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| Updates abound in this issue! As Spring begins our thoughts turn to the coming year’s adventures on the water. Update on the new Whitehall Spirit Solo 14' Anticipation builds for the arrival of the new Whitehall Spirit Solo 14 model. Many are asking how soon it will be available. We would all like it to be here ASAP of course, but as with any project of this kind, we cannot rush it and expect to have the kind of quality product we want to have. Right now we are anticipating having the first boats completed for the third week in April This will be a short production run to insure all is running smoothly. If everything is as expected we will ship shortly thereafter. Updates will be sent to those who have already booked an order. The delivery on new orders is now late May to early June. Give us a call or send an email if you want to book an order for a Solo 14 in time for a June delivery. The original booking offer has expired but as a continued incentive all Solo 14 orders booked in March and April will include a free pair of Carbon Fiber Sculls valued at $449 US Another bit of good news is that we were able to design in a great way to store the bench thwart for traditional rowing. It now fits into the space on the floor of the boat between the slide seat risers, acting its part as a floorboard when not in use. You can see this new feature on the Whitehall Spirit Solo 14' home page if you run your cursor over the small images at the top. The Whitehall Spirit Solo 14' website is getting more detailed and now offers carbon fiber sculling oars, traditional wood oars as well as some accessories. --
Ron Melzie, a Tyee Spirit owner and Muskie fishing guide in Eagle River, Wisconsin has had great luck row trolling. These are mighty big fish and the good news is they are still out there. Ron sends along the following: I’ve sent along some shots of the first few fish caught in my Whitehall Tyee by my partner Scott Knepprath (thats him rowing - and holding the big one in the middle cause my back was out that day) this last season. The Muskie Scott is handling and then released was 51 inches long with a 26 inch girth and close to fifty pounds. I’m the one on the right with a slightly smaller beauty. -- The Torqeedo Electric Outboard Trials (Damn the Torqeedos – Fools speed ahead) Bob Dunshee with assistance from his wife Marcia graciously agreed to trial the Torqeedo electric outboard on their Whitehall Spirit 17. Years ago Bob and Marcia purchased a 4 hp gas outboard but found that for their style of boat use a 2 hp Honda satisfies their needs quite nicely. Bob found that he rarely needed to run the 4 hp OB over half throttle plus it’s a lot heavier than a 2hp Honda longshaft especially toting it around or installing it on the boat. The new Torqeedo electric outboard, when the battery is disconnected, weighs only 17.8 lbs. What attracted us was the lithium/manganese battery at just under 8 lbs is around 10x lighter that a lead acid monstrosity and mounts easily right on the motor. Now – Here’s Bobs notes to date Wednesday, February 21, 2007 From the top of the transom to the center of the propeller on the Torqeedo is 22" when the shaft is at its maximum extension (the depth/extension is adjustable). For the Honda 2 hp that distance is 26 " The Torqeedo takes "10 hours to charge" according to the manual. (See my notes below, however.) At 25.5 pounds the Torqeedo is about 3 pounds lighter than the Honda; however, the Torqueedo's weight without the battery, which is the way it is easiest to mount on a transom, is 17.8 pounds. Therefore, it should be considerably easier than the Honda to put on the transom. One then adds the battery. The propeller on the Torqeedo can be reversed; there is no reverse gear on the Honda. (One rotates the Honda 180 degrees to effect reverse.) Running time This from the Torqeedo website:
From this chart, it's hard for me to know what the Travel 800 will do on the Whitehall Spirit 17'. An "H-Boat" is, I think, a keel boat and more than three times as heavy as the Whitehall Spirit 17'. I don't know what a "Conger" boat is like except that it weighs less than the Whitehall Spirit 17'. I would guess that the Whitehall Spirit 17' would go about as fast and as far. Maybe run for four hours at 3 kts? (See my on-the-water trial notes below.) . The motor goes together easily. With practice, I think that one could do it in about 15 minutes. Maybe fewer. The shaft is not break-away, so care should be taken not to strike an underwater object. The existence of the skeg on the Whitehall is, therefore, advantageous. On page 21 the instructions say that how far the propeller is submerged