Add steering to existing 9.9 kicker plus add electric for dinghy, or remove and use electric for both?

[DaveInRI]

Hi. I read enough posts about this subject to know such a decision will vary based on the individual, but wanted to ask if I’m being silly. Last summer I bought a 2005 22 cruiser which came with a 2019 Honda 90 and a similar vintage (haven’t actually checked the year to verify) Suzuki 9.9hp 4-stroke with its own onboard tank (gas cap on the motor; or hook-up an auxiliary) on a new adjustable bracket (Panther was the brand I think). I made sure to run it every few trips out and service it before winter, and test what it can and cannot do for me underway. I’d like to add a larger prop and one that’s 4-blade to get more torque, but even as-is it got the job done of moving the boat. The person I bought the boat from added this size for a “get home” motor due to concerns over health issues for his first mate— he wanted to get home every time, no chances. While I don’t presently have that concern, all of my boating is with my wife and two boys under 6 years old, so the ability to not just get out of harms way but get to a port seems a valid concern if they managed to get hurt. We boat in Rhode Island and near shore, with trips planned on the coast of Maine and some canals/rivers, so always near other people plus generally within vhf and cell coverage . We want to add a dinghy this season so we can always get to shore or a dinghy dock as we explore, and I plan to go electric outboard for that. Our trip duration will rarely exceed a long weekend due to work, and we aren’t planning to use it like the family car and travel around for miles like heavy dinghy users (or bringing laundry and groceries to shore while anchored 2 miles up river in a big sailboat on the other side of a bridge). Planing is always fun but I’d rather give that up for the simplicity of electric (like my snowblower and backpack leaf blower— I have the only snowblower on my street I can pick up easily and carry into the cellar… about 200lbs lighter than comparable gas models). So, the 9.9 motor is too heavy for my tolerance to move it onto a dinghy, back and forth. We also would be using the dinghy quite frequently, as every inch of coastline is developed and owned), more so than a davit to move the motor would add in convenience. So I’m buying the electric either way, as dinghy-first propulsion, and read on here that it would suffice under most conditions I’d be out in as a “get out of harms way” backup for the Honda 90. So I’d be annoyed having to keep the 100+ pounds of the Suzuki on the bracket, run it, service it, deal with fuel, etc., when I already have a backup (and have SeaTow as secondary backup). But, the boat came with the 9.9, which was attractive at the time, and it seems a waste to remove it with no purpose for it elsewhere. It works well, and 30lbs electric isnt that much weight to store elsewhere up front. I don’t have any other boats or plans for the 9.9 either, so I could try to sell it but don’t know if there’d be many takers at a price that wouldn’t also annoy me, ha. I’m also an “ultralight” focused person, when practical, and so the idea of removing 100+ pounds from the transom sounds very appealing. I’d rather not mess around with lithium house batteries just yet, but that’s also on my eventual to do list when there’s been a longer window of real world testing (both in impacts on the motors and in fires). Am I being silly to think about taking the 9.9 off and in its place storing the electric on the retractable mount until needing it for dinghy? (Which does help deal with shaft length issues since the mount goes down quite low) Or should I just double down on the 9.9, be glad it was a great deal, get a better suited prop for moving the 22, and link it up to the steering on the Honda so I can run/steer it from inside the pilothouse? These are the concerns of someone with 18” of snow on the ground, and not pressing, but I don’t know what I’ll do when it warms up. Are there use cases for running the 9.9 instead of the 90? I don’t fish, but I do like to putt-putt along at displacement speeds, and it seems the smaller motor (with larger and 4-blade prop) would be well suited for that, but I don’t have an idea of fuel economy. My Honda has a fitting that lets me disconnect from the fuel tanks and bypass to an auxiliary tank, so I can just run the kicker on that (keeping it’s on board tank empty), always ensuring stabilized and fresh fuel— I used to use TrueFuel on my daysailer 5hp because the tiny Honda jets would clog if not run for a week or run dry beforehand). If I wasn’t planning on using the dinghy very often, I’d go the davit route and have a planing dinghy, but it seems like too much work for weekend runs and frequent mooring stays, compared to the electric clamp on and go, then charge at home (solar is also on the to do list).

Thank you for any swaying insight or anecdotes.

 

[C-Wolfe]

I added a 6HP to my 22 cruiser and I was happy with it. I did use it quite a bit for slow cruising. On calm days I could easily go at 5 MPH, going against wave and stiff wind will slow me down to 2-3 MPH and struggle to keep a straight line if not going strait up wind, that something I was ok with. The 9.9 would be better but the raison I went with the 6HP was that I could transfer it to the dinghy without too much trouble, I don’t see anyone doing that with a 100+ pounds motor while being on the water, unless you have a davit, but that’s not common on a 22 ft boat.
9.9 HP 4 stroke with internal fuel tank are not very common nowadays I think, is yours a 2 stroke? I’m also curious to know the year model.

 

[DaveInRI]

Well, much to my embarrassment, it seems my new-to-me C-Dory (got in August) has a 6 horsepower not a 9.9-- and I can't delete my post and slink back to the shadows.

 

[C-Wolfe]

You haven’t own your boat for long, if you only look at your kicker from the cockpit, while tilted up, really easy to confuse the 6 for a 9, no need to feel embarrassed.

 

[Tom Hruby]

As somebody who cruises a 22' cruiser with only electric outboards I am a firm believer in electric. Before you make that decision however figure out at what speed you would like to move in emergencies and how you would deal with the battery. Some of the smaller e outboards have an internal battery while others need an external one. Below I have posted the graph of my power vs speed with my cruising weight at around 4000 lbs. That should help you figure out how much power in watts, you will need. Whatever you do, don't go by the horsepower ratings of the e-outboards; look at the fine print and determine what the maximum watts is for that motor. For example, 200 watts will get you 3mph but if you want to go 4 mph you will need about 750 watts. I cruise at 2000 watts (= 5.1 mph) with my two E-propulsion Navy 3.0 motors.

For example, the E-propulsion Elite uses 500 watts (about 3.5 mph for the C-dory) and has a special bracket that allows you to easily move from one transom to another. It has an internal battery and weighs about 18lbs. Epropulsion also make a 1 kW outboard (Spirit) that weighs 23 lbs but needs an external battery. Torqeedo also has a number of smaller outboards but I find them more expensive.
For myself I have just purchased an EP carry (280 watts and 14 lbs) as my emergency motor and one that will allow me to dock without having to be in the cabin steering the main motors. The EPcarry is designed and built by a friend of mine and he claims that his design is more efficient than a torqeedo or a trolling motor. The second graph is from his website, and I look forward to testing it out on my larger 22'.