Hey Dave,
Looks like you are having fun!
My first electric boat was very similar - I used an old McGregor 14 cat and built a light-weight cedar deck which I lashed to the trampoline tubes with rope. The rope lashings ensured that the whole thing could still flex as it rode over the waves. The seat was just an old lawn chair. The motor was one of the larger 12V trolling motors and as I recall it topped out at about 3 or 3.5 knots. I never tried re-propping, but I'm sure I could have gained another knot or so. Amp draw was something like 30A so I could cruise around for several hours on the two group 31 flooded lead acid batteries.
It was a bit limited on buoyancy, the floats would almost submerge with a couple big adults on board, but it was fine for one. A couple of my nephews thought it was the coolest thing ever, and used it a lot as a mobile fishing and swim platform. Had a lot of fun with it, but eventually lost interest and moved on to other projects.
Cheers,
Jim
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "davecanoehead" <elderton@...> wrote:
>
> Hello, I have posted an album in the photos section on my project under "Sparky". The aim for this boat is to do a 6 mile commute from a water-access-only home to the local marina. It takes about 15-20 minutes in a V8 powered 20ft speed boat at a cruising speed of about 25 mph. Cost is about $10.00 in gas. I am hoping to do the trip in 30-40 min at about 10mph and at a cost of about $0.30 in electricity. The basic structure of the boat is a Hobie Cat 16, with a rigid deck, steering console/seat, and electric outboard added.
> To date the deck and motor are done, and I am completing the wiring. An on the water test with a temporary "floor burnisher" controller yielded 3.7 knots at 450 watts, and 5.6 knots at 1300 watts from the Mars brushless motor on a Merc 9.9 leg with stock prop.
> I now have a Sevcon Gen4 controller, and a Torqeedo V19/P4000 prop which I hope to adapt to the Merc leg. Batteries/BMS/charger are GB 100AH 48V lithium application kit from Electric Autosports. http://electricautosports.com/
> Hardest lesson learned so far: Get the motor and controller from the same vendor as a kit (same with the batteries and BMS). Unless you are as real expert it will save time, and probably money. That's all for now, I hope to have an on the water update in the next couple of months...
>
> Dave E
>
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