Does anybody have a Torqueedo - in the SFO area ?

[sailingpeanut]

Hi,
well, don't know really how to start - sorry.
I do have a Skip Johnson Seawings Trimaran - 36 foot - about 6500 lbs. So far I used a 9.8 two stroke mounted under the wing on a slay but now I have it mounted on rails, slinding up and down the transom.
Since I needed to get hauled out in Napa and my engine didn't work at this time I had somebody with a dingy tied between main hull and ama tow me up. We only had a 6hp Johnson and made around 5 knots on 1/2-3/4 throttle.
I'd love to try out a Torquedo Cruise - just slip it over the exiting outboard mount and see what happens.
See how it goes and if it turs out halfway - do the math with more solar panels / batteries verus gasoline whilst becalmed.

thanks in advance,
Olaf

[Jackstee]

Funny isn't it.
Spoke to lots of people who were going to, but, have not yet spoken to anyone who actually has one.
Thats over the last two years.
I would expect if they were as good as the spiel, then someone wouls be telling us. But nothing.

Steve

[s/v 'Faith']

Really seems like a promising idea.. maybe more would try them out if they were not made of gold (or priced like it anyway...)

[sailingpeanut]

Thanks for the replies.
Thought what the heck - and send Torqeedo an email if I could test drive it on my Tri. Bay area lot's of Farriers, BAMA and so on - many people interested but nobody wants to invest without test or reference.
Let's see if they want to sell

cheerio,
Olaf

[Roy M]

Contact West Marine. They sell Torqueedos and this would be a great marketing idea for them. You might want to call the main office in Watsonville to eliminate middlefolks from blocking your attempt.

[sailingpeanut]

Hi there,
called West Marine who gave me the number of the Torqeedo Sales Office in the USA. Daaa.
Called the sales office, got a rep on the phone who promised me to get me intouch with a distributor in the Bay Area.
Droped him an email to follow up, and am waiting for his reply now.
He sounded very enthousiastic - but then - he's a sales rep - no offence meant.

I'll post how it goes,
cheerio,
Olaf

[Roy M]

Thanks for following this up, Olaf. It would be very interesting to see how you feel about it.

[arjan]

Salingpeanut,

I believe that Stephan Wendell, this years Bama treasurer has one or two of these, You can probably get his e-mail from the Bama (BAMA - San Francisco Bay Area Multihull Association) website or otherwise contact me and I can get you in touch with him.

Arjan

[sailingpeanut]

Hi there,
thought I give a little update.

The sales person from Torqueedo never followed up althoug I send him a 'have you forgotten about me' email.
Posted an inquiry to the BAMA list and the response was "buy one at Westmarine and if you don't like it bring it back". Got a couple of battery weight/fuel weight/range figures but they were all aimed at powering a boat with solar power at good speeds, which wasn't really what I intened the e-motor for.

My lady is back in the water now and next month I'll tow here with my dingy and a 'scale' attached to it - to find out how much pull I need for what speed.

cheerio,
Olaf

[sandy daugherty]

The latest Professional Boat Builder has a long article by Nigel Caulder about the Torqeedo. Very favorable. Now I understand why its so expensive. The middle engine (6hp?) looks a perfect fit, but you'll drop a grand on solar panels that would restore 2 hours use in a day of average sunlight. Still, motoring in near absolute quiet is a wonderful experience.

[David M]

The Torqueedos are not exactly quiet....but a nice idea.

YouTube - Testing a Torqueedo

[oscar]

Whaaat? I had some interest untill I saw these videos......thanks. I'll take a nice Honda 4 stroke. Had a 9.9 before and always got compliments on how nice and quiet it was.

[GMac]

Originally Posted by David M

The Torqueedos are not exactly quiet....but a nice idea.

My mate has one and loves sneaking up on people. Having had a play with it I'd called them 'silent'. The water running past the boat is louder. It doesn't make any sound like the You Tube one, actually it just doesn't make any sound.

Weird, I wonder why the difference?

[Microship]

A friend has one on a small tri and it is indeed very slick... but he has been seeing some connector corrosion in the salt water environment. Examining one at West Marine, I am not surprised, given the connector type and lack of heavy duty seals... though it really is an elegant package overall and the performance is apparently quite good.

Steve