Way down on the Caloosahatchee

Time to bring my good readers up to date. We’ve been busy.

One more night at the marina allowed our mail to finally catch up with us. We also got some other business done at the public library at Big Pine. While we travel with two laptop computers, we don’t have a printer. Fortunately, libraries usually have them these days.

Our take out from the marina was a mess. The electric motor ran just enough to get us in front of the channel to the bay. Then it died and the tide sucked us into the channel. I was able to paddle the boat to the side where my lovely wife grabbed the mangroves. I jumped into the channel holding onto the bowline, doing my best “African Queen” impression.

I was figuring out how to get the boat back into the marina when some nice young Mexican fishermen agreed to tow me back. The rest of the loading was uneventful. We even made it to our campground on the Caloosahatchee in time.

Currently we are staying in our tent. While I was able to do what had to be done at the channel, my muscles were sore the next day. We’ve been taking it pretty easy since.

The problem with the electric motor turned out to be a corroded wire connection. That’s been fixed. I’m thinking a test on the river here will be in order. The plan is to motor into the wind. If it dies we can then sail back. Better to test it on a narrow body of water than in the middle of the ocean.

When it first failed I was tempted to toss the motor in the dumpster. That might still happen, depending on how well the test goes. Whatever happens, we aren’t going to go out there with a motor we can’t trust.

-Sixbears

Simple electric sailing

Big and complicated ruins everything. One of the things I've always enjoyed about sailing is how simple it can be. All you need is a stick in one hand, a line in the other and off you go. Of course, as boats get better, things get complicated. Complicated means expensive.

My recent issue of Sail Magazine has a long article about electric propulsion on boats. The focus of the article mostly concerned hybrids, a combination of fossil fuel and electric engine. It's sorta like a Prius of the sea. In my eyes the big problem is how complicated everything is. You have all the issues with having a diesel or gas engine, plus a very high tech electric motor/battery system.

Of course, I'm the guy who didn't like the complexity of a 6hp 2 stroke outboard on my Oday 19. I know a fair bit about small engines. Even when the throttle broke and the parts disappeared into the Gulf of Mexico I was able to rig a temporary fix.

Now I have a simple electric trolling motor. Plug it in and go. Maybe something could damage the prop, but I've got a spare one of those. If the motor fails, replacement is fast and fairly cheap. Everybody carries them. The boat already had a small solar electric system. Not only do I not have to haul gasoline around, the sun refuels the battery for me.

Of course, that's on a small 19 foot boat. What about a bigger boat? Lets say something big enough for a couple to live on. The sailing Uma people pulled the old diesel engine out of their sailboat and replaced it with an electric motor. They could have bought a special marine drive system, but instead made their own using a forklift motor. They were pretty clever and saved a bundle.



So how well does it work if you want to motor all day? In short, you can't. What if you use a generator to charge the battery that powers the electric motor? That sorta works, but is horribly inefficient. Maybe if you had a generator anyway and needed just a little more power to go a few more miles it might be worth it.

Here's the thing. They are SAILboats. There are plenty of people traveling the world in boats that don't have any engine at all. An electric engine is perfect for things like getting in or out of harbors. Last year I was halfway across an 8 mile long lake when the wind died completely. Our little electric motor easily moved us the 4 miles back to the dock. It wasn't fast, but it did the job and there was plenty of battery power left.

So what do you do when your boat becomes becalmed? You make yourself a nice cup of coffee and find some other way to entertain yourself. Also have good ground tackle to anchor. Have plenty of provisions to wait it out.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people will motor even if the wind is blowing. Some people treat sailboats like they are motorboats with big sticks. Others will motor because while they are moving, it's not fast enough for them. Then there are those who motor because they never bothered to learn to sail really well.

That's great for sailboats, but so what? Here's what. The principles of simplicity apply to many different machines and systems. The simpler something is, the less likely things will go wrong and the more likely it is that you can fix it yourself.

-Sixbears

Electric sailboat test

With our little trip on the lake yesterday I thought I'd get to see how the boat performs with an electric rather than a gas engine.

We launched from the boat ramp directly into a 10 mph wind. That wasn't too bad, but there were rocks to the west and a campground boat dock to the east -not a lot of room to tack out into the open water.

The motor did a fine a job of getting us out into more open water. A couple of hundred yards later we were past the docks so we shut down the motor and raised sails.

Then we sailed and sailed some more. Now and then the wind died down to where we were barely moving. Occasionally we'd get a huge gust of wind from out of the mountains and we'd sail at full speed for a few hundred yards. Overall, we generally had enough wind to maintain between 2.5 and 5 knots. For us, that's good enough.

