The Epropulsion Spirit XS - A Horse for our Course?

[Graham W]

I did 9nm with the eProp yesterday, mostly against the wind but with the ebbing tide.  At 400W for around 4kn of progress, I should normally have been left with about a third of a tank by the end.  However, I had the battery recharging on the go using the ebike battery and solar controller and ended with slightly under half a tank.  At anchor for an hour or so, I swapped the ebike battery for two 60W solar panels, which pushed the eProp battery back to over half charged.

The trip back under sail, against the ebb but with the wind, was much quicker.  Overtaking yachts struggling against the ebb was particularly satisfying.

Photos of the wiring and use attached below.  The first photo shows charging from the ebike battery while underway.  The controller is the light grey box back right.  The second photo shows lunch stop recharging with the solar panels.  The controller gets quite warm charging from the battery, probably because it is working at least twice as hard as with the panels.

[emf]

The table of watts consumption for various cruising speeds was helpful.  For comparison, does anyone know what the cruising speed is with a 6 hp outboard at full throttle?  ePropulsion also has a 6 hp electric, which is probably overkill for my needs (lakes, so no tides to fight), but I wonder whether the Spirit is undersized.

Just ordered a BRe, so there's lots of decisions to make on how to outfit her...

Thanks,
Eric

[Sea Simon]

Coincidentally, I had a bit of an "experiment" with my BRe and Honda 6hp over the past couple of days.
 Not  presenting this as scientific in any way...

Simply put, I found I was hard pushed to break the harbour 6 knot speed limit, even at full throttle and one person onboard. As measured by GPS, in counter directions up and down tide.

As expected, appx half throttle was producing about 4.5 mph, full throttle about 6, max.
Big tides at the moment, and the boat's bottom is not clean.

I would suggest that the above might be indicative of hull speed limitations?
I have a sail drive prop, and it seems plenty of poke left to account for loading and associated increased displacement?

I'd also suggest that the answer to your question is that a reasonable cruising speed is about 4.5/5 knots?

Added.
It would be the noise that would initially limit my speed, followed by the fuel consumption which would likely increase exponentially with speed, and so become an issue at over 5 mph?
I didn't perceive that wake would be a problem in our river, but that may just be that we have been so overrun with thoughtless motorboating "Covidimakers" that large wakes now seem to be normal!

[Graham W]

In my BR20, my old Mariner 6hp with Saildrive prop achieved similar top speeds to Simon, generating quite a lot of noise and a huge wake.  Throttling back to something less extreme still saw me pootling along at a respectable and relaxed 5kn.

If you’re mostly on lakes, an electric 6hp would be overkill and do serious damage to your wallet.  A 3hp electric ought to be sufficient, as long as you don’t need to get home at hull speed all the time.  Tides, adverse wind and short chop all conspire to reduce electric speed over ground.  A 6hp petrol outboard will shrug all these off but at the cost of noise, vibration, smell and, if you’re not careful, an unreliable carburettor.

[Ray S]

Yes, a 6Hp Eprop Navy would be lovely (jubbly) to have in a BRe but the cost would be some £4750 in total as the battery is not included in the base price of the motor and the battery weighs in at 32kg too.  So how would you take that home to charge?

Conversely the Eprop Spirit battery is only 9kg or so and easy to carry home for charging.  Much less unwanted weight in the back of the boat too.  I would add easy starting - on instant demand - to Graham's list.

But really the best thing of all is the ability in light weather or in a tight corner while sailing to just give a short 5 or 10 percent power boost to get from one patch of wind to the next or just a bit of impetus if the tide turns against.  Wouldn't dream of doing that with the old petrol which spoils the peace and enjoyment of sailing far too much...

[Graham W]

Ray’s mention of easy starting reminds me that if you or your crew are not careful, it’s possible to hit someone in the face when trying to start a petrol outboard.  Like me, you probably only ever do it once, after which crew are always instructed to take cover.

[Ray S]

My crew always knows when to take cover from flying elbows - needs no instruction - once was enough!

[johnguy]

Also as you get older outboards get harder to start. Must be the same rule that makes everything heavier each year you pass beyond 60.

I did like my torqueedo for the reasons Ray gives, but in the end I find a 6hp Yamaha more comforting when I'm out in the Bristol Channel. Next thing will be looking for an outboard with electric start....elbows no longer fly fast enough it seems.

[Graham W]

9nm yesterday against both wind (F3-4 apparent) and tide (1kn+), running at just over 400W for slightly less than 3 hours.  Ended with around a third of a tank remaining - without charging on the go from the ebike batteries, it would have been almost empty.

[MarkDarley]

I have converted to the three bladed prop and have not noticed a significant drop in performance and certainly find it far easier to tip up through the outboard well.

So far I have not only had good use out of it on "Pippin" when returning up river in foul wind and tide from Dartmouth, I have also been able to hang it on the back of my recently acquired used 8ft Walker Bay dinghy to get home from my mooring.  On Tuesday that was a quarter of a mile upwind in gusting 30 knots with a spring tide against me...that would not have been a pleasant row, and in fact in my old dinghy it would have been a long slog up the riverbank.

On that same day I broke my mizzen mast, and I found that motor sailing upriver at around 200 watts with double reefed main and jib was a breeze. 

I used to be a purist, but I can see I may be doing that more often in confined waters, foul tide and strong headwinds as the sun goes below the yardarm!

[Matthew P]

Has anyone experienced using an EP Carry https://www.electricpaddle.com/index.html ?

Good reviews at http://ptwatercraft.com/blog/?p=2909

It may not be powerful enough for a laden BR20 or bigger but has apparently been successful on Caledonia Yawls.

The EP Carry is available in the US for $1,600 but I've not seen it the UK.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Graham W]

Matthew,

Here’s another review of the EP, including a video https://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/ep-carry/.  Are you looking at this for your new self-build?

I couldn’t work out if the box on top of the outboard is just for the electric motor or also includes a reduction gearbox.  Possibly the latter, as the video shows that this outboard isn’t particularly quiet.  I see that it can be used in both fresh and sea water.

The more competition for Torqeedo the better!

[Peter Cockerton]

The availability of shear pins for the Spirit 1 is problematic it seems at the moment, I enquired with my supplier as soon as I took delivery of my engine for a spare pin only to be told that he doesn't stock them, never been asked for one and that the unit will stop if an obstruction by the prop is met.
I joined the Facebook page for the Epropulsion owners recently and a couple of owners have experienced pin breaks and have posted comments on difficulty with obtaining replacement pins.
One owner has posted that the Torqeedo  travel shaft pin is the same size so that may be an option to source. With comments from Epropulsion staff on the Facebook page hopefully this will prompt UK dealers to consider stocking this ridiculously cheap but important spare for their customers.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/epropulsionoutboard/

Peter C

Just got around to ordering a couple of “Drive Pins” as Epropulsion call them, they are 3mm x 26 mm part no 005-00051 (Torqeedo 1003 parts) but they fit the Spirit xs plus motors. BHG Marine Ltd £1.16 plus vat and delivery

Peter C

[Graham W]

Epropulsion have announced a new version of the Spirit, the EVO, with hydrogeneration from the propeller.  This is claimed to generate a modest 50W at 5 knots (200W at 8 knots).  Assuming that you could keep sailing at 5 knots all day, this would nearly fully charge the Plus battery.  Details are still a bit sketchy but it looks like Germany will be the first market for distribution.

[Sea Simon]

What is the cost, in terms of drag?