If you’ve been scared to make the move to electric propulsion, the time is now, and we thank our friends at Stephens Waring Design for making repowering with a Torqeedo look so easy. Here’s how they did it for Azulita – go to their site to find out more and sign up for their industry-leading newsletter.
Thanks to the folks at Torqeedo, getting rid of that silly old internal combustion engine has never been easier.
Back in 2014, one of our favorite smaller designs, The Signature Series 24, got a loving prototype build up at the Northwestern School of Boatbuilding, in Port Hadlock, Washington. Christened Azulita at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, that year, this little Spirit of Tradition honey has since made her way to the mid-west. These days she charms her current owners daysailing on Lake Michigan.
(Go ahead, waste the morning and check this video of her footing around in, at most 5 knots of breeze. We look at this clip all time. And dream. She’s really is the perfect little boat.)
Like a lot of small boats, Azulita bumbled through the grim auxiliary power issue with the usual stupid-ugly, side-mounted, small-horsepower electric “sheer killers,” oh sorry … motor.
So late last year, we were thrilled to from Auzilita’s owner: Praise the heavens, he he wanted to retro-fit in a new, way-slick propulsion system. A Torqeedo ‘Cruise’ fixed pod and dump the side-mounted Cuisinart from hell that had become too painful for the owners to handle. And if you have not checked out these small, all-in-one electric power systems, by all means do. For $5,000 — or about the same cost as a combined outboard, control system, and fuel tanks — you get a motor, a battery control system, a throttle, a battery, cable, parts and clear enough instructions so any competent yard can install the system in less than a day.
In fact, we think the Torqeedo is so simple, you could probably install the thing yourself. So in that DIY/SOT, we’re including some of our working drawings to help you get started.
Here’s some notes.
The Motor Is On the Outside: The big news with the Torqeedo, and some other similar pods, is the motor is not in the boat. It’s right down there near the prop encased in its aluminum lower strut, in the water. Think about how cool that is: The motor needs no cooling system. It’s in the cold water! There is no drive shaft. Instead, installation is all about mounting the prop/motor housing, smart placement, drilling some holes in the right places, designing a proper mounting structure and then running the control wires to the battery and throttle. That’s pretty much it.
The Battery is No Big Thing. Torqeedo intelligently uses so-called lithium iron phosphate batteries to drive its system. Those are the smart ones that don’t explode, unlike what’s in your smart phone or the 787 Dreamliner. Just locate this battery for best trim results in the boat securely. And you are all set. The install is very hard to mess up with the Torqeedo system.
You’re drilling a hole, not installing a drive shaft. Since you are just running control wires, and not a vibrating turning drive shaft, the through-hull is merely a single vertical hole drilled into and through the boat, sided by two smaller holes for thru-bolting the entire pod/strut in place. The drilled holes need proper protection and to be well structured, secure, sealed, and stable. We included the drawing to show you how simple it really is. Anybody can do it.
Read the Instructions. Honestly, the only way we can see screwing this up is succumbing to Male Answer Syndrome, and trying to drop this unit without going through the manuals. Don’t be a dope. Instead, click here and download the actually pretty well-written instruction set that’s both in English and German. You will find these Bedienungsanleitung worth reading even if you’re planning to hire the work.
Obviously, we would happy to hear from you about your propulsion needs. We have several sophisticated cross-platform projects crossing our desks as we speak. But that’s not the point here today. We think Torqeedo is a great idea. And it deserves our support: We’re happy to forward you our drawings, as long as you understand you are using them at your own risk, and you will likely benefit from designers, like us, to help with particulars regarding your your boat. You will find we can save you a ton of time. If you want to do it yourself, great. Just email us and we will gladly assist in helping you sort the best solution forward.
In sum, if you’re thinking of re-powering away from internal combustion engines, by all means, start with this power pod. It’s easy, perfect for any small sailboat, and oh boy does it work.
Gute Arbeit, TORQEEDO!
