Electric Dink???

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mariner36

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Joined
May 6, 2009
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31220
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I have a 36' foot Carver and currently have no tender or dink.

We would like to be able to carry something with us big enough for 2 people to use in an emergency. We also invisioned using it to take across the bay (a mile or two) for occasional dinners when we don't feel like moving the big boat.

I was thinking a small zodiak or something similar would work. We would like to carry it on the swim platform.

the ones around our marina are a ll gas powered, but I was hoping to avoid having extra fuel tanks around. So,...

I was wondering if an electric trolling motor would work well. A 12v transom mount motor puts out 55lb thrust. I don't if this is enough to push a Zodiak with 2 people. I also don't know how to relate the lbs thrust vs HP rating of the small outboards.

Maybe I am crazy, but it seems like dealing with an extra AGM battery would be easier than carrying a gas can.

Has anyone else tried this? Will it work?
 
all depends on how fast you want to go and how much weight your pushing. when the kids were small we did this with a 12', inflatable bottom, minni kota, and a 27 group battery. set it up and go, worked great every time. as the kids got older and bigger it got slower. it reached the point where the 5 of us had trouble against a good current. went and bought and used 9.9 yammy outboard which turned all of us into excellent rowers.

bottom line, the electric is simple, it works all the time unless you kill the battery. if you don't need/want to go fast, just want to take short trips from point a to point b or explore canals
it beats the outboard in setup and weight hands down. if you go the electric path make sure the system has some sort of battery gauge. i didn't have one and didn't like not knowing how much juice i had left. the motor would slow down as the battery discharged but i never knew what was left in the tank. if you stay on the boat for a few days at a time you will also have to devise a way to re-charge the battery from the ships charger.

another option might be a small 2 - 3 hp outboard. i've seen aircooled ones, pretty much a lawnmower motor, they weigh about the same as group 27 and have a small internal fuel tank.

hope this helps

edit reason: re-read your post and saw the line about the 1 - 2 mile dinner cruise. it will probably take you longer than the dinner to get there.
 
Have you looked at the Torpedo electric outboards? They seem to be much better design and quqlity than a trolling motor.

Cor
 
Thank you for the reply.

I do have a way to easily recharge the battery, and was planning on using two group 27 AGM's

Total passenger weight would be under 400 lbs. we don't need to go fast, but I was hoping for at least 5-10 mph.

I wonder how a 55lb thrust trolling motor would compare to a 2hp gasser in terms of speed and distance?

Here is a link to one with a 2hp for $1899.

http://inflatableboats.iboats.com/Z...latable_Boats/dm/store_id.370--view_id.668906

The same boat with two batteries and the electric would cost close to the same.

I wonder how they would compare in speed and range?
 
5 ot 10mph with a trolling motor on an small inflatable? i really doubt it.

dealing with the batteries will be as much of a PIA as dealing with a gas tank, even more since you have to worry about corrosion, the terminals getting wet, etc.. hard to secure in a small inflatable.

easiest thing woudl be a small OB with integral tank.. on the page you linked, there is a 2hp honda with integral tank... that's the best option in my opinion.

torqueedos are nice and appear well built, they have integral batteries but are not cheap...
 
Ditto what Pascal said. 5-10mph is NOT going to happen with an electric motor on a dink. The batteries required to give you any sort of range if it were possible to go that fast would sink the dink!
 
I used an electic trolling motor all summer to get to shore and back from the anchor. It is a 12v somewhere around the 55 lb thrust mark. 10 foot Boatus dinghy, inflatable bottom. It is a great setup for trips to shore and back of about 200 to 600 yards or so, can go all weekend on one 31 amp hour battery I bought that weighs only about 20 pounds.
On full power I would guess we are only going about 2 to 3 mph with 4 of us in it, a little faster it just me in it.
I would not even consider taking it a mile or two though. If there is any wind or waves against you there is a noticable decrease in speed.
If you want to go that far, certainly look at those small outboards.
My dinghy has the weaver davits, great setup. I can pull it upright and tie it up alone quite easily.
 
Thank you for the responses.

I have to admit I am a little disappointed. I though the electric would perform about the same as the 2hp gasser.

It seemed like if the electric can push an 18ft bass boat complete with two passengers and a 150hp outboard along at 3-5mph it would be able to push an 8ft zodiak pretty briskly.

I wonder how fast the above linked zodiac would be with the 2 hp engine?
 
I am in the process of looking for my first dinghy and had the same question. The information I have looked at leads me to believe that I am going to want a 8-10 hp gas motor for my application, 9-10 ft dinghy 2-3 adults plus large 100 lb dog.
 
Brad, I probably would be best served with that setup, but I hesitate to carry an outboard along with a separate fuel tank, both taking up space, when i don't plan on using it very often.

