DaveInRI
Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2024
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 11
- Location
- Narragansett Bay
- C Dory Year
- 2005
- C Dory Model
- 22 Cruiser
- Hull Identification Number
- CDO22275K405
- Vessel Name
- Once
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.
Thank you for any swaying insight or anecdotes.
So, I spent way too many hours reading and watching videos about the various electric options for our situation-- lazy dad, putt around a cove, not truly explore a coastline not use it as a backup motor. It also means fair weather, nice waters, and not a rescue risk. It also means I don't need a 3hp ePropulsion or Torqueedo... just someone else rowing who isn't me. This has me looking again at the EP Carry, which is just back online after a hiatus, and the ePropulsion eLite. The latter seems much quieter (half the reason for buying electric), "fancier" with gauges etc., and "efficient enough" for my particular intended purposes (and again, I'll be swinging the 6hp over sometimes also). Inflatables are notoriously not efficient (but plenty buoyant), and I wonder if the EP Carry would be up for the task of clearing a mooring field with our load (probably 380lbs of people, with two of them going to grow a lot more), and tooling around a campsite in the immediate vicinity (not coastal exploring).
