Greetings back to you,
How about including a first name or handle, so we can be more friendly .
My experience may not be typical, but it is mine...
Called Thunderstruck 3 years ago, the tech or sales person I spoke with was rude, told me my project could not work, and said I had to use one of their engineers (at $80+/hr.) to design something close to what I wanted. I have never called back.
There are a couple folks on this forum that rave over Golden Motors, however, ... Tried to get more info and even basic stuff like shipping from Golden Motors, and was deeply disheartened by the lack of info. And each time I did finally get some kind of response, it was not consistent, redundant, or totally NOT what I had asked for. I chalked it up to the language converter in "Windohs". (FYI, 10 is the worst and most invasive version I have had the misfortune to install... Can you say "I ROBOT"?) And for the first few months at least, you are going to want to know you can call a techie when things go glitchy.
Cloud Electric was good, but I needed Boat info, and they were not fluent in "E-boats" at the time.
My absolute best experience was and is with D&D motors in New York. I have purchased 2 very custom built motors, and paid about half what the others wanted for their brushless wonders, off the shelf standards.
I bought several Curtis controllers, used on eBay, and have sent them to FSIP for rebuilding (cheaper and better than new). FYI - Make sure you do not cheat the project by getting an under-sized controller. It is my amateur opinion, that the controller is usually the bottleneck of a system. This was confirmed by Eirc Dieroff at D&D. (In my project, Brushed was the only thing capable, and financial feasible to complete the construction. My motors are rated at 480 Amps @ 48 volts.)
Called ELCO about 17 times, left emails, and never got any kind of reply.
The Lady at Annapolis was extremely helpful, Sally Reuther I think her name is. Anyway, she seems to really know the trade, her products, and even the competition. She was kind and thoughtful to me, and she is on my call-back list when my project starts lake trials.
Once I finally got through to ZF, all they wanted was $15K (each) for the drives, and $5k (each) for their special motors. This did not include controllers or any of the intermediate hardware to make it all go. And there was "no talk, just send money."
Many others said, "see your local dealer", who was in a far-away state, and/or not willing to discuss my project, or out of business.
So that is my experience for what it cost ya.
I think you will find it is a "Dodge/Ford/Chibby" situation, in that some like one or the other. I took 3 years to research needs, companies, prices, etc, and I am still learning. Some vendors want to sell you their "kit" with all the markup carefully included, others will sell you the parts and you have to know what comes next.
Good luck, don't give up. The many successful and stalwart soles with E-boats here on the forum is testimony that it is well worth it.
Dan H.
Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2016 10:17 PM
Subject: [Electric Boats] Just another Duffy owner here! Thunderstruck upgrade?
Hi all,
Glad to have found this group. I've been given a 1983 Duffy Classic 18, a partial cabin boat with the "pop top", original motor (a GE motor manufactured for Taylor Dunn), original Salzer switch controls, meters, and almost every brass bit except for one curved aft toe rail chock.
The boat runs well but needs a motor technology refresh. My prime candidate is Thunderstruck EV's 5kw saildrive. It sounds like a few of you have Thunderstruck kits or products and I was interested in your feedback on the company and their kits. My opinion so far is very good, they seem knowledgeable and ready to help, they seem to have quite a bit of interest in your conversion.
Others don't look so good, Golden Motor seems to have some good products but technical support is useless.
Not looking for speed... I already reach 5.6mph on 2kW. I am looking for modern variable speed control, quiet brushless motor, and less heat than the GE produces.
Thanks.
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