Torqeedo slipping off transom

Moderator: GreenLake

Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby moosebrookmike » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:47 am

Hi everyone

I just purchased a 1984 DSII and am learning how to sail her. I already own a Torqeedo that I use for my inflatable for quick trips out to nearby islands and general tooling around nearby.

The DSII came with what appears to be plastic mounting rectangle on the outside of the transom and nothing on the inside. The material seems like, for lack of a better comparison, cutting board material.. every so slightly rough. I've brought the boat out a handful of time and almost every time the Torqeedo will gradually slide off the transom even when I've ratcheted down the motor mount as tight as I can. I have a safety rope rigged to my engine and tied to the rear cleat just in case but having the motor slip up like that underway in a breeze is a bit terrifying as a newbie sailor.

Does anyone have any tips on how to make this attach so it can't slip off. Another concern is if I capsized and it slipped off I'd probably have to unhook the motor and lose it to right the boat.

Thanks for any advice!

Mike
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby Alan » Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:06 pm

Welcome to the Daysailer Torqeedo fleet! :)

I had the same problem and had to remount the motor in haste while being slowly blown into a swim area at Lake Tahoe. It was interesting.

I suggest mounting a plate on the inside of the transom with two holes in it for the mounting pads, so if it loosens up a little bit it can't slide very far. You can also make a narrow wedge to mount on top of the transom so the motor will sit level.

I've used the same two-hole design in a motor mount on a canoe. I haven't had any slippage problems since I started using it.

I'd be very interested in hearing how you like the Torqeedo. There's an old Torqeedo thread in the Miscellaneous section, since it's not DSII-specific:

viewtopic.php?t=4413&p=22514
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby moosebrookmike » Mon Sep 07, 2020 6:23 pm

Thanks for the reply. Glad it wasn't just me that was noticing that problem.

So if were to mount something on the inside, is that an easy DIY thing? I'm not very familiar with what drilling into fiberglass boats means or what I'd use to fasten it to keep it sturdy. Do you just use regular screws to attach something like that?

I love my Torqeedo. I had a very short affair with an Alberg 22 that I bought for a song two seasons ago that I bought the Torqeedo for. The affair ended when I realized not having a trailer and having to store it at a boatyard was costing me 3x what I paid for it "each" season.. :shock:

Anyway the Alberg 22 weighs about 3200 pounds and I used the Torqeedo to move it along just fine so having it on a DSII is easy. That said the range, unlike say an electric car, is extremely dependent on tides/current and wind. e.g. when I picked up my new to me DSII a few weeks ago, I put the boat in at a friends launch about 2 miles from my mooring and the wind was blowing straight at us around 15 knots and the tide was coming against us (11 foot tides up here so lots of current) and we made it back on 1.5 of the 1103C series 915 Watt hour batteries with the sails down. I have two batteries because I'm a few miles out of the harbor among the islands and I wanted the ability to motor my boat back to the harbor without sails being up (the weather around here doesn't usually want to behave with my plans of hauling boats in and out :D)

My personal take on the Torqeedo is that while it's an expensive item and I could have bought a more powerful gas engine for less money, to me having one less gas powered engine to deal with at the beginning and end of the season is worth the price of admission and having two batteries (even more $$$) makes it very useable for my use case. Also not having to smell gas and oil while sailing is very nice. My Alberg came with a 6hp mercury (that didn't move the boat all that much faster than the Torqeedo) and running it was pretty loud and smelly.

Mike
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby GreenLake » Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:24 pm

Mike, welcome to the forum and welcome to the elect group of DS owners with electric propulsion - although your Torqeedo is leagues stronger than what I have.

I'm curious: was the launch in a narrow channel? The way I look at it, 15 knots is a good sailing wind, even if you have to tack. Glad to hear that your motor is strong enough for those conditions; I would have had to wait for the tide to turn (but that's OK as far as I am concerned, because I like the same tradeoffs you mentioned, and I went with the smallest/lightest electric motor for a purpose).

I like Alan's suggestion for dealing with the potential for slippage. I may yet make a change, because I'm running into similar situations.