is important for efficiency. They suggest that submerging the propeller just enough to avoid "taking in air" is perhaps the most efficient position. They recommend experimentation. They also suggest finding "the highest speed with different submergence depths using a GPS". These instructions look useful. The tests included running the boat at various setting from Stop to Max Range. Also in reverse. I ran the motor on the Whitehall Spirit 17', but didn't try all the throttle settings. I didn't even run the motor at Maximum thrust. At most, I ran it at about 2/3 throttle. Thursday, February 22, 2007 When I mounted the motor on the Whitehall Spirit 17', I discovered that the top gudgeon prevented the motor from seating completely on the transom. I put a temporary 1/2" shim on top of the transom in order that the motor would fit the transom properly. I used the motor on the Whitehall Spirit 17'. I went 1.22 nm: on a beam reach, into the wind (4 kt wind?) and with the wind. The motor ran for between 20 and 25 minutes. It used 40% of its 100% charge. Charging the motor from about a 20% charge took about 7 hours (not the 10 indicated in the manual, but then, the battery was not completely discharged when the charging started). I trailered the boat with the motor minus the battery on the transom. Unless the tiller friction is tightened enough, the shaft/motor/tiller will turn sideways. No harm, but something to note. I attached the battery to the motor before launching lest I drop the battery overboard and put the plastic pin in to secure it. (A later test off the water indicates to me that it's probably safe to attach the battery to the motor shaft when the latter is already on the transom.) I waited until I was in the boat with the motor shaft in the vertical position before inserting the on/off pin into the tiller handle in order to ensure that I didn't start the motor accidentally. Note: the motor will not run unless this pin is inserted. One should take care not to lose this pin! (Two on/off pins and two battery securing pins are supplied.) In the water, with the motor shaft vertical, I started the motor at the lowest speed. The boat moved easily to about 1.5 kts; however, I noticed that, at that speed, the propeller was so near the surface of the water that it was throwing water a few inches into the air. (I had raised the motor shaft a few inches higher than its maximum extension before mounting the motor shaft.) We went back to the dock where I lowered the motor shaft to its maximum extension. This position seems best in order to submerge the propeller. However, I also noticed that, when the boat moves at about 3 kts, the propeller becomes more submerged, so the first motor shaft position might be low enough too. The boat moved easily at 3 plus kts with the throttle position at about the first mark. There are about six marks between Stop and Maximum Thrust. Moving the throttle to the fourth mark moved the boat at about 4.5 kts against a 4 kt wind. Moving the throttle to about the 5th or 6th mark moved the boat at about 5 kts going with the wind. There was a slight bow wake. The propeller was well submerged. I never moved the throttle to the Maximum thrust position. Nor to any of the other positions like "Fixed time" or "Max range". The motor is very quiet. I tried mounting the Torqeedo on the transom of the Whitehall--me in the boat on the trailer. I found mounting the motor shaft awkward, but attaching the battery was easy. . Saturday, March 10, 2007 Today, we did our second test of the Torqeedo on the Whitehall Spirit 17. It had been about two weeks since we last ran the Torqeedo. The battery charge was still 60%--the same as when we last finished running the motor. The motor was fully charged when we began that test. Since today we ran the motor for 52 minutes, that means that, at a moderate speed (say 4 kts) the motor will run for about an hour and 20 minutes. Running on the Torqeedo, we went 3.42 nautical miles and ran the motor for 52 minutes. Our moving average was 4 kts. There were perhaps 5 kts of wind, but often none. We ran the motor at various settings: Briefly at "Maximum Thrust" throttle setting the boat moved at about 5.3 kts. At "Maximum Range" the boat moved at 2.7 kts. At a variable setting (at a mid point setting) the boat moved at about 5 kts. At the "Fixed time" setting, the boat moved at 4.2 knots, even against a 5 kt wind. The "Fixed time" setting was the one that we used for 90% of the 52 minute test. I found the battery very easy to mount and dismount with the motor shaft on the transom, with the motor shaft either in the vertical or tilt position. (This would be very important if, for instance, one carried an extra