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Electric Boat Motors....

Lot of interest lately in all types of boats pushed by 'electric wind'. Above is a new addition to the Vetus Den Ouden line. This is a brushless (very efficient conversion of electricity to motion) electric boat motor that can be coupled directly to the prop, via 1” shaft, without a gear box. The motor is water cooled (note the water intake between the prop and motor housing) 44lbs, 18” long and 12’ wide and about 10” high, with an output of2.2kw. According to Vetus this can translate into moving a 20’ launch with 4 people 5+ miles per hour with a power consumption of 50A at 24 Volts for 6 hours. This means a battery pack of 360Ah, having the capability of giving an 80% discharge, would do the job. See Vetus web site: http://www.vetus.com/frame-sea.htm

Lately it seems people are parting out Minn Kota style electric outboards with good results. Here one separates the prop head from the vertical shaft and attaches it to the rudder, underside of boat bottom, or the aft portion of a boat keel.(see Gig Harbor Boat Works http://ghboats.com for a rudder version). A Finnish boat builder Juhanni Pappila (Email: pila.boatworks@luukuu.com) seems to have done more work in this area than most. He has experimented with model aircraft propellers, in place of the standard OEM Minn-Kota props, and has improved push by over 30% according to a story in ‘Water Craft” magazine # 32 by Mike Hanyi. An American company that has done some work to improve the performance of electric outboards is Young’s Die Cast Aluminum Props of Mountain Grove Missouri (http://www.youngprops.com/).

The SmallBoatForum would like to hear if YOU have experimented with Electric Boat Motors... Please post your project here on the message board! By the way, Minn-Kota says they are working on more efficient prop options...


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