Sometime in the past.
Our boat was killed by birds. Tiny little insect eating birds. They were the ones that I always loved to listen to, chirpety-chirp, chirpety-chirp, chirpety-chirp, Pbbblllttt. This was the sound that they made while sitting on the lifelines. Or the spreaders. They lived under the docks and they flew around and ate mosquitoes! I would encourage anything that wanted to eat mosquitoes.
We were given – pre-inherited a 1980 Island Packet 26, hull 4. Built in September of that year. It had a great big barn door rudder and a centerboard. It was wide. They used the mold of the Bombay Clipper sailboat. Someone at a boat show said they were made in Bob Johnson’s driveway.
It wouldn’t be the boat that I would sail to the Azores. It takes back winding the Genoa to get it to tack around. On really light days it takes the iron genny. When the boats came out people not so politely called them the Island Piglet. Well we nursed this piglet for 11 years. We were towed only twice. Both times because of the engine and the fuel. Well mostly the fuel. It had one whole cylinder. I had my son get me the African Queen, because the chug of the diesel reminded me of that movie. I watched it. The Queen was faster.
If you don’t run a diesel its’ cylinders corrode and lose compression. If you have two cylinders you can maybe get compression back in the corroded cylinder. But not much luck of that if you have just one.
Back to the birds. We were out on the mouth of the Neuse. We love birds and we loved seeing the little swallows. But we were kind of confused to see the swallows out that far. It was the next year that we discovered a new set of swallows were making a nest in the hole that the barn door rudder is operated out of. Birds love boats. They must be a wonderful place to build a nest. We have had a bird nest in every single dingy that we have owned.
We like birds and want to have more mosquito eating birds so we let them nest in peace. When it came to winterize. The engine wouldn’t start, we worked really hard with the hand crank and put in the winterizing anti-freeze.
Spring came – and the motor wouldn’t start. Time passed, suggestions tried. A kindly, very knowledgeable, retired diesel mechanic patiently looked at it. & pronounced it dead.
Pre-October 2017 Boat Show
Really early on, we had bought a Torqueedo travel 1003 for our little dinghy. We could safely store it away, haul it around, tip it on the “wrong” side. It ran.
So when we came to deciding to replace the motor in the boat, we had to review what the costs were for another diesel, what our life style was like, diesels, diesel fuel require a lot of care and don’t like to sit for long periods of time.
If the diesel is left unattended the cylinders become fouled. The diesel wants to run at the minimum once a month. The fuel needs to be kept clean. Diesel fuel will become contaminated with bacterial growth if left to age and it becomes acidic.
I know of a generator that failed that took down a computer room that took down a company. It’s important to keep at these things.
We tend to stick with what we know, because we have gotten past that initial discomfort learning level.
Gasoline motors on cruising boats have a lot of the same fuel issues as diesel plus the possibility of explosive fumes. The big advantage of gas or diesel is range. If you want to motor a long way a battery just can’t compete. But if you just want to motor out to where the wind is and SAIL, an electric system is perfect.
We already had one electric boat engine (and an electric car) and we enjoy the convenience of it.
There were also several different electric boat engines at the Annapolis show. For our sized boat it seemed like installing an outboard would be a good option. We talked to the Torqeedo rep at the boat show. He gave us the name of the local rep and the local shop to buy the engine from.
The Unboxing
A Low Pitch High Thrust Prop 
The engine 
The battery 
Different view / Engine 
Bits 
Way more bits
It arrived! There is a glimmer of hope that the boat will be running sometime this year. Many, many boxes arrived, a huge box with the engine and the default propeller. A box with the battery. Then there are all the boxes with connectors, the throttle and way more bits!
Placement planning and the clean out!
Pretty excited about leaving the diesel smell, all the random oil filters, belts and such. Plugged up water pumps will be a thing of the past!
Assembling it all together!
Measuring the inside of the lazerette 
pseudo engine for measuring.
We decided to empty out the lazerette and initially put the battery in there close to the engine. At some point we may remove the fuel tank and the diesel engine and relocate the battery to where the engine was.
