Ever since the government started polluting our fuel with ethanol, I’ve agonized over how best to power the dinghies I use when cruising. I did experiment with an early version electric motor years ago but was not impressed, as the battery sometimes went flat with no warning. Since then I’ve defaulted to hunting out ethanol-free fuel for my small outboards and often end up buying expensive “engineered” fuel in hardware stores.
I was pleased, then, to have a chance to run ePropulsion’s current model Spirit 1.0 Plus motor on my 9-foot roll-up inflatable dinghy last summer and fall. I really fell in love with it, and it’s now my go-to tender motor, replacing the Honda 2.5-hp gas-powered mill I’ve put up for sale.
Most importantly, I found the Spirit 1.0 to be perfectly reliable. Running the motor in various conditions during summer cruising in Maine, then in Bermuda and Antigua during a passage south in the fall, I was never surprised by any precipitous changes in the battery’s state of charge, even after it had been left idle for days or weeks. The monitoring display on the tiller handle offered no wild fluctuations in data and accurately reported remaining capacity and run times. My crowning moment came when I silently slid by another cruiser in a Maine anchorage who was struggling to start his tender’s gas-powered motor. He had a very envious look on his face!
The Spirit 1.0 is rated at 1kW, or about 3hp, and easily runs at speeds achieved by my old Honda motor. Going flat out, I found the motor pushed my inflatable at a little over 4 knots, but at half-power still made 3.5 knots with much more range, so that became my default setting. Running 7.5 miles at various power settings over six days with no recharging was when I came closest to exhausting the battery, with the monitor showing just 16 minutes of power left. To recover from this, it took seven hours to get the battery back to full charge with the regular charger plugged into 110V household current. Afloat on the mothership, I found the charger continuously pulled about 20 amps from the house batteries, so normally I only charged when motoring. Going forward I plan to use an optional fast-charger when motoring and a 12V trickle-charger when the engine is off.
What I most appreciated is how easy the Spirit is to handle. The battery (which is waterproof and floats) and the drive leg each weigh only about 20 pounds and can be quickly moved on and off a tender as separate units. Both parts have also proved to be very durable and are easy to stow aboard. Best of all, I don’t have to worry about carrying any gasoline. $2,599, epropulsion.com
May 2024