EDIT: Moved to Building/Repair, 'cause I started working on it.
I'm thinking about adding electric power to my cruising rowboat. Hopefully folks have done something like this and can let me know if I get off course.
The boat is John Welsford's Walkabout, stretched to 18 feet and powered by slide seat rowing. Cruising grounds are primarily the Sacramento Delta and San Francisco Bay. Speed under oars is typically 3 kts for long term loaded cruising, up to about 4 kts for some of the 5 to 10 mile races I've done on the Bay. I cover 10 to 20 miles in a day when camping, about 100 miles for a week long cruise.
I'm happy with the performance as a rowboat, and have been pretty stubborn about sticking to the oars and getting to the destination on my own power. I also used to be stubborn about doing cycling trips on my own power, and considered electric power on a bicycle as cheating or something for when I was too old to ride. Last year, though, prodded by a thread in the bilge here, I put an electric kit on an old bike of mine. Turns out this works really well. I can still ride the bike, but go much farther and faster than on my own power alone. Now I do my 70 mile round trip commute by bike a couple of days per week, could not do that without the boost. So, maybe adding electric power on the boat could open up more range and expand the options for camping trips.
The general goals for the project would be to increase loaded cruising speed from 3 kts to 4 kts, with boost available for 20 to 30 miles in a day. This will likely require some kind of motor, a battery, and an overnight charger. Eventually solar panels could be added to gain independence from shore power charging. There are a few options I've been researching, will post on those soon.