[Rhodes22-list] Tohatsu 4s 5hp VERSU A TROLLING MOTOR

[Bob and Kathy Quinn]

A few years back I was at Edenton with Stan.  He had me join him to take a fellow and his daughter out for a demo sail.  Stan's home is up a narrow canal, a couple of hundred yards from the Sound, he was using a trolling motor to move the boat from his dock to the Sound.  No problem.  When we came back in we darn near sailed all the way back to the dock.  


As others have mentioned, a lot depends on where you sail.  I sailed for years on small boats without a motor so became quite adept at getting out of and back into the slips - this included sailing out of Hickam AFB harbor into the Pacific and sailing down to Diamond Head in Rhodes 18s and Cal 20s.  The Rhodes 22 is quite easy to sail and does not need a lot of wind to move her.  If you are confident of conditions, your sailing ability, and have an oar on board, the trolling motor may work well for you. 


FULL DISCLOSURE:  At present I am using a Yamaha 9.9.  Overkill?  Probably, but every now and then we head out into the Atlantic and coming back in against the tide (or even with it) in a narrow inlet, the high thrust of the 9.9 is great insurance to be sure I get to sail another day.   When I stay inland in the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, the 9.9 is definitely overkill.  


Bob on the R22 "NoKaOi 3"



________________________________
 From: James Nichols <jfn302 at yahoo.com>
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List' <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> 
Sent: Thursday, April 3, 2014 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Tohatsu 4s 5hp
 

This is actually a question that my father-in-law and I have been
considering.  One of the ideas we have been tossing around is a trolling
motor.  Anyone using one?

We could leave a solar panel on the boat when we aren't using it to maintain
the batteries, and we would only be moving the boat 250 yards max from the
slip to the open water and then back again, so there would never be a need
to have gas on board, less maintenance, and quieter.  

James