it was pretty easy to paddle in. It was a whole lot better than sitting on the sofa watching TV at home.

-Robert
1989 Catalina Capri 14.2
1984 Catalina 22
 
S

Solarfry

Member
skyfree said:
I definitely wouldn't trade my 27-pound Honda 2HP 4-stroke motor for a lead acid battery, electric motor, cables, and necessity to charge. WAY too much clutter/weight/modification/and work.
Click to expand...
It's night and day the difference. Less weight, cables, no battery charging or storing and It moves boat at idle faster than a Minn Kota 55# thrust. BTDT. It also does not die on you half way there. Just make sure to stabilize fuel and crank it at least once every 3 mos.

To get any kinda range on the Minn Kota you need the series 29 180/200 reserve capacity battery at 55#. Add the 30# from motor and the cables and it's a pita.

I have the 3.5 Nissan 4 stroke. Love it. I do wish I had the 2stroke version it ran a heck of a lot smoother.

I have the Minn Kota in garage.

You can't fight reality with wishful thinking.
 
J

JGM

Member
Solarfry said:
It's night and day the difference...

snip

You can't fight reality with wishful thinking.
Click to expand...
I love my Minn Kota. It's almost as quiet as sailing, doesn't stink up the air with foul oil and gas fumes, and more importantly, doesn't pour money into the pockets of crazy people we have to be nice to for their fossil fuels. With the up-front savings between electric and gas, you can essentially travel for free. And talk about reliability, how many of you guys have spent hours trying to get a recalcitrant small gas engine to start. Groan....

Hands down, there simply isn't any comparison. ;)

Jim
 
S

skyfree

New Member
I just want to clarify some misconceptions about the Honda 2HP, because there is some info on this forum that suggests that it is expensive and can't be layed on it's side for transportation, which almost made me go the electric route initially.

You can lay it on it's side in the back of the truck/car -- it just has to be layed on a specific side. There is a very obvious sticker that shows you a picture of how to do it so you won't forget. Even if you do forget it doesn't seem to matter. Once when I capsized the motor was at a slightly upside-down position on the wrong side for over 30-minutes and it started right up when I righted the boat.

I bought my Honda 2HP for $450 off of Craigslist. It uses about 8oz of gas each time I use it. Honda says it has "World record fuel economy", but doesn't explain what that means. It has always started on the first or second pull and my 79-year old mother could do it. If I wanted to sell it I could get what I paid for it easily, which would probably not be the case with a used electric motor, battery, cables, and battery box.
 
Indiana_Steve

Indiana_Steve

New Member
I use a Minkota (old) trolling motor and lead acid battery in a battery box that is fitted to the deck under the rudder. Works well. I don't see the concern about weight. Also carry paddles ...just in case.
 
G

gone4sailin

Member
Followup results: oarlocks on old jib cars

Hi all

After close inspection it looks like the old jib cars will not stand up to being used for oarlocks without some considerable strengthening of the two parts -- the "C" shaped part that fits over the t-track was starting to loosen from the wing. My 1987 Mod One had a single screw and two spot welds, but the welds were inadequate and the screw was really not doing much to hold things together.

I switched to three bolts upside down with nylocs nuts and washers on the outside two as shown in the included pic. The bolt heads had to be shaved to fit within the center depression and this meant one of the screws holding the rail has to go though an additional hole.

Haven't used it at all since then, so I cannot report on how well this will bear up. If I continue with this setup I will augment the bolts with some reinforcement and welding. Also seems advisable to keep jib car rail removal to a minimum as each causes wear, so it would need to be over-engineered to a margin of safety.

However, these puppies snag jib sheets way too frequently, bad bulu in a heavy air gybe, and I'd like to be able to experiment with moving the jib cleet back, so I think I will move the oarlocks down into the gunwale edge.

Alternate propulsion is a neccessity and I really like rowing, so until I figure out where and how to cut and get the courage put the wack to that lovely non-skid these will remain. But I have to rate this old jib car system a fail. :mad:
 

Attachments

You must log in or register to reply here.
Top