Is there a webapage which gives some performance numbers for these boats with the various hp outboards?
 
No way I would go electric. Even a used 2-stroke would be a better option. Batteries would be a total PIA as opposed to a small 1gal can of gas which is easy to store and replenish. If you are not looking to plane, a 2-4hp on a 6-8ft dink would be perfect for your needs.
 
I don't know of a website beacuse there are a lot of variables with motors(weight on board wind etc) Most of the conclusions I am coming to are from getting feedback from other folks around our marina. I too am looking to go lightweight with motor and was initially thinking maybe I could get by with 2-4HP, but am thinking it still may not get us around at the speeds I would like.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Big Bliss

the torqeedo electric motor can be had up to the equivalent of a 9.9HP outboard. Battery is built in and no hassle at all:

http://www.torqeedo.com/us/hn/home.html

Click to expand...


The battery is not built in from what I can see Dominic. In fact, the smaller model requires 2, 12Volt 200AH batteries to go 5 knots. Sounds like 2 8D sized batteries, about 160 pounds a piece.
 
BTW - thats the 5-6HP equivalent.

Remember, the OP was looking to go 5-10MPH.
 
Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

The torqeedo looks a bit over priced, and indeed the larger models seem to require massive battery power (lifting 2d's in out is beyond what I am willing to do.

10 mph is obviously not realistic.

I am suprised that 5 mph isn't the norm for the trolling motors.

I had a 55lb thrust minn kota on a 16' aluminum lowe jon boat and it seemed like we could goo about 5mph for 4-5hrs on a single group 29 battery wi th two adults an a whole lot of fishing gear back when we used to pond hop.

I guess I expected the liitle 8-10ft Zodiacs to perform equally if not better.

Has anyone else had achance to compare the performance of the trolling motors to the 2-2.5hp mini outboards?
 
quote:
Originally posted by mariner36

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

The torqeedo looks a bit over priced, and indeed the larger models seem to require massive battery power (lifting 2d's in out is beyond what I am willing to do.

10 mph is obviously not realistic.

I am suprised that 5 mph isn't the norm for the trolling motors.

I had a 55lb thrust minn kota on a 16' aluminum lowe jon boat and it seemed like we could goo about 5mph for 4-5hrs on a single group 29 battery wi th two adults an a whole lot of fishing gear back when we used to pond hop.

I guess I expected the liitle 8-10ft Zodiacs to perform equally if not better.

Has anyone else had achance to compare the performance of the trolling motors to the 2-2.5hp mini outboards?

Click to expand...


I've got a 9' inflatable from west marine. I bought a 2hp Honda engine and it pushes it around 5 to 6 MPH full throttle (no GPS). I bought a 45 lb thrust elec transom mount from Cabelas for 199.00 and it pushes it with me in it 3.6 MPH (with GPS).
If you want speed elec is not the ticket, but I spent a week on Lake Tahoe, and each morning I was in the inflatable with my coffee at sun up with beavers, ducks and even a bear swimming across in front of me in piece and quiet. PRICELESS........
 
Do you have a rail that you could mount an outboard on? They have rail mounts to hang small outboards on.
 
Like dvan, I have a Honda 2HP. It weighs in at around 27 lbs. The 1 quart gas tank lasts for 50-60 minutes at cruise setting. A small 2 gallon gas can will extend that endurance by about 7-8 hrs.

I have a 9.5 ft Achilles dingy with wooden floor and it hits 5 kts (5.75 mph) on GPS at WOT with the admiral and me on board (about 350 lbs).

The motor is simple to handle and store. The admiral can easily hoist it over the transom. It can lay on its side (handle up) without damage. The centrifugal clutch is a big hit since it doesn't dart off upon engine start or require engine shutdown approaching the docking point. There's no reverse but the handle/twist throttle design is ingenious. After a few minutes, you can turn the motor and swing the handle in such a way that you'll never think you'll never think about wanting a reverse gear. (I love simple solutions.) Since its air cooled, no worries about weeds affecting the engine cooling ot impeller maintenance. Combine the easy starting and Honda reliability, you've got a great option for affordable dingy power.
 
A 16' boat would actually be easier to push up to 5 mph than a 10' dink--5 mph is more than the hull speed of a 10' boat, a 16' boat has a hull speed of 4X1.4, or 5.6 mph, the 10' dink is 3.15(approx)X 1.4, or 4.4 mph. Usually the solution that everybody else is using is the best one, certainly if you are going to go more than a mile away from your boat, the electric motor won't be the way to go, you could end up a very unhappy camnper the day the battery gives out and you have to try to row, or worse, paddle, a mile against the wind (and maybe current, too).
 
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