No doubt some folks would have fired up an engine to get through narrow passes between islands and underwater obstructions. We find that's when you really learn how to sail. There's a huge sense of accomplishment after successfully negotiating those sorts of hazards.

At the far end of the lake it occurred to me that if the wind totally died we'd have about a 8 mile motor back to the boat ramp. I think the battery would have been up for it, but I wasn't sure. Instead of the wind dying, it shifted direction to directly on our nose. It seemed like forever to tack out of that bay, but eventually we made it to wider and deeper water. We still had to tack, but big long tacks make more progress than a lot of short ones. Time is lost turning the boat's direction, finding the line and trimming the sails.

Our final tack brought us close to the boat ramp, but not directly to it. That's where we once again used the electric motor to bring us in. Not much of an electric motor test after all.

Right now the whole boat runs on one large battery -lights, radios, depth gauge, and the electric trolling motor. That's probably not a good design for long distance travel. It was fine on a lake. The 30 watt solar panel kept up with our scant electrical demands.

It would have been a bad situation at night if the motor ran out of juice, killing the navigation lights and VHF radio at the same time. The smart thing would be to have a separate battery system for the motor. When the boat ran on gas I built a box to hold a 6 gallon auxiliary tank. That same box would be ideal for holding a couple of deep discharge batteries. A small solar panel could even be mounted on the top.

What I really need to do is to take a couple of batteries and run one down until it's close to dead, then come back on the second. Then I'd really know what kind of range I'm getting.

Why do I even want to know? Knowing one's range under power would be key information should we take this boat down the ICW in the fall. The trip from mile one in VA to FL is a long slog. Sailboats generally motor most if not all of the way. I think much of it could be sailed and an electric motor assist could fill in the rest. It might take longer, but that only means I have to start a bit earlier.

-Sixbears

One thing leads to another leads to fishing

In a previous post I mentioned that I'd decided to use an electric motor on the Oday 19 rather than replace the gasoline outboard. Tuesday I made it happen. The boat's main battery was moved from the cargo hold to the gas tank compartment. All the wires had to be rerouted to the battery's new location. The charge controller for the solar panel was also moved into that compartment. Now the boat is just about ready for a test run.

The only problem is that the little 12 foot Ooze Goose's trailer was parked in front of the Oday. That had to be moved. The boat could use some bottom paint, but that can be done down by the beach. With the boat off the trailer it will be much easier to fix the broken spring.

Since I was going down to the boat launch I might as well haul all my fishing stuff in the boat so I don't have to carry it down the long trail.

So I throw all the stuff I want to leave down to the beach into the boat and drive around the lake to the public boat landing. Unlike the weekend the place is deserted. The launch goes well. It's a short row to my beach, but the predicted rain held off. In fact, the sun was shining. Osprey and loons were busy fishing.

I took the long way around the lake to my beach. Sometimes it's just darn pretty to take the short way home. While I was rowing I thought I might as well drag a fishing line and lure behind the boat. By the time I got to my beach I'd caught a rather nice looking rainbow trout. One thing leads to another.

Now the little boat sits right next to the lake, along with all my fishing gear. Next time I want to go fishing everything is there ready to go.

Some projects may be delayed . . .

-Sixbears

Trip to an Island Paradise

My lovely wife and I love Calidesi Island. We finally made the trip in our little 12 foot rowboat. We were able to find a free boat ramp about 6 miles from the island. The launch was only for shallow draft boats. I got the trailer partway in the water and muscled the boat off it.

I started out rowing as it was very shallow and I didn't want to damage the prop. Eventually we found a deep enough channel and I switched to the electric motor. The last mile and a half or so the motor quit. Wind and current were against me, but I was able to row the rest of the way to the park.


The Park Ranger was so impressed that I rowed in with a little boat that he charged us ½ price. Then we went over to the concession for the obligatory cheese burgers in paradise. We had a great visit. It's a beautiful place.

My lovely wife took a nap in the cabin while I rowed out into St. Joseph Sound. I decided to make another attempt to fix the electric motor. While I was working on that a Sheriffs patrol came over to see if I needed help. I said I was fine. Then they admitted that my boat was the most interesting thing on the water that day and they wanted to check it out.

I was able to get the motor working intermittently. The handy dandy special trolling motor connector wasn't making a good contact. It was frustrating so I finally cut the plug off and connected it directly to the battery. After that it worked fine. I still rowed through the shallows, but the motor saved me a lot of work.

One of the locals showed me the best section of the ramp to load the boat so we got it on the trailer without too much trouble.

All in all a mighty fine day. I wish I had a waterproof camera. These photos were taken with my new Amazon Fire so I only dared take it out on dry land.

-Sixbears