StatCounter

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Splashdown!



Finally! The sailboat is back in the water where it belongs. It's only a small mountain lake, but anything that wets the hull is good right now. It might be a small lake, but I can tie the boat up at my own beach, so what's not to love?

It's nice to be back in the land of free boat ramps. Even though it was a sunny Saturday, there were only about 4 vehicles at the parking lot. There was plenty of room to set up the sailboat. It hadn't been rigged since Florida so I took my time to make sure everything was in good shape. Outside of a bit of tangled rigging, it made the trip in excellent condition.

I also got the chance to see how the trolling motor behaves. My sailboat is a 19 foot Oday. The trolling motor is rated for 55 pounds of thrust. What does that translate to in the real world? Against 5 – 10 knot winds it moved the boat at 2.5 to 3 knots. Good enough in my book. Last summer the outboard was barely used. The longest stretch was about 4 miles. Most times it was used less than a ½ mile; if it was used at all. That's well within the capabilities of the electric motor.

It is nice to have a quiet and clean propulsion system that “refuels” from a solar panel. While only able to move the boat at half the speed of the gasoline outboard, it's a fair trade off. First and foremost, it is a sailboat.



-Sixbears

8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Took it out again with my lovely wife and it worked great.

      Delete
  2. I was wondering how the motor would do with the cabin, mast and other rigging catching air but it sounds like it will do the job just fine. Now all you need to do is prove to yourselves just how far a fully charged battery will take you. Another excuse to get back on the water :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've room for a spare battery where the gas tank was. That should give us a lot of range.

      Delete
  3. One good thing about launching in your lake is it will wash the hall clean of salt, but I am sure you already did that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It got a good rain rinse on the way back home. There are some projects that are a lot easier to do to it while it's on the water, so that's good.

      Delete
  4. Sounds wonderful!
    Wait a minute. There won't be any sound at all!
    Even better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just a gentle humm. Nice to not have to yell over the motor.

      Delete