PS: I've moved your thread to "Miscellaneous" because that's where we keep most of our motor-related threads.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby Alan » Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:35 pm

Just took a reminder look at my transom. The mounting plate is attached to the inside with four self-tapping screws. I used 1/4-inch ABS plastic, because it will bend easily to the curve of the transom and because it's easy to cut with a 60-tooth blade in a table saw or miter saw. Four of the screws also secure a padeye that I use to attach a cable to the motor. Looking at it, I think thicker ABS would have been a good idea, just because the holes for the mounting pads would be a little deeper.

The leveling wedge on top of the transom is made of three layers of ABS, bonded together with ABS solvent cement. That's also how I made the motor mount pad for the canoe, using three layers of 3/8-inch ABS bonded together. (I made the mounting holes in one layer before gluing them together.)

The transom is strong enough to support this, as long as it hasn't deteriorated. It's about 1-3/4 inches thick at the cockpit drain hole, and as nearly as I can calculate it's about an inch and a quarter at the top. My rudder gudgeons are through-bolted to it. They not only support the rudder, they support the mast crutch. I've towed the boat from the San Francisco Bay Area to Wyoming and back, a bit over 2000 miles, with the mast supported by the crutch. There weren't any problems.

How's the sound level on the 1103C? My 1103 is louder than a trolling motor at low speeds, with a thrum-thrum sound, but it quiets down at higher speeds.
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby GreenLake » Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:10 pm

Is the motor part of the Torqeedo above or below the water. On my Electric Paddle it's above, accounting for a bit more noise (also there's the need for a 90 degree turn and the associated gearing). That makes that motor, although it uses only 1/3 the (electric) power of my trolling motor, a bit noisier.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby Alan » Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:41 pm

It's below the water (basically the same as a trolling motor), which is why I was a little surprised at the sound level (and I still haven't figured out why it's quieter when it speeds up). I have a 1003. The newer 1103C is advertised as being exceptionally quiet.
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby GreenLake » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:34 pm

What's the top speed and range of these Torqeedos when used with a DS?
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby Alan » Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:57 pm

My 1003, with a 520 watt-hour battery, got from Meeks Bay, Lake Tahoe, to Emerald Bay and back on one battery, and the "battery down to 10 per cent" warning beep started going off in Rubicon Bay, which is just south of Meeks Bay. I can't find a mile scale online, but I remember it as being about 16 miles round trip.

The fastest speed I can remember is 5.6 mph measured by the onboard GPS, but that was at less than full throttle and I didn't stay at that speed for long because the remaining battery time indicator dropped to something like 20 minutes. I think it could have gone faster.

I ended up buying two extra batteries, so if the Meeks Bay marina ever reopens I may get a chance to try a maximum speed run.

The 1103C, which has replaced the 1003, has a 915 watt-hour battery vs. 520 watt-hours for the 1003, so it probably has a significantly longer range.
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby moosebrookmike » Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:25 pm

Alan wrote:Just took a reminder look at my transom. The mounting plate is attached to the inside with four self-tapping screws. I used 1/4-inch ABS plastic, because it will bend easily to the curve of the transom and because it's easy to cut with a 60-tooth blade in a table saw or miter saw. Four of the screws also secure a padeye that I use to attach a cable to the motor. Looking at it, I think thicker ABS would have been a good idea, just because the holes for the mounting pads would be a little deeper.
How's the sound level on the 1103C? My 1103 is louder than a trolling motor at low speeds, with a thrum-thrum sound, but it quiets down at higher speeds.

Thanks Alan! I'll give that a go.

I don't find my Torqeedo to be objectionable sound wise.. It's quieter than any outboards I've owned. That said it's definitely not silent but for the amount of torque it generates I'm ok with that. The 915Wh batteries definitely give a piece of mind if you're in water where you have to move against tides and current or wind. I have two of them and don't have a too bad a case of range envy :)
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Re: Torqeedo slipping off transom

Postby GreenLake » Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:02 pm

Thanks for the details. I'm making do with a system that uses < 240 Wh. Works for what I ask it to do, but I can see that the Torqeedo is much more a "rea'l" outboard.
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