electric motor for dingy

[saurav16]

I have a small 8' dingy (rigid) and was getting tired of rowing it against the current to get out the mooring. I was thinking of using an electric small motor on the dingy. I dont have any experience with the electric motors but was wondering if anyone used them on their dingys. Also what kind of batteries does it take and how long does it last?

[sailingdog]

Saurav-

Again...if you had done a search, you would have seen that there was a recent thread on this. You can read it here

[T37Chef]

Check these out, they seem to have built a great product,

torqeedo: Home

[saurav16]

Thanks SD, read through the previous posts says you can use the deep cycle marine matteries but those are heavy and expensive. It doesnt' really say if there is an alternative smaller battery to use and how long it would last?

[sailingdog]

The problem with the smaller, non-deep cycle batteries, is that they're really not designed for that kind of use and will fail more quickly than a deep cycle battery would. Also, they may not have as much capacity... which results in a shorter run time. Personally, I'd stay away from an electric trolling motor, since most of the motors aren't all that corrosion resistant, and the combined weight of the motor and batteries will often outweigh that of a small four-stroke or two-stroke gasoline powered outboard, even with an external fuel tank.