[Rhodes22-list] Electric Outboards for R22, Merc 9.9 For Sale

[Reuben Mezrich]

I apologize for the delay in responding to this thread, but I’ve been
traveling (finally took advantage of being vaccinated and it's the first
time we’ve seen the grandkids in over a year)

As Stan indicated, I had an electric outboard installed on the Rhodes 22
that he rebuilt for me and which was delivered on Dec 22 to me in Sarasota
by the team of Nick and Chris Geankoplis.

I chose the ePropulsion Navy 3 engine, the E80 battery, a 20 amp charger,
and a top mounted remote control (which Stan mounted on the port coming).
The E80 battery (which weighs 100 lbs) was placed in the space normally
occupied by the 15 gallon water tank and a smaller 5 gallon water tank
shoehorned in next to the battery and its charger. This put the battery low
and amidships for good weight distribution. The engine, which weighs about
54 lbs was mounted on the usual electric motor mount.

I chose the ePropulsion over a Torqueedo because it had better specs at a
lower cost for a more or less equivalent system.

The ePropulsion Navy 3  is a 3kwatt engine, equivalent to a 6hp gas engine.
It weighs 54 lbs and I chose the short shaft version because the distance
from the propeller hub to the transom clamp is the same as that distance on
a long shaft gasoline outboard. The battery stores ~4.1kwatt-hours and as I
mentioned weights 100 lbs. The 20Amp charges will bully charge the battery
in ~6 hours. They do sell a 40amp charger that will fully charge in 3 hours

What follows are my thoughts after using the engine for about 4 months

Pro’s

There is little (actually so far no) maintenance. The unit has a brushless
DC motor mounted in the pod at the bottom of the shaft where the propeller
attaches so it is water cooled and there are no moving parts except the
propeller.

No fuel or oil is required. I keep the boat in a slip which has a 120 volt
outlet nearby and so simply plug it in after each sail. You have to
remember to unplug it before leaving the slip for a sail.

There is good weight distribution with a 54 lb engine at the transom and a
100 lb battery low and amidships

The engine will push the boat at hull speed -~6knots -  at least in flat
water without much wind.

It seems to have reasonable range - about 5 hours at 4 knots. It will run
longer at lower speeds or less at higher speed for an effective range of
about 20 miles, about what you’d get with 3 gallons of gas on a gasoline
outboard. But to be honest I have not actually tested the full range and
I’m reporting what the computer in the remote throttle control reports I
would get if I pushed it all the way.

The remote throttle is a pleasure to use, nicely at hand and displays speed
and time/distance remaining at the current speed.


Cons

It is expensive compared to a gasoline outboard. My total coast was a bit
under $5,000 and it would have been worse but Stan passed on to me what the
distributor charged him.


The biggest problem is that service and support is non-existent. The
company is based in China. There are no service personnel in the US. There
is no parts depot in the US. The East Coast distributor is Mack-Boring,
whose main business is distributing and servicing Yanmar diesel engines. I
purchased my unit from Mastry, located in St. Petersburg, who also mostly
deals in Yanmar engines but  also handles ePropulsion and Torqueedo
engines. The salespeople at both Mastry and Mack-Boring have been very nice
and tried to answer some of my questions, but they are not service people
and have no resources in terms of parts or engineering support. A few
cables were missing in my original delivery and it took a month to have it
shipped to me from China. I expect that as the ePropulsion equipment
becomes more popular in this country they will start stocking parts in the
US and perhaps even open a service office, but that's really just a hope on
my part.

There is no equivalent of a friction control to keep the engine from
turning. When I’m using the Rhodes tiller to steer the boat I’d like the
engine direction to be fixed (with the prop pointing aft) but there is no
mechanism to do that. They do sell a “locking arm” which is sort of a
U-bolt, about 10” long that extends from the starboard side of the engine
mount and does lock the engine but unfortunately it interferes with the
rudder and limits its range….its a very kludgy design.

There is a tiller that can be attached to the engine but it can only angle
up ~70 degrees from the horizontal and with the engine lowered it would
have to angle up nearly 90 degrees to clear the transom. I plan to fix a
tiller mount to the top of the engine, sort of how Stan affixes his rudder
to outboard engine coupling, to give me better control of the engine
direction..It would be particularly useful when trying to steer in reverse.

The propeller has only two blades and there are no options for a 3 or 4
blade propellor. From my meager understanding of propellers I would think
that the efficiency of the engine could be improved by a better propeller.

The bottom line is that I don’t really think the company had sailboats in
mind when they designed the engine.

So...If I had it to do over again I don’t think I’d choose an electric
outboard again. You can get a new 9.9hp gas outboard with electric start
that weighs about 90 lbs for about $2,500 (e.g. Tohatsu). I would imagine
the savings in the cost of the engine would pay for at least a few years
worth of maintenance.

Reuben Mezrich
Pelican Cove in Sarasota
Cell: 410-499-8922


On Fri, May 14, 2021 at 8:48 PM stan <stan at generalboats.com> wrote:

> Hi Peter, You remember Doc Reuben from Sarasota who tried to hitch a
> test sail with you.  He ended up with an epropulsion outboard we
> installed on his Rhodes.  I never got a chance to try it. But by now he
> knows the good and the bad. You have his email address in your
> computer.  Can't think of a better reviewer to send you to.  When I told
> him the best doctors I have run across got an engineering degree first,
> he raised me by saying he got three engineering degrees before going for
> his MD. There may be some fodder there for a fresh poem if you are still
> at it.
>
> stan
>
>
> On 5/14/21 4:54 PM, peter klappert wrote:
> > I'd be glad to hear from R22 skippers who use electric outboards.
> > Recommendations (pro & con) would be welcome.
> >
> > I'm also selling my Mercury 9.9 BigFoot. Very low hours, but it needs a
> > minor repair & professional tune-up. I'm in Palmetto, FL, and reachable
> at
> > 202-821-2679.
> >
> > Peter Klappert
> > s/v Aeolia  (2012)
> >
> >
> > *>>>>>>>>>  *[image: Sailboat on Messenger]*  <<<<<<<<<*
> >
> > *Peter Klappert5012 Bay State Road Palmetto, FL 34221*
>
>