About to Install One of the New Torqeedo Models

[KTP]

Hi guys,

Newbie here. I am a wanna-be cruiser but only have a Montgomery 17 sailboat right now. We sail her in the Puget Sound and have been getting a lot of valuable experience (plus we took 5 US sailing courses to prepare for when we get into blue water sailing).

Anyway, I just ordered one of the new Torqeedo 1003 electric outboard type motors (comes with a 400 watt Lithium Manganeese battery). I looked at the 801 model a year or so ago and liked it but was worried a bit about the ruggedness (since it folds up and all). This new line looks pretty sweet though...completely sealed, even submersible for an hour at 3 feet! They improved many things according to the literature and boosted the power a bit over the 801. I currently use a 2.5hp yamaha outboard to launch and retrieve mostly and plan to use this as either a backup or main engine depending how well it works.

I know this is a small motor for a small boat, but I was wondering if any of you have tried this particular 1003 model on your dinghy or runabout yet? I will post back on how it performs on my M17 and possibly how it performs under pure solar power (I have quite a bit of panels I can spread around the boat as an experiment). I wish they had a mode on it to turn it into a generator to recharge itself while on a run...then on paper it would be perfect.

By the way, if you don't know what an M17 looks like, here are some pics from last year when we invaded the San Juan islands with a whole flleet Our boat is in the 8th or 9th pic in the sling launch (Eidolon).

sanjuanislands2009 (Eidolon Yacht)