Going electric and taking control

D

DeltaDawg

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Sep 15, 2006
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My outboard is getting to be 7 years old and I have been wrestling with carborator problems this past year. After the boat being in the shop for a month, spending quiet a bit of money and not being able to get it to idle properly I am going electric and taking control. Last weekend was the clincher with 2 labs in the boat dissapointed that they couldn't go swiming because the motor wouldn't idle smooth enough to put it in gear.

I bought the Yamaha shop manual www.yamahapubs.com and have been studying it. I ordered a whole new carborator assembly complete with enrichment control ram (fancy name for an electric choke), extra O rings, rebuild kit and am working on it myself this weekend. Tonight I am buying a Craftsman 1/4 inch drive rachet, socket and torque wrench so I can torque that carborator back onto the intake manifold per the 8 newton - meter spec. It feels so good to be taking control of my own maintenance and that Yamaha shop manual is excellent, much better than the Clymer shop manual that I had. I also bought the Yamaha shop manual for the 50hp that has fuel injection that I am considering for the next boat I build.

I ordered the 6 guage marine wire, connectors, quick disconnects, crimpers so I could do a nice job on the electrical run to the existing dual battery switch. I am going to build a mahogony trolling motor mount and stainless steel bolt it onto the transom. The 50 pound thrust trolling motor that has been serving as a towel rack in the garage for 7 years is getting pressed into service as a backup. We may only be able to go 5 mph with the electric trolling motor but that is fast enough to take the dogs down Piper Slough to go swiming at Swing Beach if the outboard won't idle.
 
Shoot, why bother with the gas engine at all? I'd just go electric all they way.

Have you seen the Duffy electric boat with the cute blue bimini which is docked on Piper Slu west of SB? Really a cute boat! They cruise around BI with 6 people on board sometimes. I never have to be concerned that they will make a wake!
 
Flutterby, no I have not seen the Duffy I will look for it. I did read the article about Duffy in the recent BoatUS magazine and on the Duffy web site. Those boats use a golf cart motor; if I could get one of those Tesla motors and battery systems out of a salvage yard in a couple of years when I finish my next boat that would be hot. The Tesla electric car goes 0-60 in 4 seconds.

Have you heard of telephoning for cat fish? Skeeter an old guy that I worked with at Boeing 30 years ago told me you hook up a hand crank telephone generator with one lead on the aluminum boat hull and throw the other lead out there turn the crank and it works on their skin. You get several burlap bags of fish, then the warden confiscates your generator. I was a young engineer then and the old timers use to pull my chain so I never knew if that was a real story.
 
I got my carb parts and tools yesterday. I glued up a Mahog outboard bracket and am going to trim it up and plane it today. The elec wiring and connectors are still in transit from Cabelas so I will bring the boat home and do all the work next weekend. I am so looking forward to having the electric trolling motor backup. I will really have a belt and suspenders then because I have my Boat US Freshwater Unlimited card too.

UpperDecker, I read the article and watched the U tube video; that was obviously not filmed in California Cal-OSHA would require safety straps and hand rails for noodling; telephoning for catfish seems easier and safer than noodling. No fishing of any kind for me right now until I get the boat operational again. DD
 
I studied the Yamaha shop manual, had a new carb, rebuild kit, new fuel line, extra O rings, metric ignition wrenches and was eager to go to work. I got the boat home and started and it ran rough, started it a couple more times and it started running good. I ran it a couple more times and it seems to be working now, so I am not tearing into it now, but am ready for the next time and I am tooled up and "book learned" for when it needs me and I won't be at the mercy of a marine shop.

I got the trolling motor mounted. I need to run the electrical feeder today from the battery switch. I like those 6 gauge quick disconnects from Cabelas but I had to solder them rather than crimping them. I have a backup motor now and the fuel comes from the outlet in dry storage. That little motor will take us nicely down to Swing Beach and back.

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Here's a picture of the patient crew watching me work on the boat and eager to go swiming everytime I start the motor.

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I wonder if the cause of your problem was fuel related and has now cleared? Let's hope so! That little motor is perfect for tooling around Piper Slu! Great job...... You've got the best advisors a man could ask for..... great looking dogs!
 
