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PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 2:10 pm 
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Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:27 am
Posts: 244
Location: Cheshire, CT USA
Currently have a 2hp Honda 4 stroke.

Wondering if an electric trolling motor would suffice. Only used if the wind dies or if launch is crowded and can't sail up to the dock safely. I sailed about 20 days last summer and only used the Honda about 5-6 times. Not even a tank (quart) of gas used.

I believe the rough conversion of lbs thrust to hp is 75:1. Wondering if a 55lbs thrust trolling motor would be enough to push the Getaway against a medium wind if necessary. Don't need fast, but I do need to move without rowing. Thinking a made for saltwater trolling motor would be less maintenance and could be mounted on the bow crossbar and stowed above the tramp when not in use. Battery would be 2x6V in waterproof box stored in cooler in one of the hulls.

Looking at the Minn Kota Riptide 55/T

http://mk.factoryoutletstore.com/detail ... y_id=20851

Comments or suggestions? Experience?

_________________
2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"
2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"

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Last edited by KeithB on Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:04 pm 
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Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:02 pm
Posts: 737
Location: Rockford, IL
I currently have a Torqeedo electric, but it's about the same size and weight as a gas outboard. I had a Thistle daysailer (17' monohull) that I used a regular trolling motor on, with an automobile jumpstart battery package to power it. It worked just fine. Not too fast, but got me in and out of the channel to the launch ramp.
Yeah, I've thought a regular trolling motor that had some sort of pivoting mount, so it would pivot up under the crossbar, would be ideal. I have to strap my Torqeedo off to the side so the tiller bar doesn't hit the Getaway's tiller cross bar.
I presume you currently have a Cheeta motor mount?

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 4:26 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
We have Honda's on our TI. We are mostly in salt water (florida keys and sw florida) and have learned a little about what goes wrong with hondas.
First off never run regular gas in them. Even sitting a few days with ethanol gas gums up the carbs. One of our local gas stations sells RV gas with no ethanol, since switching over all my carb problems went away. We also use yamaha fuel stabilizer (dealer recommended it), seems to work better than the stuff you get at home depot.

The vented gas caps get plugged up if you leave the motor tilted up or if they get wet. Taking the gas cap apart and cleaning regularly helps (the tiny holes plug up).

Never store the motor tilted up for long periods, when storing it needs to be vertical.

With the motor tilted up it needs to remain straight, if turned to the side while tilted the carb fills with oil.

After use in salt water always rinse the motor off with fresh water (it states that in the manual), I also remove the cover and spray down with WD40, (anything metal).

The carbs are very easy to remove and clean yourself, just remember where everything goes (lol)

Change your oil often, we run mobil one in ours.

My opinion is these are the best motors out there (I've gone thru lots of other brands). Also unfortunately way more expensive than anything else out there.

Obviously we use ours to go great distances in the keys, often 50-60 miles which is too far for any electric and I would hate to have my batteries go dead 20 miles from launch in the powerful gulfstream (next stop Cuba or N carolina (lol)). Our current range is 200 miles (just in case things turn to crap (it's happened to us). They keys are known for sudden thunderstorms in the afternoons out of nowhere. When it gets dire out there we open the motors up and bee line back to safety, we call it gettin out of Dodge. (Really sucks to be in 35mph winds and 6-8ft seas (been there done that)).
Good luck
FE


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:07 pm 
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Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 6:52 pm
Posts: 65
Location: Treasure Island, Florida
I had a 50 Lb Minn Kota attached to the front leg of the wing; not good
I now have a Torqueedo. it works well. I do have an issue with the warrenty but that is another story.
the motor does what I need for as long as I need; all in salt water.
I can hit 6 knots at about half speed. the trolling motor did 1.2 at best.
happy to talk to you about it.

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Jerry Malone


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 1:29 pm 
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Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:27 am
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Location: Cheshire, CT USA
I'd love a torqueedo but they are very expensive. Not in the budget right now.

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2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"
2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:01 am 
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Location: Cheshire, CT USA
OK, so I guess I'm sticking with the gas hog at least for one more year. Got it tuned up and running smooth.

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2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"
2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:27 am 
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Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:30 pm
Posts: 984
Location: Benicia, CA
Thanks to Fusioneng, I stopped having issues with my Honda. I do a few different things to avoid the carb rebuilds and searching for specific gasolines. First, I removed the gas cap and took it apart. I enlarged the vent holes a tiny bit, then reinstalled--the holes provided are small enough that water surface tension will create a barrier--you may not have to do this since you may have an earlier Honda with a different vent system. Second, after every sail, I run the carb dry by letting it idle while in a bucket of fresh water (I sail in salt) with the gas shut off. The engine is air cooled, the only flushing you need is for the drive train and exhaust in the new 2.3s. Third, I raised the motor further out of the water by putting a taller board on the Cheeta mount (I raised mine about 4 inches). A pressure treated 2 by 6 piece is what I used, I did have to carve a notch to accommodate the metal plate--bolt it in place, screws aren't good enough. This will help the issue with people on board, before I did this the motor head was the only thing out of the water when in use.

I had a Torqueedo briefly...sucker was louder than gas and was quirky when shifting forward to reverse. You'd think for twice as much as a good Honda that they would be better built.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:12 am 
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Location: Cheshire, CT USA
tpdavis, thanks for the tips. I plan to cover the head with plastic when not running the motor to shield from splash. That will be 99% of the time. It's mainly there for emergencies like wind dies, or launch is really crowded and I just want to get away from the power boats. Besides that, I have been running TruFuel. It's 100% ethanol free and comes in quart cans for about $7 a quart. Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot. Expensive but I buy a six pack which lasts me all season and I also use it in my snow blower if any is left over. I am also re-designing my motor mount so that nothing hangs below the rear crossbar so less splashing and should also be a few inches higher than before. I will take a look at the vent holes in the cap. I don't think I ever had a problem there. Mine is a 2.0 hp from 2009. It's always vented when running and closed when not running. I used to run dry like you said by closing the gas line valve when the day is done but haven't done that in a few years. I do always hose it down with fresh water when I get home since I sail in salt water too. I have to learn how to take apart and clean the carb myself one of these days. I will report back later in the season as to how things are working out.

