Auxillary motor transom mount.

[noelH]

Ordered the ePropulsion elite as a backup motor. The Temo 1000 chinese knock-off. 1/3 the price, but 1/3 the battery capacity.   Real short shaft, but real light weight(6.7kg) and equivalent to 2.5hp ICE in terms of thrust.  The short shaft Torqeedo Travel is fine in all but real heavy seas, but is ~20cm longer.  Guessing the motor mount will be too high for all but calm waters.  And if that motor fails or runs out of juice. Pita to remove from the cockpit unless seas are calm.

So.... the auxiliary motor mount.  Don't have the space on the side opposite to the motor mount (starboard of rudder).  Boarding ladder located there. 

Option 1 is to remove the boarding ladder and use the existing fitting to mount a fixed motor mount.  But then climbing back into Vela after going overboard would be a bit of an effort.

Option 2 is mounting basically a length of 2x4 onto the vertical section right above where the folding ladder folds. Measured and should have enough space to almost fold back the ladder as designed. Would add a horizontal handhold for using the ladder when no motor mounted.  Which would be all the time except when needing to motor. Board held on by some U-clamps. Would have to recess the nut and washer end.  The 1" clamps I have sitting around only total of 2" long. Save scraping flesh on protruding nuts when using the ladder.

Option 3 is to build a mount that just slips over the transom.  Something similar to the mount I built for the sculling oar I cobbled together.  Marina does not allow for non-motor powered exit and entry.  So that and the bit too short an oar was one of my futile builds. 

Options 4,5,6.... from the more brilliant minds here at TS?

If going with option 2.  Redwood or cedar or UC4A treated lumber?  Worried about the modern treated lumber and the steel of the boarding ladder and U-bolts reacting.  I think the bolts are 304 stainless steel.

[pgandw]

Took some doing, but I finally figured out we are talking a Sage 15.  Still don't know what the transom looks like or the dimensions.

I have the Epropulsion Spirit long shaft on my Mariner (19ft).  The boat already had an adjustable outboard bracket, which had previously carried a 5hp long shaft Honda which weighed 60 lbs.  The longer shaft length has good and bad.

The good: I don't have to lower the bracket all the way to get the prop well into the water.  With the prop properly submerged, the outboard tiller is above the transom and easy to reach and use.  Unlike the Honda Where I had to reach down behind the transom to shift the motor from forward to neutral or reverse, I just reverse the rotation of the the tiller to put the Spirit in reverse.

The bad:  Because the tiller doesn't fold in the up direction (I see that is fixed on the Elite) and the length of the motor, I can't tilt the motor out of the water without raising the mount all the way, twisting the motor 90 degrees, and then tilting it.  The 90 degree twist means I can't use the steering locking pin which can only be accessed by removing the battery.  Fortunately, the steering has enough friction to hold 95% of the time.

On my 1400lb 19ft boat I rarely (and I mean rarely) use more than 500 watts on the Spirit motor, which is what the Elite is rated at.  I normally use 300-400 watts, and will slow to 250 watts when I'm exploring back creeks.

According to the Elite web page, the shaft adjusts up to 15" in length, the same as a normal short shaft motor.  I would seriously consider ditching the Torqueedo, put the Elite in its place, and get the optional 12V charger cord.  Then carry a 100AH 12V LiFePO battery in a plastic battery box in your boat, and connect to the battery when you need more charge on the Elite to get you home.  The 100AH battery will give backup more than twice of what the integral battery has.  I've seen these batteries as cheap as $160 on Amazon, and they weight less than 25 lbs.  You can also use it for cabin lights or any other 12v application on your boat.

Second best solution (to me) is Option 3.

Option 4 would be to replace the motor mount the Torqueedo is on with a motor mount better suited to the Elite.  An adjustable height motor mount should work really well (both for the Torqueedo and the Elite).  Only has to be rated for 50lbs weight.

Just my suggestions, feel free to ignore.  Without photos and/or measurements, I can't do any better.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 #4133  Sweet P
Yeopim Creek, Albemarle Sound, NC

[noelH]

So far, the Torqeedo has had no issues and been maintenance free for 6 seasons. German engineering and build quality.  The battery capacity seems to be similar to new based on the tiller info data. Guessing high quality cells in the battery and high quality battery management system. Would stick with Torqeedo over ePropulsion, but their customer service has degraded. 

