T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] 2 trolling motors or 1 ?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Re: [Electric Boats] 2 trolling motors or 1 ?

If you go with two you will have redundancy for safety and control. Two motors used at the extreme corners will allow much sharper turns and control in windy conditions. Max speed of about 3-4 mph is determined by the pitch of the propellor. Using a non stock prop will possibly give more speed but will void the warranty on most trolling motors. Model airplane props will allow experiments with pitch, but watch your amp draw on a proper meter. Too many amps on an electric will burn it out. To be happy with the performance you may want to go with two of the 36 volt motors which turn bigger props.
Dave

--- On Thu, 9/23/10, Kevin & Alycia <ak@twcny.rr.com> wrote:

From: Kevin & Alycia <ak@twcny.rr.com>
Subject: [Electric Boats] 2 trolling motors or 1 ?
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Received: Thursday, September 23, 2010, 1:45 AM

Hi all-

I'm the proud new owner of a catyak:

http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=48223

Pictures not of my boat, but so you can see the design.

My plan is to convert this into a mini party-barge.

The question is propulsion. Should I go with 2 30lb enduras (with differential thrust) or one 55lb endura. Cost is about the same.

In either case, I'll use 2 group 24 in parallel to power the system (am I correct that this is more efficient than two independent batteries?), and I'll move the control heads to a convienient location to control from sitting. If I use on motor, I'll pivot it for directional control.

Amp draw will be about the same (55-60A)

àDo you think one will have more speed potential then the other? (I'm hoping for 5 or 6 knots)

è Will a 24v trolling motor give me even more speed?

What are your thoughts?

Kevin