Hi, Electric Folk.
(Er...Sorry. Didnt mean to invoke Steeleye Span....)
Paul;
Yes, I saw the Cirrus article ....and was impressed enough to contact
www.Bellman.nl - the manufacturers- to look at their range of motors.
It seems that a suitable motor for my boat would cost 3-4,000 Euros - gulp - then a dirty great Lithium battery would cost about the same. Then the prop and transmission - and then the charge controller ....and then....and then...
I was somewhat taken aback by the mounting cost and (foolishly) mentioned the Torqueedo being only (ONLY? Good Grief!) a thousand pounds.
This was the e-mailed response:-
“Our products you can’t compare with Torqueedo, with all respect, we are producing Propulsion systems to use every day, also professional.
So we don’t use Plastic and we don’t use a drilling machine motor with some plastic toothwheels to reduce the propeller speed.
Our motors producing Torque straight on the shaft and we are using Stainless steel and seawater resistant aluminum etc.
Again with all respect we are producing Propulsion systems in a complete other range.”
Ouch! Well, Im sure they are right, but this is early adopter money, innit. Unfortunately I dont have the cash to join this group...in fact wouldnt bother about electrics at all if my professionally serviced, petrol filtered, greased and pampered 4 stroke could be relied upon not to let me down at the crucial moment. (Who ever heard of a modern Yamaha, Suzuki or Honda car or motorcycle stuck at the side of the road because of a blocked carburetor jet? Whats the matter with these guys!) Use the things every day and they can be fine, perhaps, but the point is that we DONT. Used infrequently and they contravene the Sale of Goods Act. They are not fit for purpose!
If it turns out that I can only afford a glorified egg whisk over the stern, so be it......so long as the damn thing works when Im caught in a 3 knot tide with no wind!
Well. Thats got THAT off my chest!
Julian;
Yes, charging will be a big pain... and range is an issue... but wouldnt you rather have a reliable 10 nMiles (if, indeed, these electric systems ARE reliable) than to be caught out unexpectedly?
Terry;
Thanks for the
http://www.floveroutboard.co.uk/outboards.html link. £250 for a salt water 55lb thrust motor is certainly worth a look. Same as a 2hp petrol motor or the Torqueedo travel. (60 days to work it all out before VAT goes back up to 17%)
Has anyone seen these motors in action?
Cheers!
Tony