Pooduck Electrification

[Steve McMahon]

First you take a brandy-new trolling motor and chop it apart! Cut the shaft off about a foot long, and take the guts out of the head.
I used a solid brass handle from a closet door latch set and bushed it to fit the controllers shaft.
The shaft on the motor was f'glass, so when it was roughed up a bit with sandpaper it took the epoxy well. The shaft is pumped full of 5200, and the splice to the wires was made in a groove in the rudder center piece. The groove was filled with 5200 when the parts were epoxied together.
The pictures should be self explanitory.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p9e243c69d6d7021eca7e61c893f7ed25/f7b5550e.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p649da46bad4b513c3a5a5b7e9e1dc2e0/f7b54179.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p430eeceab78bede8fb338aaa1a6d673b/f7b541b9.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p445ee970428873dd1a9c0e9822049665/f7b554cd.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/paa6da558dab58d75a307e9326fa393f8/f7b55493.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p122e00abc70359c01e4e05133af4f109/f7b54152.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p104273db51f0cc689b17303305c93375/f7b5532d.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid130/p82935ec82fe3fcc5155fcf86b2a29806/f7b5536d.jpg
The prowd owner and his son test it out under stealth power in a stiff breeze. It works just great. I think he's pleased ;>

[Corso]

:D :cool:

[ion barnes]

Nice, what size outboard did you use? And the battery size?

[Buddy]

Now you need to add one of my jimdandy "clutches"so your prop can free wheel and not drag and turn the motor and go putt-putt-putt while you sail and slow you down. Drill and tap a 10-32 hole in the end of your shaft- I'll bet your shaft is a 3/* one like mine. Remove the stock wing nut Epoxy in a SS bolt leaving about an inch of stainless 10-32 threaded "rod"extending aft. The idea is ,if the prop is allowed to drift back about 7/16", it won't engage the shear pin and can spin freely. Caulk the shear pin so it won't fall out. Get a 1/2 dia nylon wasker and put it on the 10-32 shaft and thread on a lock washer to the point where the prop can just miss engaging the shear pin, I drilled my lock nut and put in a cotter pin after I had the locknut back out under sail and lose a prop. Don't trust the locknut. By some 3/8" diameter vinyl hose and cut a length just long enough to fill the space on your 3/8 shaft to hold the prop into engagement with the shear pin. Your split the hose lengthwise and it makes a little "C" shape you can press on and off while the prop is underwater. !0" 0n my Marsh Cat. I found if I used a needle and some dacron thread I could "sew" on a 5/8" faucet o ring that made it much easy to pull off the hose, and easier to hang onto the part hanging down over the transom. You can make a dozen of these for almost nothing and I clamp them around my pwer cable to have spares handy. I've already lost one this whole season. I t's really nice to have the convenience of hidden electric power for a few minutes getting in and out and not have to pay such a high price in drag during the hours of sailing. I can stand rolling up my sleeve and getting wet to the elbow in the winter time. Nothing to it in the summer.

[Steve McMahon]

Ion: The motor is a Minn Kota "Endura 30" 30lbs thrust. The battery is a Canadian Tire "Nautilus" marine/rv battery. I don't know what A/hr rating it is.

Buddy: Sounds like a great idea for a unit that is also going to be used for a sailing rudder. For this one there is a seperate rudder for sailing. His intention for the electric motor unit was for when he wanted to go for a cruise around the lake on a calm day. You can just ship the rudder and put in the battery and away you go. I mounted the battery in a mahogany battery box that fits under the middle seat. The same tiller handle fits both the sailing rudder and the power unit.

[Steve McMahon]

redface.gif redface.gif :D
A nice surprise at the Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/pfb76096a265e7dab8d67b003dbf37c98/f79931ac.jpg

[Chadd Hamilton]

Great thinking, Steve. Absolutely Superb!

Chadd

[John Blazy]

Great minds must think alike, Steve! My 45 lb thrust MK cooks my little glassbottomboat along all day long (5-7 hrs) with three batteries.
this motor was only temporary, as I plan to install a 75 lb thrust (24 volt) motor this month. I installed an aftermarket prop (higher pitch E-drive) for better speed, and the kort nozzle counteracts the higher torque load on the motor, so I'm almost at hull speed.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid88/p7addee9744d3571ee296df35d7494d1a/fa9197cf.jpg

Added the Kort nozzle I made from Lexan PC plastic
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid119/pcf24ab780e6039cd068b6d3ebe3917d5/f87078ce.jpg

[Steve McMahon]

ion: I finally looked up the battery size: It's 93 Amp-hours.
At the Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival the owner ran the boat with 3 kids in it for about 3 1/2 hours. The next day my son and I ran it for another 2 1/2hrs. Winds both days were gusting up to 30mph. Most of my time was spent at full throttle (a lot of power turns :D ) When we got home we put a meter on the battery and it still showed a 2/3 charge left in it.

When the owner was cruising around the moored boats he was often asked "what's powering that boat?" his reply - "will power" :D :D

[ 08-04-2004, 11:04 AM: Message edited by: Steve McMahon ]

[landlocked sailor]

This is a great thread! Sam Devlin specifies a similar set up on his Nancy's China daysailer http://www.devlinboat.com/nancyschinadc2.jpg There was a "how-to" article in an issue of Small Boat Journal from many years ago; I found it in a copy I bought in a used book stoe in Gloucester, MA last summer on my way to the WB show. I think it's a great idea and am tempted to try it on my Windward 15. Rick

[ 08-04-2004, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: landlocked sailor ]

[John Blazy]

Hi Mike,
This shot below has the best stern view I have at this time - shot just before gluing the mahogony aft deck. I basically cut the shaft, offset it, then reconnected via chain and sprocket for side steering. The "stuffing box" is a fiber reinforced resin tube from McMaster Carr that I glassed into the rake and is exposed above the waterline. I then mounted a grease fitting and pumped it full of grease. Will be hell when I install the new motor next week - 74 lb thrust 24V MK Maxxum.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid132/p14b27a8d6f3a65f933a8d62f005bb7eb/f78fcfa9.jpg

[John Blazy]

Hey Rick, Weren't you working on an electric boat a while back? The Bolger "Lily" I think?

I'll tell you one thing, for a small efficient hull, trolling motors are the way to go - very efficient, long range, and with fuel at three bucks a gallon . . .

[landlocked sailor]

Yep, we launched "Meander" my Bolger Lily last summer. I have a few finishing touches left. I have been continuously frustrated trying to post pictures on the forum, though I will try again. Rick

[imported_Dutch]

I was looking at building the Lily a while back but her scantlings left me wondering. I think Bolger was calling for the bottom to be built of two pieces of 3/4 inch plywood and the complete rig weighed in at some incredible weight according to my recollection. Still she was a pretty boat and I've always wanted to power a boat electrically. I think he included some pretty detailed plans for the electrical end of that boat.

[imported_Dutch]

Get them pictures posted landlocked lectric sailor. :D

[Bruce Hooke]

FWIW - Regarding letting the prop freewheel -- it's been my understanding that a freewheeling prop causes MORE resistance than a stationary one, especially if the situation is such that the prop blades can be lined up behind something (like the rudder in this case) when the prop is stopped.

[paladin]

the drag on a free wheeling prop will be a flat plate the diameter equal to twice the spinning radius of the blades...(did I say that right?) whereas or wuzz it heretofore a locked prop drag will be equal to the phizzikul blade area.....