Your Boat Toilets Suppliers Discuss Some Great Ways to Motorize Your Small Sailboat

Raritan Engineering your boat toilets distributors would like to share with you this week some great information regarding great portable electrical propulsion for tiny sailboats.

In part one of our two-part test of five and six-horsepower engines in the upcoming January issue of Practical Sailor, we take a second look at portable electric motors. Practical Sailor’s interest in modern portable electric propulsion dates back to 2004, when then editor Doug Logan began to lose faith in the two-stroke outboard on his Boston Whaler. 

Logan’s initial review of the Minn Kota focused on its potential as a dinghy motor but he also tested it on larger skiffs. We later heard from several Practical Sailor readers who use trolling motors to power their sailboats (some as large as 30-feet!), but most said they used them mainly for short distances and in mostly flat water. .

Although people often compare such trolling motors to the $2,000 Torqeedo Travel 1003, there are several key differences. The Torqeedo uses a dedicated lithium magnesium battery that has a longer life and a more favorable power-to-weight ratio than a lead-acid battery. 

In 2005, we tested four popular trolling motors with rated thrusts ranging from 40 to 80 pounds. The results highlighted a major drawback of all electric motors: available horsepower and range is closely tied to battery capacity. Driving a sailboat with one of the more powerful trolling motors at full throttle for more than a half an hour will nearly drain a standard Group 24 battery. 

If you need more power, there are other options. In our most recent foray into electric outboards, we tested a motor called the SolidNav Traveler. The hefty 48-volt, four-horsepower outboard was manufactured by Parsun Power Machine, China’s largest outboard exporter. The outboard’s brushless solid magnet motor was built by Mars Electrical Co. of Milwaukee, Wis. (now Motenergy). 

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Your boat toilets professionals share how our testers were impressed by the motor’s heavy duty design, and the way the electric motor was incorporated into the familiar gasoline outboard form factor. Performance was good, but again, it was limited by the constraints of electric power. In our test of the Solid Nav, four North Star Energy group 24 AGM batteries with 140 amp hour reserve capacity were wired in series to deliver the required 48-volts.

Of all the electric outboards available to the sailor, the Torqeedo holds the most promise, but the niche is rather narrow. This is the third time we’ve looked at these motors. In our first preview, we tested an early iteration of the Travel 801L, an ultralight electric equivalent of a two horsepower outboard. 

As with all electric motors, power and range are limited. On our test boat, a Catalina 22, the range on a single battery at 4 knots speed is about 2.5 miles. At slower speeds of about 2.5 knots, the maximum range is about 7 miles. 

Bottom line: For the average daysailer with high power demands, a small gasoline outboard remains the most practical choice for portable propulsion. An electric motor can work, but for longer range service it will require significant investment in big battery banks, and perhaps a solar charging system. 

So don’t forget these great benefits to using portable electrical propulsion for your small sailboat. 1) These motors have a lot of potential;  2) you will save money on fuel;  3) there will be less maintenance involved.

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Click here at http://raritaneng.com/raritan-product-line/marine-toilets/marine-elegance/ and see how Raritan Engineering provides you the best quality and selection in the marine sanitation industry today.

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via Portable Electrical Propulsion for Small Sailboats

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