Assembling the box
A lot of planning, measuring, fitting to the curved hull, followed by cutting, fiberglassing, went in to assembling the box for the battery and a transom reinforcement for the motor mount.
Initial backing plate 
Finished backing plate 
Base for the battery box 
The finished battery box 
Checking the motor mount
Wiring it all together
Even though we are “retired” we run around like crazy people, with many things on our agenda. Since we didn’t have the cover for the motor and didn’t have the wooden mount that Uwe made for the throttle, Uwe decided to wire everything up in the garage to test it out. We had bought the larger battery – the 48v 5000 and the manual was lacking in details in the wiring diagram. There is a good video from Torqeedo showing the diagram.
Unfortunately – the battery is currently displaying a red flashing light. Inquires to Torqeedo might result in a corrective action.
https://www.torqeedo.com/us/en-us/products/batteries/power-48-5000-/2104-00.html
We had just gotten in our packed car and were about 15 minutes up the road when the Torqeedo service rep called. Not wanting to miss the opportunity of troubleshooting we turned around.
With the service rep on the phone parts were switched around and tested. It was determined that there were two pieces broke, the charger and the gateway connector. They would send replacements. We returned the broken ones. Customer support was great.
Finally – the BIG install.
A month or two went by, there was a wedding in CA, a mother visit in OR, a small sailboat rally in Canada, a father visit in FL. Oh and a hurricane. We finally got a beautiful week without too many interruptions to install the motor and it’s completing bits.
The Battery nestled in it’s box. 
Wires all over the deck, testing the charging. 
The motor mounted on the back. 
The charger is charging. 
Fitting the throttle inside the transom.
Some notes on the install. The battery box has small side holes to allow the battery to be strapped down. You can also use threaded tie rods. The battery has corresponding holes. The wires have all been labeled and coiled and zip tied together to be out of the way. A custom made mount was made to fit the throttle. It had a hole for the connecting wire to pass through the back of the cockpit into the inside of the lazarette. It was mounted so that pushing it down would be powering the throttle more. This meant that the wording would be upside down from viewed in the front but right side up when viewed from the steering wheel seat.
The trial. The first sail.
After charging the battery, connecting all the wires and telling the system which battery it was connected to, powering it on and testing it was almost anticlimactic. It just powered on. With the boat still tied to the dock and the motor in the water the boat just surged against the lines waiting to be freed. So we did. Piled on the dogs and all the various things we thought we needed. Water, VHF, gloves, sunscreen, hats, dog water, paddle board, paddle… We untied the boat and were free. The boat moved really easily away from the dock. No idling the engine, no throttle up to keep the idle up, no checking for water out the back. It just went. We were going to motor for 10% of the battery but we wanted to go out to the last marker of the creek. We unfurled the genoa and downwinded till we were out of the creek. And well since we were there, we raised the main and sailed out to the shoal marker. Turned around and headed back. Now it was a calm day and there was no stress. But sea trial one was very successful.
Converting to battery from diesel.
Somehow being on battery only is a little scary because you can’t refill it in the middle of the sound if you were to run out. On a diesel you could always carry a spare tank. We recently converted to an electric car we have to plan out where are stops are and monitor the electric usage. This really is something that they used to have to do when they first started using gas cars as well. Adding a second battery will double our range, which varies depending on wind and current. On a calm day we can easily go 20 miles if we move at an easy pace. This is plenty of range if you plan on mostly sailing instead of motoring. The system has a built in GPS that tells you how far you can go in the current conditions. Now we plan stopping at marinas overnight to recharge because an easy solar recharging solution is still in the works at Torqeedo. We can charge on 110v overnight and have adequate range to putter out to hoist the sails for our next adventure!
Acknowledgements:
Pat Stockwell at https://inlandwaterwayprovisioncompany.com/ A part of McCotters Marine.
Torqeedo – https://www.torqeedo.com/us/en-us
Tesla – Please reference our referral if you buy one 🙂 https://ts.la/uwe35359
Here is a video of how the critters fit in the Model 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf-ktrEyN9g