Being Green 2012 The joy of sailing. A finely balanced hull cutting through waves. Blue sky above. Salt spray sparkling across the bow. Warm breeze against skin. A delightful whiff of gasoline. Wait! Stop! And I did with the first whiff of gasoline on any boat I’ve owned for almost forty years. GANNET, the Moore 24 I bought in 2011, came with not one but two gasoline outboards. I thought I’d keep whichever was more reliable--until that first whiff. Moore 24s have open interiors with limited places to stow outboards and jerry cans of gasoline below, and I keep my decks uncluttered. On a passage, inevitably I would be sleeping next to the outboard and gasoline and oil. It wasn’t going to happen. Although before I made my first circumnavigation in her, I sailed the engineless 37’ EGREGIOUS in and out of her slip in San Diego, having no engine on GANNET was not an option. Her then home, North Point Marina on Lake Michigan near the Illinois/Wisconsin border, with 1500 slips the biggest fresh water marina in the world, does not permit “sailing, rowing, paddling or sculling” inside the breakwater. Neither do many other marinas. You may have noticed that the world is falling apart. Perhaps that is because it is being run by power boaters. After some research, I ordered a German made electric Torqeedo Travel 1003 and learned why it is not easy being green. First is cost and second is range. A Travel 1003 costs $2000, more than twice the price of a gas outboard of similar power and has a range of 2 to 16 miles. The 2 miles is at full throttle, when the 520 Watt Hour battery will be discharged in a half hour. The 16 miles at low throttle when the battery will last eight hours. Aboard the light and easily driven GANNET, I have found that at medium throttle providing a speed of 2.5 knots, the battery is good for about three hours and seven miles. In practice this means in and out of the harbor twice and the battery is close to needing to be recharged, a process that takes more than twelve hours. Even with a boat that sails well this short range presents problems. When coastal cruising, I want to be at the next harbor before dark and like to start early. Powering across smooth water at first light before the wind comes up has its charms. With the quiet, but not completely silent Torqeedo--there is a not unpleasant whirring sound--those charms are not much compromised. But not many miles are covered either. Torqeedo offers a possible solution in the form of a rollable solar panel which is said to provide unlimited range in bright sunlight. This panel costs $1000. Nevertheless I requested and received one for my 70th birthday. Being old has its compensations. I knew the dimensions of the panel; but sometimes you have to see something to really understand. When the box arrived, I thought it big. When I opened it and unrolled the panel, Carol, my wife, immediately said, “There is no place for that on GANNET.” And within the length of its connecting cord, there isn’t. I sent the panel back. I am considering buying a second battery, for $700, which would more than double my range by allowing one battery to be partially recharged by the boat’s main electrical system with its own solar panels, while the other is being used. And also increase the cost of being green to about three times an equivalent 3 hp. gas outboard. Having said all that, I do not regret my choice. The good news begins just after I place the clever Moore 24 outboard bracket in its slot in the stern. The bracket is easy to insert and remove even underway, as is the three part Torqeedo. At thirty-one pounds for the long shaft version, the Travel 1003 weighs about the same as a comparable gas outboard, but that weight is divided between the twenty pound shaft and the ten pound battery, so I don’t have to lift it all at once, a welcome advantage when hanging over the stern. The weight of the third component, the tiller arm, is negligible. On the advice of a former Moore 24 owner I bought the long shaft version. I’m sure he meant well, but this was a mistake. The short shaft would have been more than enough, saved a pound, taken up less room below, and not required special manipulation to clear the water when not in use. On our first venture into Lake Michigan with the Torqeedo, I found that even when locked in the raised position, the long shaft left the prop partially dragging in the water. In addition to an unacceptable effect on sailing performance, this creates far more noise than the engine does in use. I found a solution by tilting the engine more and securing it with sail ties to the stern pulpit stanchions; but to do so I have to remove the tiller arm and stow it below. Slightly awkward, but necessary. With the shaft tightened to the outboard bracket by two plastic handled bolts, the battery is slipped into its slot, lowered and locked by inserting a plastic pin. Finally the tiller arm is attached and two electric cables connected: one from the battery to the shaft, the other from the tiller arm to the battery. I am struck by three things in this process: how well the Torqeedo is engineered and designed; how easy it is to mount and assemble; and how clean the parts are. No grease. No oil. No scrubbing my hands before I touch anything else. My only reservation about the quality of the Travel 1003 is that the electrical cable connectors are plastic rather than metal and raise a concern about eventual cross threading. Thus far I have not had a problem; but I do think metal connectors would be better and more appropriate on what is a top-end product. Travel 1003 assembled comes a great moment: instant one finger start. Press a button on the tiller arm and the Torqeedo is on, although the only way you know that is by the tiller arm display lighting up. No repeated pulling on a cord. No curses. No fiddling. Not even a sound. In fact there is wonder and doubt that the engine is on, relieved by twisting the tiller handle and seeing the big two bladed prop turn. Back to neutral and absolute silence. The Travel 1003 has forward, reverse, and for 2050 pound GANNET ample power and torque. I don’t know how fast it will drive the little boat, but I’ve had her at six knots in one brief burst. I knew my speed from the remarkable tiller arm display with built-in GPS which shows percent of remaining battery charge; remaining range at current speed; speed over ground; consumption in watts. Increasing rpms and observing the often dramatic decrease in range is instructive. There is an alarm when battery charge drops to 30%. I’ve only approached setting off that alarm once when haze and a wind shift caused me to come in a mile downwind of the breakwater entrance. Unfortunately I lowered sails before I realized my mistake. GANNET dislikes being powered into chop, and I had to keep increasing rpms to make any headway. Lesson learned, I’ve subsequently been more careful on my returns to the marina; and I’ve added jib furling gear so I can resume sailing without having to haul a jib back on deck. Engines are necessary because people have made them necessary. I don’t even take exception to North Point Marina’s rules. 1500 boats trying to use one narrow, partially silted over entrance, some of them short tacking under sail in front of confused power boaters on a busy weekend is certain chaos and probable disaster. Harbors in the world are now laid out with the expectation that vessels have engines. To clear with officials in many ports requires tying to docks that are impossible to reach under sail. So an engine or a tow is needed for the last few hundred yards. And I need an engine for the three-quarters of a mile from my slip to beyond the maelstrom of power boat wakes at the breakwater entrance. For those distances, and for me, the Torqeedo Travel 1003 is excellent.

