Electric or Petrol - Outboard Decisions

Whilst we have a petrol outboard on Emily, a small 5hp Tohatsu, we need an additional lighter-duty one for our little tender (Need is probably a stretch; It would be handy!) This can also double up as an auxiliary engine for our wayfarer sailing dinghy, 'Piccalilli'

Both of these boats require a reasonably lightweight engine, as the tender is just a tiny inflatable thing, and the Wayfarer has a 'slot-in' bracket and neither needs something that can run for hours on end, or push it particularly fast (At the moment)

I took a moment to review the Pros/Cons of each option, and on reflection, they are pretty obvious;

Petrol Pros: Long run time, power, standalone, price, longevity
Petrol Cons: Weight, smelly/noisy, environmental, danger?

Electric Pros: Light, quiet, safer
Electric Cons: Limited run time, lower power, slow?

In the end though, whether you're waiting for a battery to charge for a few hours, or heading off to the garage to get fuel, it's lower effort to deal with the battery, petrol feels more confortable because its a habit, and its always been the way things are. Taking a fuel can, heading off to a garage, filling it up with a flammable, smelly, expensive liquid, driving it back, adding oil, connecting it up and carrying it around all day.. It is no easier or convenient than a battery solution.

Finally, we can also row either boat, so this eventually led me to decide upon at least trialling electric for a while. I'll report back after some time on how this went.

So, first decision, what type of battery? I've been looking into LiFePO4 batteries for a while; they are lighter and smaller, can be recharged many more times, and the price has come down significantly in recent years.
You can pick up a 100Ah liFePO4 battery here: https://amzn.to/4kZcg1z for currently £150, which is a great price, and the reviews seem to be pretty complimentary.
I've done the maths, and with a 55lb thrust motor, we should get around 2 hours on 'Full' power and up to 12 hours on low power.. Only time and trial will tell how much we get in reality. I'll report back in a future post as well as a post on what outboard we choose.

Longer term, as we start to take Piccalli on the sea, we will probably need to reconsider the motor, as rather than something to bring us back home when the wind runs out, it becomes more of a safety requirement. However, Piccalli is far from 'sea ready' at the moment anyway, so that will likely come as a later project and a lengthy blog post!
on
The clocks are changing, the sun is shining. The season is slowly awakening! Fair Winds!