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Electric propulsion for RowCruiser

  • KH

    Hi,

    I am getting ready to start building my RowCruiser.

    Some of the places I explore have narrow slot canyons, thin water, and other features that are difficult to navigate with oars, so I would like to integrate electric propulsion for limited forward-facing use. I have built all kinds of sailing, rowing, and paddling craft in the past, but never electric. I added Mirage drives to a couple of boats, but I think the RowCruiser is a bit too large for that. Having seen how useful small electric drives have been for some of my kayaking friends, I want to give that a try. I plan to design for it before I even start construction.

    Any ideas, concerns or suggestions about how best to do this on the RowCruiser?

    Once I mounted a small gasoline outboard motor on a18 ft. trimaran, on a side-mount just aft of the cockpit. It worked well; I angled the motor slightly toward the opposite direction and steered with a rudder.

    This time I want to go small and electric. I'm thinking of a trolling motor on one of the aft quarters, about a foot back from the cockpit where it won't affect the oar sweep. I would reinforce the hull on that quarter to support a mount. I would either put a lithium ion battery in the aft compartment or a pair of smaller batteries, one in each of the midship side compartments.

    What do you think?

     

  • TK

    I have no experience with the mirage drive, but from what I've read, the turbo fins "hopefully" will be sufficient. My plan is a well for the mirage. Bixby sells an electric that drops into the place of the mirage. It might be what you're looking for. I'm thinking I want more oomph than the Bixby though. 

  • KH

    Hi Thomas! Yes, I definitely want more oomph too. I'm thinking of integrating a 45-65 lb thrust trolling motor. A couple of my friends use Bixpys on their Hobie kayaks, along with Mirage drives. It works great on a Hobie Outback, but the Adventure Island struggles a bit in wind (but then my friend tends to pile a lot of high-windage camping gear on his tramps) . The Mirage drive that I kludged into my CLC Millcreek 16 was fantastic, and I think it would be fine for limited use on a RowCruiser, but as I get older I like the idea of an electric backup.

  • John P

    I will be interested to see what you eventually decide. Personally, I intend to build out a small bracket either on the rigger or aft deck to take an ePropulsion Spirit which I have and use on various other craft - a good level of power, but should provide decent thrust at lower power settings. It also has the advantage of being able to add solar and extra batteries as required. 

     

    Also keen to see what @Thomas Krische does on the Mirage drive - I have one eye on this too, so will be bery interested in how he achieves this and positioning. While that also gives the Bixpy option, I feel that's likely to be underpowered, particularly if carrying sailing gear or loaded for longer trips.

    If I hadn't already got the ePropoulsion, I would have taken a look at the PacMotor setup - quite impressed with the look of it.

     

    Alternatively there are plenty of thruster motors on the market - the BlueRobotics T200 gets a good write up, and if money were no object, I'd look at the T500. Obviously a bit more DIY required on controllers, battery setup etc, but an interesting project! 

     

    Failing that, I'd buy a cheap'n'cheerful thruster from China just to try out and see what power levels are needed for decent performance.

     

    Definitely keen to hear what others do wrt electric propulsion & solar - the tech is maturing nicely now, and the addition of this to the (Sailing) rowcruiser would be a fantastic enhancement.

    “Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly…”

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  • KH

    Thanks for heads-up about those fascinating motor options, John. Lots to think about! So far I've kind of been focusing on the Newport kayak trolling motor series (cheap option), the Newport NK 180 Pro (expensive option) and the Minn Kota Endura Max, but you have inspired me to expand my horizons. 

    I am not building the sailing version of the RowCruiser, so I don't think I need as much power. The options I am looking at are still much more powerful than the Bixpy.

  • John P

    The Newport NK180 is certainly a lovely bit of kit, with the advantage of remote throttle & steering, but once you've bought batteries, you're not far off the much more powerful ePropulsion option. The more standard trolling options are certainly more affordable (especially second hand from eBay and the like) if trolling speeds (topping out about 4mph) suit. If this is all you need, I wouldn't overdo the power, as they all top out at similar enough speeds. You might also want to look at Aposqueen for thruster options too, with decent, well priced packages including ESC controllers & remote control. Quite fancy dabbling with the latter myself!

     

    Will be interested to hear what you opt for and how it performs.

    “Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly…”

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  • KH

    Thanks again, John. The Apisqueen certainly does offer some interesting options.

  • KH

    I just noticed that the ePropulsion Spirit 1 Plus has an accessory extension cable, which would be nice for getting the weight of the battery as low as possible for stability.

    I think, for my needs, a trolling motor would be adequate. I'm not looking for a speed boat, just a forward-facing option where rowing is difficult, and as a form of backup propulsion in case of injury, oar failure, whatever (I have found myself in the middle of a lake with only one oar. Sheesh). I will revisit all the options when I get to that point and see how the budget is holding up!

  • John P

    Yes, the extension cable is a good addition for just that reason - also makes swapping batteries (if you get to that stage) a breeze.

     

    But from what you say, a second hand trolling motor and a well priced LiFePo battery would suffice!

    “Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly…”

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