Flutterby, yes the dogs are great advisors and companions. I don't think it was bad fuel, I emptied the tank in June and filled it up with a full 6.2 gallons at Costco where the turnover is high. It could have been a tiny particle of debris in the idle jet from when the marine shop previously had the carb apart. Oh well it is running now and I am tooled up and ready to work on it when it needs me.

I like being flex-fuel now. I couldn't help but run out some numbers. I have two 85 amp hour batteries on board 12 volts times 85 amp hours equals 1.02 kw hours times 13 cents per kw hour times 2 batteries equals 26 cents call it a quarter. So for a quarter we can go 4 hours at 50 pounds of thrust which should push the boat hull speed 1.34 times sqrt of length of water line 14 feet equals 5 knots equals 6 mph.

The gas engine's range is 6 gallons times 10 miles per gallon equals 60 miles at 26 mph; the gas costs $4/gallon.

I am thinking about the Lenco trolling system to compliment the Yamaha 50 hp fuel injected outboard for the 18 foot outboard cruiser I am getting ready to build so it can be flex fuel too.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...arentType=index&parentId=cat601107&id=0053915
Do you know anyone with a Lenco trolling system? DD
 
I'd never heard of such a thing until you posted that link! What a clever idea......but I'd want to talk to someone who has used it prior to spending the money on it. Or get a test drive from a dealer, etc. I'd be curious to know if those tiny props will push the boat satisfactorily? If you have an opportunity to test drive one, please post your impressions......

You probably should take the dogs' weight and movement on the boat before deciding whether or not to invest in the Lenco system....... [:-bonc01][:-bonc01][:-bonc01]
 
The Minn Kota electric trolling motors push a boat at 5 mph, this is mostly a function of prop slip while under hull speed. A heavier boat is going to take a little longer to get up to 5 mph. To get a flat bottom hull up on plane and at 22 mph takes a gross weight divided by horsepower (GW/HP) ratio of 50; 46 mph requires a GW/HP ratio of 14. The gross weight of my next boat with the labs and me is going to be 1500 pounds so with the Lenco system (about 2 horsepower) it would have a GW/HP ratio of 750 no where near the 50 needed to plane; it will push the boat at 5 mph. I will be spending 1 cent per mile on electricity versus 40 cents per mile on gas at $4/gallon. I like going slow sometimes and I love having flex fuel and a backup.

In the photo above of the dogs in the garage those are the ribs, transom and bow stem for my next boat against the wall in the background. As you can see from the geometry of the ribs the next boat is going to have a vee bottom; it will have a smother ride than our current flat bottom dory.
 
After Googling Lenco systems and checking some posts there are a few out there that have had reliability problems with the Lenco Troll and Tabs. I don't need a backup electric motor that is unreliable so it looks like I will stay with Minn Kotas' product line. Maybe I'll put a bow mount on the 18 foot outboard cruiser I am building. I'll check the drawings and see if a 60 inch will be long enough and I can strengthen the deck with some extra mahogony stringers and epoxy putty fillets with biaxial fiberglass cloth (60 inch equals 5 feet at 55 pounds of thrust that's 275 foot pounds of torque). Since she is not yet built I have lots of options.
 
We topped out at 3 mph with the trolling motor.

I will take wire brushes and emery cloth next time I go to the boat to clean all of the electrical connections. I noticed the trim/tilt and starter were intermittent I think because I need to clean the connections. The gas outboard runs good now, no problems with the carb this outing.

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Flutterby, I saw that electric Duffy boat yesterday, it went right by us with 4 people on board. DD
 
Isn't she cute???? I was going to go over to Swing Beach [aka swingless beach now that the rope tree has fallen] on Sunday to see if you were there, but a fire to the west had a lot of smoke blowing my way. Being asthmatic, I chose to quickly pack up and go home. Not much "playtime" for me this weekend, but I did have a pleasant dinner onboard my neighbor's boat Saturday night.
 
Flutterby, yes the Duffy electric is cute. Remember the picture you took of the Tiki I gave Bill Wells? Well after leaving them bare wood, stain and varnish, danish rubbing oil, I am now using art markers and 3 coats of spar urathane to make them shiny do you like them?
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That's a mermaid that I am going to start soon and my Foredom flex shaft carving tool in the background. I think that I will walk up to the Tonga Room at the Fairmont some lunch hour this week to get some ideas on Tiki colors. I usally walk down by the fireboats on the Embarcadero, did you know fireboat Guardian is in dry dock? DD
 
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