Electric Power

[Fred]

As anyone tried to use an electric trolling motor for auxillary propulsion on an O'Day 25?I just need to get in and out of a marina. How much thrust would I need?Thanks!

 

[Don Evans]

Fred, I wouldn't Do It

This question has been asked before. The overwhelming response was not to do it. The 25 weighs in about 4500 lbs. The thrust available to move this weight from an electric motor, even at a crawl is probably alot. I'm not an engineer and others can do the math on this. The auxillery, how ever you look upon its role on a sailboat, should be available to move your vessel out of harms way at a moments notice. I should think you would also need expensive batteries, deep cycles, as power consumption will be extreme. These will always have to be kept topped up, so charging them is another factor. If it was me, I would mount a 6-10 hp 4 stroke (2 stroke if you are looking cheaper), mounted on the best engine mount you can buy, kept tuned and ready to use. Your boat and life may depend upon it.Don

 

[Justin - O'day Owners' Web]

I agree

I used a trolling motor to push my Daysailer for a while. Not even 1000 pounds fully loaded, and even a big trolling motor didn't cut it for long. The two problems I see are the battery issue, and the low speed these things operate at.Trolling motors are designed to push things very slowly, so they had relatively large props, with big pitches, turning pretty slowly. I put my trolling motor on my Zodiac and we go four knots. I put it on the Daysailer, and we still go four knots. The reason this is so is that neither boat is taxing the motor to the point that it cannot do the work. Without going in lots of detail, suffice to say that a trolling motor does its work with lots of grunt times low revs. An outboard on the other hand, does its work with relatively little grunt, but tons of revs - the result is that a higher top speed it possible, but the motor is much more sensitive to the load its pushing.In the end, the charging issue was getting to me, but not as much as only being able to go four knots into a five knot current.Justin - O'day Owners' Web