battery and wanted to switch batteries in heavy seas.) All in all, I was more favorably impressed by the Torqeedo today than during the last test. Perhaps this was because I was more familiar with its operation and less anxious about damaging it. The potential running time on the battery seemed greater than we had predicted. Sunday, March 11, 2007 Yesterday, after discharging the battery entirely running it on the Whitehall, I plugged the Torqeedo battery into its charger at home. I got no blinking light at the 20% level when I started the charging. I checked it again in about two hours: still no blinking light. (The 20% light should blink when the battery starts charging.) This morning, when I pressed the "Battery Charge" button to review the charge, I got no lights indicating any charge at all. The charger light was lighted. I checked all connections on the charger and battery and found them all sound. So, at this time, 12 p.m., the battery does not seem to be rechargeable! We did not get any connections wet on the battery when it was on the motor shaft on the boat. Nor was it dropped or mishandled in any way whatsoever. I checked the battery again two hour later and it was still not charging. After talking it over with Harold at Whitehall I called the support number and got a pleasant fellow with a deep German accent who, after listening to the story said “That’s not good” and referred me on to an office in Chicago where I spoke to another pleasant Swedish sounding fellow named Sven who said “That’s not good” and offered to send out a replacement charger and battery. It should arrive soon and hopefully we can discover what is going on. Stay tuned. Conclusions: Bob says: For Marcia and me, the Torqeedo would be superfluous. We like the exercise of rowing and the quiet thrill of sailing. Our Honda 2 hp motor really out performs the Torqeedo as a back up in the event that we get too far down wind and don't have the strength to row to where we want to go. Based upon our admittedly brief trial, the charging time compared to the running time would be a disadvantage. As a back up for rowing or sailing, the Torqeedo seems at a disadvantage to the Honda 2 hp. The running time of the Honda 2 hp on a tank (1 litre of gas) is much much greater. The noise of the Honda is, of course, a big draw back. How "green" is the Torqeedo? Pretty green unless your electricity source is power plants generated by coal. The need to add a shim to the transom for the Torqeedo would be a problem for us—one more thing to remember. My sense is that other people's criteria are probably different than ours. Marcia says: The Torqeedo was very quiet at all speeds. It is no esthetic improvement over the Honda. I wouldn’t find any use for such a motor for our boat in that the range seems, at least on this first trial, too narrow. When we DO take a motor along with us, which is rare, we need it to have a significant range such that we feel comfortable getting far afield with some sort of insurance that we can get back to port if the wind or our muscles give out. Bob and Marcia agree: As a back-up for sailing or rowing, the motor works very well for the Whitehall Spirit 17 if the approximately hour and a half running time at about 4 kts gives one enough range. (One might want to carry an extra battery.) Running at 4 kts for an hour and twenty minutes is a very respectable speed. I suppose that the motor running at the "Max Range" setting, would run even longer but maybe get one no further. Harold Aune’s comments: Firstly I have to thank Bob and Marcia for performing this extensive trial on the Torqeedo Travel 801. And we will let you all know what’s going on with the battery next Enews next month. Here at Whitehall Rowing & Sail we are getting many boat inquiries and sales for boats to be used on lakes and reservoirs that do not allow gasoline powered engines and the Torqeedo may offer a solution for those who require the assurance of backup power. At less than 8 lbs per battery a spare would be easy to bring along. The price of a new Torqeedo 801 Travel (The model Bob and Marcia tested out ) is $1599 US including a changer, one battery and a carry bag. A spare battery lists at $599 US Call us or email for more details. Last but not least visit the Row for Health website for some new additions to the Photo Journal - a submission on rowing the Whitehall Spirit 17 sailing model from Bob Dunshee, and an added book review. Check out the Whitehall Rowing and Sail Loveletters section where you’ll find a report on fishing out of the Whitehall Spirit 14 (35 pound King fish) Please give us a call or send along news and adventures. |
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