Looking for one more perspective on electric vs. conventional motor for dinghy

[FabioC]

I am still debating whether to get an electric vs. a conventional outboard for my dinghy. Now time has come that I have to decide...
We use the dinghy only occasionally, as we primarily sail in and out of a marina.
We need the dinghy on the few occasions we go for a cruise or we overnight at anchor. Also, since we only use it occasionally, I would not store the outboard permanently on the boat
.
What appeals to me of an electric outboard is that is easier to handle taking it in and out of the dinghy, which for us is an important consideration. Also an electric is much easier to store and carry around (for example, you can store it flat without worries, or "throw" it in the trunk of the car, which is not the case with a conventional outboard).

The thing I still do not understand well is: how do people "manage" the charging of the electric outboard when they cruise for extended periods of time (i.e., away from shore power)? We do not have a generator or solar aboard and when we anchor we try to save energy as much as possible so as to minimize the time we need to run the boat engine to charge the boat batteries... However, that is exactly the situation when we would want to use the dinghy, and thus we would need to re-charge the electric outboard...

I guess my question is: the task of having to re-charge the electric outboard, does it become a pain at anchor (to the point it would make you wish you had a conventional outboard), or it does not make much of a difference?

Thank you!

[two-rocks]

If you are a marina boater, how do you charge anything when away? Running the engine is an 80’s thing.

For you, sounds like a small gas outboard is they way - properly stored when not in use is paramount.

For us, we never need shore power (no ac needed) and have excess solar power - so are considering a supplemental electric outboard (other engine is a 2-smoke 15 for going fast and far).

[CAVOK]

I have both. An E-Propulsion EVO 1.0 Spirit and a Honda 2.3.
When the EVO is going, it is quite convenient. I’ve had cable problems and I still think I have a random BMS problem in the battery. Fully charged the range is quite successful and very quiet. The EVO allows you to hydro generate while under way, but you have to consider if you want your motor on the dinghy in rougher seas. There are solar panel options or throw it on the charger when you are running your generator. They’re still expensive and although I like it I’m not sure I would buy one again. Any problem is a major pain if you are out of the main areas as you have to find a suitable technician.
The Honda is what it is. Simple and easily fixed, but with the problem of carrying fuel onboard

[aybabtme]

I inherited a Highfield 290CL and put my ePropulsion Navy 3.0 EVO on it with an E80 battery. It's very heavy and it doesn't plane. However it goes fine and it's pretty convenient, except when I need to lift it. I charge it with an 48V inverter/charger. There's also regular 48V LFP chargers you can get from anywhere. I also have two 48V MPPT, both work. I got all this crap because I'm curious about exactly this question and I'm trying stuff out.

With the MPPT and 400W of flexible SunPower panels (8x50W) I recharged the E80 battery from 50% to 100% over a day and a half here in Northern California.

The E80 runs the Navy 3.0 for a while at low power, and the low power setting pushes you at almost the same speed as the high power setting, so it really makes no sense to go all out. E.g. I do (GPS speed) 7km/h at 500W and 8.5km/h at 3000W. I can run the 500W for 8h and the 3000W for 45min... No brainer: go at 500W.

However, the fact that it doesn't plane is an annoyance to me. I'll be trying (1) a lighter dinghy (2) replacing the E80 LFP battery with an NMC bank (3) a more powerful outboard (maybe the Navy 6.0?).

The cream of the cream seems to be zerojet.nz and I have put a deposit on one of them, because the OC tenders will last longer than even an hypalon dinghy, and I can't be convinced to put a 15-20HP gas outboard on my dinghy, I just don't want to deal with it. But their build will come sometime next year. Meanwhile I'll mess around some more to see how far I can get my Navy 3.0 to push me.