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Originally Posted by whalebackpoint'r
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Great article Whaleback. This past summer I decided to go electric and replace my 6HP Mercury engine that was only five years old. I got tired of trying to start it manually with a repaired rotator cuff shoulder. After comparing several brands I purchased the ePropulsion Spirit Plus. What a huge improvement over the gas engine. It is great technology.
I have the ePropulsion on my 19' Cape Dory Typhoon with a full lead keel. At full power it moves the 2500Lb Dory at the same speed as the 5HP. In fact, at the lowest speed setting the Dory moves really well. It is totally silent. all you can hear is the water from the wake. It has a display on it as far as the throttle setting and the number of hours it has before needing a recharge. At the lowest throttle setting it will run for 10 hours. At full throttle the run time is 3 hours. Not bad at all. It also has regeneration charging. As the boat moves through the water it charges itself. I will also be adding a 180 watt solar panel this coming summer. I am totally sold on this motor. No handling gas... no oil changing. And the total weigh is much lighter. The battery is built in to the frame of the motor. With a flip of a lever the battery pops out. Very easy to take ashore to charge the battery. Right now the sailboat is stored in my garage with the motor still on the motor bracket and I have the charger plugged into the battery with the battery still on the motor frame.