Thanks again
Keith

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2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"
2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:34 pm 
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Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:30 pm
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Location: Benicia, CA
If you haven't had issues with the motor dying for no apparent reason while in operation, you probably don't need to do anything to your vent cap. Fusioneng pointed me toward venting issues when I was thinking it was oil clogging the carb jets. Runs like a champ, now. I do "waste" a carb full of gas to keep from having carb issues; I do the same thing with my other seldom used gas engines like my powerwasher.

As an aside, I had a good second sail of the season today. Wind was light (under 10). Quite a lot of it was upwind "no hands"...gosh this boat is well balanced. Had some spinnaker rigging issues which is not surprising given the long winter. Fortunately, wind was light enough I could fix them underway. Single handing in this little wind is just fun. I'll post a YouTube video on my channel sometime assuming my camera, computer, and software all work :shock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C0Ecp4vfhA

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 2:56 pm 
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
KeithB:
Be careful about covering the motor, I had the head of one of my motors covered (inside a cloth bag) for the longest time (the motor was only for emergencies so I seldom ever used it). We figured if I didn't use the motor and it was in the bag my reasoning was why rinse it off right!!!. Well it didn't take long before the whole motor rusted and corroded away into a useless mess because of the salt water vapor (who knew lol).

Basically if you cover it when out (which is a good thing), you still have to remove the cover and rinse everything off when you get home, and once in a while spray all the metal down with WD40. And you don't want to store the motor in the garage with the motor tilted up or with the cover on (all big blunders on my part).

FE


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:45 am 
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Location: Rockford, IL
tpdavis473 wrote:
I had a Torqueedo briefly...sucker was louder than gas and was quirky when shifting forward to reverse. You'd think for twice as much as a good Honda that they would be better built.


Wow, mine is very quiet. And yeah, when shifting either direction, the propeller must stop spinning or you get a protective error to limit the starting current on the motor. You have to reset by turning off and back on. It's a bit of a pain, but only takes a second.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 9:09 am 
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Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 6:28 am
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Location: Detroit, Michigan
Quote:
And you don't want to store the motor in the garage with the motor tilted up or with the cover on (all big blunders on my part).


I've never heard of either of these things being a "blunder". Can you explain in more detail? What do you mean by "tilted up"?
Why do you need to take the cover off?

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 9:30 am 
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Dave:

By cover I mean the cloth engine cover (the bag ) I was using to cloth bag to cover the engine when out on the water to keep it from getting splashed. I hardly ever used the motor, and it just sat on the back of the boat on the trailer tilted up 95% of the time 'in the cloth bag'. I figured if I didn't open the bag or use the motor when I went out, I wouldn't have to do anything (ie... rinse the motor off and dry it, or anything else since I wasn't using it). Boy was I wrong it didn't take long for the salty moisture to totally disintegrate the engine (destroying the engine completely), that's what I mean by blunder ( I wrecked my own engine by my own ignorance (actually two of them)).

Leaving the Honda's tilted up during storage is another big nono that I did,,,, It clearly states in the manual to not do that. When I transport I have the motor tilted up,but when I get home 'now' for long term storage the motor needs to be stored vertical in the garage. Thats all.

FE


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:55 am 
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Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:27 am
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Location: Cheshire, CT USA
Still thinking about going electric once again. Just trying to figure out the best battery arrangement. Need 12V but might go with two 6V as I might be able to get them inside the hull through an 8" circular deck plate. Still investigating options. Motor will be some model of Minnkota for salt water most likely.

Any recommendations or experience welcome. Looking for advise on motor choice (not a torqeeto, too expensive) and battery placement and arrangement.

_________________
2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"
2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"

Image


Last edited by KeithB on Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:44 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
You can probably install any transom mounted trolling motor using the same mount you used for the Honda. Any of the salt water trolling motors will likely work fine.
We used a fresh water Minkota endura 30lb motor for quite a few years in salt water, but rinsed it off every time we used it. What seems to get destroyed on the fresh water trolling motors in salt water is the circuit boards and connectors, what we did was spray clear coat over most of that stuff, to lengthen the lifespan a little. It's the vapor from the salt water that wrecks everything it seems. You might be able to get 30lb trolling motor for under a hundred bucks, would likely do the job for a couple seasons, (ours lasted 3 seasons). A 30lb will likely work fine, (a 30lb works fine on a TI, (way bigger boat)), not fast, but then again a 55lb won't be much faster (likely under 1mph difference), the 55lb motors are designed for 16ft, 1500 lb fishing boats, (way bigger than you have).
Two lightweight batteries might be better than one big monster, lots of sealed agm batteries out there these days.
If you save by buying a cheapo motor and still have some budget left over, you might want to look into lightweight lithium batteries, the prices have come down quite a bit recently, (might save your back). We were using ours on an inflatable, (like a zodiac), hauling the two 75lb batteries was a royal PIA, we were lucky to get 1-2 seasons from those walmart batteries, not cheap either....
we also have an RV and have similar battery issues with lead acid batteries, (they don't last long, hate em). Probably more because we suck at taking care of them vs anything else.
Just my own opinions here, tryin to help.
FE


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