T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Another new guy

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Re: [Electric Boats] Re: Another new guy

Hi John,

I thought about responding to your initial post, but I am traveling and haven't had much time. I have a pontoon on a similar sized lake in Ohio. It is larger than you want (24' X 8') but a Torqeedo Cruise 4 works really well. I did the conversion 6 years ago. I'm using 4 12v AGMs. Lithium is better in many ways but costs a lot more.

Golf carts use 6v lead acids because of cost and tradition. Weight isn't as important in that application and smaller 6v batteries are easier to squeeze into tight spaces. Remember, all lead acid cells are 2 volts. A 6v battery is just 3 of them in series while a 12v battery is 6 cells in series. Lithium cells are a different voltage (that I can't remember off the top of my head). Best of luck.

Pat

On May 16, 2016, at 3:46 PM, johnwiggert@gmail.com [electricboats] <electricboats@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Lets see if this works so I can reply to all.

First thanks for the welcome and comments.

Regarding the Loon, they seem to nice boats but are a little bigger and a lot more expensive than I am interested in. Boats like that are really problematic from a wheelchair point of view. Generally the gates are small and the nice luxurious furniture makes moving around almost impossible and driving definitely impossible. Older pontoons tend to be the best which is why I am looking at a pontoon kit. I can put the furniture where I want. I can put a removable fishing chair behind the console so others can drive and put a another socket where the chair can go when I am driving etc.

The lake I am talking about is Claytor Lake in Pulaski County VA. 4500 acres. I am calling it small.

It does sound like lithium batteries are the way to go. I guess you get what you pay for and the price point of the 48 volt Ray electric is about right. I have some weight capacity numbers from the kit manufacturer and am going to start adding components up.

The next question, The Ray Electric is set up like a golf cart, why do these things use 6 volt lead acid batteries but 12 volt lithium? Is there a reason or just that nobody makes 6volt lithium?

Thanks,
John