Being Green

2012

The joy of sailing. A finely balanced hull cutting through waves. Blue sky above. Salt spray sparkling across the bow. Warm breeze against skin. A delightful whiff of gasoline. Wait! Stop! And I did with the first whiff of gasoline on any boat I’ve owned for almost forty years.

GANNET, the Moore 24 I bought in 2011, came with not one but two gasoline outboards. I thought I’d keep whichever was more reliable--until that first whiff. Moore 24s have open interiors with limited places to stow outboards and jerry cans of gasoline below, and I keep my decks uncluttered. On a passage, inevitably I would be sleeping next to the outboard and gasoline and oil. It wasn’t going to happen.

Although before I made my first circumnavigation in her, I sailed the engineless 37’ EGREGIOUS in and out of her slip in San Diego, having no engine on GANNET was not an option. Her then home, North Point Marina on Lake Michigan near the Illinois/Wisconsin border, with 1500 slips the biggest fresh water marina in the world, does not permit “sailing, rowing, paddling or sculling” inside the breakwater. Neither do many other marinas. You may have noticed that the world is falling apart. Perhaps that is because it is being run by power boaters.

After some research, I ordered a German made electric Torqeedo Travel 1003 and learned why it is not easy being green. First is cost and second is range.

A Travel 1003 costs $2000, more than twice the price of a gas outboard of similar power and has a range of 2 to 16 miles. The 2 miles is at full throttle, when the 520 Watt Hour battery will be discharged in a half hour. The 16 miles at low throttle when the battery will last eight hours.

Aboard the light and easily driven GANNET, I have found that at medium throttle providing a speed of 2.5 knots, the battery is good for about three hours and seven miles. In practice this means in and out of the harbor twice and the battery is close to needing to be recharged, a process that takes more than twelve hours. Even with a boat that sails well this short range presents problems.

When coastal cruising, I want to be at the next harbor before dark and like to start early. Powering across smooth water at first light before the wind comes up has its charms. With the quiet, but not completely silent Torqeedo--there is a not unpleasant whirring sound--those charms are not much compromised. But not many miles are covered either.

