Hilton Head Island: another non-gale; an original electric outboard; five Mad World poems

 A sunny and relatively cool day in the marsh after a front went through last night with some wind and rain, but as almost always less than forecast.  We were under a gale warning, but it didn’t happen.

I walked down to GANNET this morning to reposition the fenders which I had swung onto the deck when I repainted the port side rub rail.  You may recall that I have a float around the piling to one side of the slip to which I run a line so the little boat is secured at all four corners and held away from the dock with or without fenders.  53F/11.6C.  With a jacket and Levis I was quite comfortable, although I did resort to wearing socks.

Lots of people claim to have re-invented something, but most haven’t.  I thank Robert for informing me about some Slovenians who have.  Above you have the Remigo electric outboard.  That’s it.  The whole thing.  The battery is sealed in the shaft.  It is available in Europe.  I don’t know that it is at present for sale elsewhere.

The specs are similar to the Torqeedo and the ePropulsion Spirit Evo.  They all are equivalent 3 horsepower motors.  All weigh about the same.  All cost about the same.  

As you probably know I own a Torqeedo and an ePropulsion, both of which are satisfactory.  The ePropulsion is better finished than the Torqeedo and even quieter.  I bought it in the hope of greater range.  The negatives of electric outboards are expense and range.  The positives are not having to carry and smell gasoline and oil or listen to noise and they start at the press of a button, not having to pull and pull and pull a cord.  The ePropulsion’s battery is bigger than the Torqeedo’s and there was the promise of hydrogeneration with the spinning propeller when left in the water charging the battery when sailing at 4 or more knots.  In the real world I have not found the ePropulsion to have perceptibly greater range than the Torqeedo and the hydrogeneration to be very slow, usually increasing the battery charge by only 1% per hour, so I have increased GANNET’s range under power by buying a second battery.  I have never tried to swap batteries underway, but believe it can be done, even if requiring drifting briefly.

I think the Remigo would be much the easiest of all three to fit on the transom and to stow below and I like its simplicity.  Whether it will be reliable over time I have no way of knowing.

One serious drawback to the Remigo is that you change from forward to reverse by pressing two buttons on the top of the shaft.  For a single handed sailor, reaching back over the stern to do this would be difficult and perhaps dangerous.  If one were using the outboard on a dinghy the reach would not be great, but I have never had an outboard on a dinghy and can’t imagine I ever will.  When I am too old to row ashore, I will be too old and give up the sea.  If one is sailing with crew, one of them could press the buttons.  But the wireless remote offered as an accessory would be essential I think for a solo sailor.

In any event it is an interesting and original design.

Here is a link to Remigo’s site where you can learn more if you care to. 

https://remigo.eu/

And here is a link to a review of the motor by YACHTING MONTHLY.

https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/reviews/gear-reviews/remigo-one-electric-outboard-review

The two anthologies of poetry I am now reading every day are MOUNTAIN HOME:  THE WILDERNESS POETRY OF ANCIENT CHINA and BEING ALIVE.  BEING ALIVE is divided into ten sections.  I am now in section 9, Mad World.  You may have noticed that it is.  Here is proof in five poems.