... and to add some negatives, big ones:
1. The two-blade propeller is 40mm too long / wide for the width of the well bottom cutout. It regularly jams being pulled back up through the lamellae. Only solution is to cut 20 mm off both propeller tips, or to make fit the three-blade propeller of the Tohatsu 3.5.
2. When using the "Short" EPropulsion on my tender, I regularly collect weeds in the propeller. However, I cannot get at the propeller because it is just too far out from the stern of the dinghy. To de-weed I have to take the engine completely off the transom, de-weed it inside the boat, and then hang it back out.
and 3., the worst: All petrol outboards I ever had, from cheapest to most expensive, had an AUTOMATIC mechanism to allow the engine leg to kick up when hitting an underwater object while going forward. To protect the engine, and boat.
The EPropulsion -at double the price of most peer size petrol engine- hasn't one. The engine leg locks automatically into "Down" when lowered. You can MANUALLY release it, if you don't forget, but if you have released it, and forget to re-lock before going into reverse, the prop kicks up in reverse and hits the lamellae and well bottom cut-out. -- Damage.
-I really love battery-electric, on two- and four wheels, hand- and garden tools, all super. And I also have two EPropulsions (one S and one XS) because I wanted the noiselessness. The range is fine for me, but frankly I think these engines are not yet properly engineered enough to be wholeheartedly recommended to a friend. Better wait with your purchase, IMO they are bound to come up with better practical solutions soon, especially re an automatic leg kick-up mechanism. C.
P.S.
... and one necessary correction: It has been said above in this thread that the propeller is "free to spin" resp. "freewheeling" when left down during sailing.
Well, it may be wheeling or spinning, but certainly is not free in this. There is considerable resistance to spinning freely.