Torqeedo offers a possible solution in the form of a rollable solar panel which is said to provide unlimited range in bright sunlight. This panel costs $1000. Nevertheless I requested and received one for my 70th birthday. Being old has its compensations.

I knew the dimensions of the panel; but sometimes you have to see something to really understand. When the box arrived, I thought it big. When I opened it and unrolled the panel, Carol, my wife, immediately said, “There is no place for that on GANNET.” And within the length of its connecting cord, there isn’t. I sent the panel back.

I am considering buying a second battery, for $700, which would more than double my range by allowing one battery to be partially recharged by the boat’s main electrical system with its own solar panels, while the other is being used. And also increase the cost of being green to about three times an equivalent 3 hp. gas outboard.

Having said all that, I do not regret my choice.

The good news begins just after I place the clever Moore 24 outboard bracket in its slot in the stern. The bracket is easy to insert and remove even underway, as is the three part Torqeedo. At thirty-one pounds for the long shaft version, the Travel 1003 weighs about the same as a comparable gas outboard, but that weight is divided between the twenty pound shaft and the ten pound battery, so I don’t have to lift it all at once, a welcome advantage when hanging over the stern. The weight of the third component, the tiller arm, is negligible.

On the advice of a former Moore 24 owner I bought the long shaft version. I’m sure he meant well, but this was a mistake. The short shaft would have been more than enough, saved a pound, taken up less room below, and not required special manipulation to clear the water when not in use.

On our first venture into Lake Michigan with the Torqeedo, I found that even when locked in the raised position, the long shaft left the prop partially dragging in the water. In addition to an unacceptable effect on sailing performance, this creates far more noise than the engine does in use. I found a solution by tilting the engine more and securing it with sail ties to the stern pulpit stanchions; but to do so I have to remove the tiller arm and stow it below. Slightly awkward, but necessary.

With the shaft tightened to the outboard bracket by two plastic handled bolts, the battery is slipped into its slot, lowered and locked by inserting a plastic pin. Finally the tiller arm is attached and two electric cables connected: one from the battery to the shaft, the other from the tiller arm to the battery.

I am struck by three things in this process: how well the Torqeedo is engineered and designed; how easy it is to mount and assemble; and how clean the parts are. No grease. No oil. No scrubbing my hands before I touch anything else.

My only reservation about the quality of the Travel 1003 is that the electrical cable connectors are plastic rather than metal and raise a concern about eventual cross threading. Thus far I have not had a problem; but I do think metal connectors would be better and more appropriate on what is a top-end product.

Travel 1003 assembled comes a great moment: instant one finger start. Press a button on the tiller arm and the Torqeedo is on, although the only way you know that is by the tiller arm display lighting up. No repeated pulling on a cord. No curses. No fiddling. Not even a sound. In fact there is wonder and doubt that the engine is on, relieved by twisting the tiller handle and seeing the big two bladed prop turn. Back to neutral and absolute silence.

The Travel 1003 has forward, reverse, and for 2050 pound GANNET ample power and torque. I don’t know how fast it will drive the little boat, but I’ve had her at six knots in one brief burst.

I knew my speed from the remarkable tiller arm display with built-in GPS which shows percent of remaining battery charge; remaining range at current speed; speed over ground; consumption in watts. Increasing rpms and observing the often dramatic decrease in range is instructive. There is an alarm when battery charge drops to 30%.

I’ve only approached setting off that alarm once when haze and a wind shift caused me to come in a mile downwind of the breakwater entrance. Unfortunately I lowered sails before I realized my mistake. GANNET dislikes being powered into chop, and I had to keep increasing rpms to make any headway. Lesson learned, I’ve subsequently been more careful on my returns to the marina; and I’ve added jib furling gear so I can resume sailing without having to haul a jib back on deck.

Engines are necessary because people have made them necessary.

I don’t even take exception to North Point Marina’s rules. 1500 boats trying to use one narrow, partially silted over entrance, some of them short tacking under sail in front of confused power boaters on a busy weekend is certain chaos and probable disaster.

Harbors in the world are now laid out with the expectation that vessels have engines. To clear with officials in many ports requires tying to docks that are impossible to reach under sail. So an engine or a tow is needed for the last few hundred yards. And I need an engine for the three-quarters of a mile from my slip to beyond the maelstrom of power boat wakes at the breakwater entrance.

For those distances, and for me, the Torqeedo Travel 1003 is excellent.