Temo 1000 would have been my choice even with the significant absolute price difference. The one dealer I talked with noted they just deal with warranty issues. Zilch for servicing and no centers in the USA. No luck finding a ePropulsion service center. Guessing the eLite is a throw away once the internal batteries are toast. Or diy your own 18650 cell battery. Not that difficult if your soldering skills are ok. Temo 1000 battery is easily removable on land or water.

Leaning more to option 3.  Vela's motor mount has two lower positions, but probably not low enough. Bit overkill in capacity for the Torqeedo. Even after 6 seasons of use the spring tension requires me to push down  with moderate force to get the motor into position. Pop the lever and the motor almost springs up to fast.

After testing the eLite will see if I can just stash the Torqeedo in the cabin as an emergency backup.  Like the idea of no motor hanging off the transom under sail.  Better would be no motor and just scull or paddle into and out of the marina.  Sailing Lasers and 420s we always had to depart and return to the docks under sail from the Washburn Boat Club docks at Thompson's. Roughly 1/4nm S of the marina. Real interesting on onshore windier days.  But a basic skill that probably has diminished over the years of motoring to the docks.

Seeing the ePropulsion eLite I was wondering. Did they just quickly make an inexpensive, lower powered knock off of the Temo 1000.  Temo has been real slow at getting the motor released anywhere. Add their made in France, limited production capacity. Maybe next season?  For dinghy or tender use the Elite based on cost only makes more sense.     

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

I made a device that fastened my electric motor to the rudder itself.  But that motor is quite light.

[noelH]

I made a device that fastened my electric motor to the rudder itself.  But that motor is quite light.

That would be ideal for maneuvering in tight quarters and no need to fiddle with locking or unlocking the motor pivot.  The eLite arrived. As suspected a bit too short (~3") a shaft to be effective except maybe glass smooth water. On Vela's motor mount positioned to the lowest point there will be only couple inches of water above the propeller tip. Also, when the motor mount is in the highest position it is still a bit of a reach over the transom to attach or remove the motor. Mounting on the boarding ladder frame would be almost a straight drop onto the transom mount clamp unit.  Motor is light. Only requires one arm to easily lift onto and off the mount assembly. IIRC, the spec weight is less than 15 lbs.

So far, a bit of frustration.  5/16" bit is bit small for the M8 U clamps. Close enough to work but it snapped ~ 1cm from the tip when drilling hole #2. Brand new unused bit.  DeWalt made in China junk. I guess wood is tougher than steel in this case.  1/2 gallon of gas to run into town and pay a premium "local" price for a bit. Decided to just order some longer M6 U clamps from AMZ and use the bits I have.  Plus no need to countersink the washer and nut due to the M8s being on the short side. More wood should be a stronger mount, but need to remember the protruding nut if I ever use the boarding ladder.

The motor appears to be nicely assembled. Unlike Torqeedo which wanted +$100 for carrying bag, ePropulsion provided one.  Also, a second kill magnet and lanyard. Nice. Real simple and functional display.  No GPS, so no idea of SOG, calculated nm remaining.  Just % of battery capacity and watts.  Handheld GPS works fine for SOG. Quick mental calculation to determine if you have enough capacity at current output and speed to make it to wherever.  But realistically this is a tender/dinghy motor.  Not a motor for motor sailing or powering to somewhere.   

[noelH]

Needed to go into town.  So I stopped by the hardware to see if they stock Loctite 435.  It and IIRC Vita-Tite 325 don't emit plastic melting vapors as it cures.  Need it for a non-boat  repair. No luck. Arriving home the U-clamps arrived. Just a few mm too short.  So I ended up having to counter sink the backing plate. So much for just drilling 4 holes.  Then I broke out the LocTite.  Have a variety sitting around. Turns out all have expired except maybe the 271.  But that requires heat to easily remove. Typical for me. A simple project takes way too long to complete.

I guess now I have the option for twin outboards .  Image is a bit deceptive. The Torqeedo propeller sits couple inches deeper than the eLite.  Pulling the two motors off the storage rack you can feel the weight difference even with no tiller controller and battery attached to the Torqeedo.

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