subject: Things To Think About Regarding An Outboard Motor [print this page] Gasoline powered engines provide a lot of power, speed, and range, but are rather noisy and not too environmentally friendly. An electric outboard are a potential alternative.
A few things to look for when purchasing an electric outboard motor:
Twist-grip tiller throttle, Friction control, Stop button and kill cord, mounting bracket, Screw clamps, Carrying handle, Fuel cap and tank breather, Gear leaver, Oil sight gauge, Fuel tap, and Tilt mechanism. In general, strong construction and trustworthy brands are what matter.
Electric outboards could be tomorrow's standard engine because they are quiet, environmentally friendly and compact. The main issue is that they need a large, heavy battery which hampers your range. Right now, the main use for the electric outboard engine is trolling in lakes. Trolling is moving slowly through the water in a quiet fashion, generally by means of a secondary small motor.
The use of an electric motor is environmentally friendly, but the recharging of the battery may be a different story. Obviously running an engine for hours in order to recharge it will offset any environmentally friendliness the actual use of it creates. One option for recharging is land power. This can be easily done at most marinas. Also you could keep a spare battery. What perhaps is most ideal is to have two batteries, one to use and one to recharge. You can use a wind turbine or solar to trickle charge your battery.
Your boat's domestic batteries are also an option; however, you will have to sacrifice some power. You could buy a second domestic battery, and keep it charging while using the other.
3 Tips for Electric Outboard Motors
1. Try running your engine at no greater speed than half a notch below full tilt. You will not notice a difference in speed, and you will save a significant amount of power.
2. You can trim the height of the leg of an electric outboard to maximize efficiency by placing the leg at a right angle to the water. This is not possible with gas engines.
3. Crocodile clips are an option to clamp power cords to the batter terminals; however, wing nut battery terminals are much harder to knock off.
Electric motors may well be the future, but they do have some serious problem to overcome before doing so.
