+xHello Team OCC,
Using my existing 655w solar panel, I am hoping to charge an electric outboard of a minimum of 1kw, with an adjustable shaft to:
a) use as a long shaft no wind propulsion, in case I run out both wind and diesel
b) use as a short shaft outboard for my 2.8m RIB tender.
Please would you share your recommendations, as the ePropulsion and Torqueedo both have fixed shaft length.
Grateful for your views.
Best wishes,
Sonia
SY Salacia
Hi Sonia,
I have never heard of an adjustable shaft: can you say more about this?
I have a Torqeedo x 6-7 years which I have been quite happy with, although I use it on a nesting hard dinghy that rows well, so it does not get as much use as many would give it.
If I hear you correctly, you want to use an outboard to propel the mother ship during lulls: hence the need for a long shaft. This is great in completely flat calm and it is surprising how little horsepower it takes to move a sailboat at a decent speed. That said, if there is any chop (or swell and it does not take much to set up some harmonics), the danger is that the boat will hobbyhorse and the prop will lift out of the water, rapidly accelerate, and be thrown off the shaft.
A possibly better way, at least to get in and out of harbors, is to put the outboard on the dinghy, lash the dinghy to the quarter as a yawl boat. I have moved a 38-foot sailboat (with a very ornery inboard engine) miles and many times by this method getting almost hull speed with an 8 hp engine at ½ throttle or so.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy