Hi, Folks.
Yes we're all in it for the sailing - but I DO like to use my reliable (touch wood )lightweight 4HP Yamaha, too. It gets the Four Sisters and I home at 6 knots against wind and tide when I am too hungry to muck about with short tacking. If I could have found a 2.5HP motor with a reverse gear (which I have ) and an alternator (which I dont ) I would have been a happy man.
Having said that, I think electric motors are INFINITELY superior. Quiet, robustly reliable, powerful and mechanically less complex. I have been really impressed with those I have seen in action. The only (BIG) problem is the batteries. They cost too much, they go flat too quickly and (even supposing you have somewhere handy to plug em in) they take too long to recharge. All fatal flaws as far as I am concerned. Even Lithium Ion batteries are Watt for Watt much heavier than the very few litres of petrol they can replace. Until someone makes a cheap, high wattage fuel cell, or perhaps a usable hybrid system with an on-board generator ......or arranges for a world wide modular battery exchange system (fat chance ) I fear trailer sailors are stuck with fossil fuels and all the sins that the internal combustion engine is heir to. If anyone can tell me something new on the subject I would be delighted to hear it.