Who hasn’t woken up to the putt putt sound of an outboard as someone takes their dinghy ashore – usually to take the dog to the beach – sometimes accompanied by a pale blue haze from the motor exhaust in the still morning air. Ah, summer in the Sounds.
When it comes to pushing our dinghies through the water we have a few choices. There are 2 stroke outboards (need to mix oil and petrol in the tack), 4 stroke outboards (straight petrol in the tank), and of course for those with a fitness complex, there’s always the oars. One option that’s gaining in popularity is an electric outboard.
I used to have one of those really inexpensive Chinese 2 strokes. Noisy thing, clattering all over the place. Only lasted a couple of seasons before it just seized up. I’ll admit, it was not one of my best purchasing decisions.
After looking into other options, I finally landed on electric. Why? They’re very quiet. They’re cost comparable (or even cheaper than petrol motors) and I never have to mix fuel and try to fill a fuel tank on a bobbing dinghy tied to the back of my launch while hoping I don’t put half of it into the drink.
There are heaps of types of electric outboards on the market now. Some have removable battery packs like your cordless drill or lawnmower, but they’re on the higher cost end. I ended up buying an electric trolling motor. You’ll typically see these on fishing boats on freshwater lakes, but in my opinion, they work just fine for a dinghy motor. I use a deep cycle gel battery for power. The motor draws about 20 amps at full throttle, so my 120 AH battery is good for some extended cruising. OK – so we don’t reach “zooming” speeds with it, but the little motor will push us along at over 5 knots (and given that our launch only does 6, that’s not too bad). When I need to recharge, I connect the dinghy battery into my house bank which gets charged from both the main engine and my solar panel. Added bonus, when it’s connected in, I suddenly have more power for my house bank.
When the time comes to look at replacing your dinghy outboard, give electric a look. You might find it to be a good alternative.
And, next time you wake up without a putt putt sound off your transom, it might just be me (or someone else with an electric) taking the dog to the beach for their early morning walk.
